“Many of us were hoping the GOP would provide a brake on them but the leadership has proven to be just as corrupt as their counterparts.”
The cost of running for a House or the Senate seat has reached obscene levels. Unless the candidate is independently wealthy, she or he must reach an understanding with individuals and groups capable of providing the millions of dollars required to execute a campaign. The monied interests behind the curtain expect a return on their investment. Both GOP and Democrat politicians either deliver the required vote when asked or they find their campaign coffers empty the next time they stand for office. The $20 contributions from the little people are meaningless for most campaigns today.
Since 2011 the GOP has controlled the power of the purse through the appropriations process yet every Obama desire has been funded. Now the GOP controlled Senate is falling in line. The only explanations are:
1) They are puppets doing the bidding of the wealthy who finance their campaigns.
2) They are victims of extortion or afraid of extortion. The NSA, FBI, or foreign powers know about their sexual perversions or crooked financial deals.
3) They actually believe in the policy.
4) They crave advancement in the party and are playing the game to move up in the party hierarchy. The quest for power is driving them.
5) Ego gratification. By bucking conservative policies they get media time. McCain’s frequent appearances on the Sunday talk show circuit are all about his willingness to throw conservative principles to the wind in order to be fawned over by the press.
Name the politician. It isn’t hard to guess which of the reasons listed above explains their votes. The worst are those who won’t stand for election again. Most, will sell any vote to the highest bidder. They all go home with appointments to corporate boards and big campaign war chests they can convert to personal use.
For some of them, it is likely some combination of all 5 reasons.
Instead of casting votes to appease Donors, Extortionists, Party leaders and the Media, what if they only had their conscience to answer to after a vote?
This is why secret ballots in congress should be a plank in the Liberty Agenda platform.
Here is my non-partisan "Liberty Agenda"...
Ending the open ballot in congress
Limits to the ratio of congressperson to constituent. When the constitution was written, every congressman represented 35,000 people. Now, every congressman represents 1,000,000 people.
Term Limits This is a no-brainer.
End gerrymandering Use computer modeling to carve states into congressional districts with the smallest ratio of area to perimeter. There is an objectively right answer to this problem that couldn't be reached in the 1700's but in the 2010's with supercomputers (probably just any desktop) the answer could be reached in minutes.
If we enacted these 4 governance related changes, we could then address the various policy changes that we would like to enact. We could then revert America from the oligarchy controlled, banana republic it has become to the Constitutional Republic it was intended to be.