Elected Officials Come and Go, But The System Doesn't Improve

Every few years, clever and astute politicians "feel" the angst and disdain of the people. and campaign against what the incumbents have either done, or not achieved. We have all witnessed tax revolt parties, independent parties, and parties with "catchy" names like this year's "Tea Party." Unfortunately, in most cases, these negative anti-incumbent campaigns often bring up valid complaints and concerns, but have rarely developed workable solutions to "solve the problem."

Many of the candidates that are being opposed this year were originally elected, sometimes decades ago, as the anti-establishment candidate. Many candidates, especially in under-functioning economic times, or periods of high joblessness, and low consumer confidence, represent themselves as being the "outsider" that works for the people. If it were generally factual, that might be a factor, but in most cases in the past, it has been far more rhetoric and hype, than reality. I recently heard a radio advertisement for one of the "outsider candidates" that began with, "I'm like you. I'm a parent and face the same struggles as you." The truly funny thing was, at least in this case, that the incumbent opposed the status quo while in office, made himself very accessible to his constituency, and even had more children, and less money than the opposition candidate did.

Our political system appears to be broken in many ways. The system discourages openness, because if you don't have a record, your record can't be "nit-picked" over, nor distorted. It is always easier to complain, and many of those complaints are valid. However, voters must begin to demand that any candidate that criticizes explain, in detail, what his program, how it would work, what the possibility of it being enacted, etc.

Isn't it amazing how many voters complain about a particular issue, and blame someone running for an elected office that has little to nothing to do with that issue? It is even more unbelievable how many candidates campaign against an issue that is unrelated to the office they are running for.

Politicians love to "spin" the facts. They will tell you that they have lowered taxes, but what they often merely do, is transfer certain expenses to another authority, that then has to pay for it. The reason that "tax caps" have very rarely worked is that unless expenses are streamlined, there will then be insufficient revenues. Countless politicians have campaigned on lowering taxes, balancing the budget, reducing waste, and still maintaining all programs that people need. However, I still have trouble understanding their mathematics!