If you’re like most Americans, you’re already fed up with the political landscape. For well over half-century now, there is been no substantial debates let alone compromise in Washington besides partisan bickering, political charades, preparation for war, preparations for more wars and “sticking it” to The People. Simultaneously elsewhere in Wall Street, the rich are getting richer swindling pension and/or retirement savings, the wealthy are getting away with corporate crimes. IRS in the meantime is busy chasing the small guys, those who can barely get by –living from paycheck to paycheck – while giving a pass to the rich, the wealthy and the corporations stashing billions of dollars in profit overseas. All in all, We The People are screwed. The irony is we help make it happen, we help perpetuate the status quo.

You don’t need to take my word for it; can you recall the last time the folks in Washington get together to pass legislation that’s beneficial to The People? Can you not recall how difficult it’s been for your Representatives (Congress & Senate) to extend unemployment benefit? Are you too fed up to remember how easy it was for those same Representatives to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and most recently to approve one billion dollars ($1 billion) in aid to the Ukraine government? Are you now too broke to recall how Wall Street has emptied your retirement savings? Are you too depressed to watch how your Representatives protect the crooks in Wall Street?

The irony is we are the enablers. When it’s election season and time to pick a Representative, we pick the same crook who’s been sticking it to us. Or, if we’re too fed up, we stay home; we decide not to participate in the election process. Who can blame us, right? What difference does it make whether you vote or not? Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have much to offer. The Tea-Partiists – (I prefer Partiist over Partier) – seem to live in a different world. What else can we possibly do? It’s hopeless, isn’t it? So much for “a government by the people and for the people”! As gloomy as this situation seems, we cannot throw the towel. It’s actually worse than already described. No, I am not kidding. The Judiciary Branch (Supreme Court) which would have made light and helped steer the country in the right direction has been colluding with both the Executive Branch (the White House) and the Legislative Branch (Congress & the Senate). Yep, We The People are screwed.

By now, you must be pondering if there is anything We The People can do. Yes, there is but it requires a great deal of harmony among us (tall order, I know). It requires that we stop supporting OUR Party; it requires us NOT to belong to one. We cannot be Democrats, Republicans, Tea-Partiists or any other. Well, it requires us to be Independent, not Independent Democrat or Republican, just plain Independent.

It also requires that we tune off the mudslinging; that can be achieved with little fuss: use your wallet. Stop watching TV stations that air those political ads; once their viewership starts dwindling out, they would have no more incentive to continue airing those ads, and those who pay for the ads would have no incentive to spend money for the audience they’d hope to reach would not be watching. We’d be killing two birds with one stone, wouldn’t that be nice?

In election time, insist that the candidates debate issues (of concern), not bashing one another. We are much too familiar with the scene; election season is on, the mudslinging, the bashing, the finger pointing, the question dodging are all in the menu except for what matters to We The People. We should pressure the debates’ moderators to do a better a job. We should insist that the moderators ask questions related to issues, not dwell on scandals that are personal in nature.

Lastly, however you may feel about politics, you need to participate in the election process; there is no other way to change – at the very least to attempt to – how the country is run. Some countries do not allow elections; others have a semblance of an election. However grim the political landscape is here in the United States, We The People still have the freedom to go to the polls; let’s not wait until that too is taken away.

Follow Mike Ducheine on Twitter: @mducheiney

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