My Problem with the American Political System

            So ever since I was a little boy, I have been told about how America is the greatest country on earth, land of the free home of the brave. What my patriotic teachers should have been telling me was that America was the greatest country on earth and that my generation is responsible for turning us around. Ever since the end of the Cold War, America has been on a slow decline, economically and in both foreign and domestic policies. You can point fingers at Democrats and Republicans but it is not going to fix anything. The truth is, that our nation is being governed by a system that while being revolutionary in the 18^th century, is outdated. I bet you didn’t know that Thomas Jefferson had intended the United States Constitution be rewritten every 19 years, believing that “the dead should not rule the living.” While he did not write the Constitution, that was James Madison; his point is still valid; American’s today are not supposed to be governed by a set of 200 year old rules. Since there have been no major changes in American politics, 200 years of the same old process has bred an oil that can loosen up the political machine, money. Today politics is as much about swapping money as it is about being an old white male. The reason that we the people are getting the rug pulled out from under us is because the average politician today is just that an average politician. So when a law is written by Lamar Smith, and by written I mean paid to introduce a bill that was written by the largest players in the entertainment industry, that threatens the existence of a free internet; two things that are apparent. A, his political action committee received a large donation from the entertainment industry, and B, Lamar Smith doesn’t know anything about how the internet works. SOPA would have allowed the government to watch the internet activity of any American, without their knowledge with the purpose of catching citizens, who download music illegally, a major breach of our basic rights. What would turn America around is not electing more politicians, what we need are people who are knowledgeable. Experts in fields should be writing our nations policies, because they know what the problems are, and that years of throwing money at issues only makes them worse. What we need are scientists, educators, mathematicians, engineers and doctors running this nation instead of “career politicians.” These are people whose job it is to solve problems, so I’m not saying they would fix America but they would probably do a better job than what we have now.


http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_newc.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission