The USA is broken

Now that I've got your attention, let me explain.

The USA is still the only place I want to be. Sorry, rest of the world, I mean it.  But with that said it is no wonder that the jobs data were crappy again. Don't we have to grow 200,000 jobs per month to keep up with the population?  At 80,000, we are shrinking like a wet witch in Oz.

Here comes the lion and the zebra analogy again.

This time, I'll apply it to the government itself.  First, I am a libertarian, not an anarchist. We need government to provide many functions but I am not going to go there in a blog that supposed to be about money.

But those who serve in the government have a built in incentive NOT to fix things. What? Wait a minute!

We send the lions to Washington, or the State House or the Mayor's office and expect them to eat broccoli. They eat zebras and we wonder why the economy is in the pooper. Keep reading.

We send politicians to get together; each representing their constituents. What that usually means is getting projects for the home state or appropriations for that local factory or disaster relief for the neighborhood after a flood, fire or hurricane.   Roar! Give me a zebra to take back to my pride!

Getting it now? Where is there the incentive to cut taxes on people NOT in their district? Where is the reasons to say "you know, the country cannot afford giving my constituents that shovel ready bridge to nowhere and we should not pass that bill?"

There is no place in the legislative branch that represents all of the people all of the time without regard to home state or city. The president is not in the legislative branch so don't say he is the dude to do it.

Rewrite the constitution? Tall order and it is a pretty good document as is. My point is that we tell our congressmen and senators to go to DC to represent us and when they all disagree on how much stuff to give to their own districts we give them a 9% approval rating.

Lions don't eat broccoli.

Again, what to do? Creating a third branch of congress ain't gonna happen. Term limits seem to be a good idea.  So does repealing the 17th amendment (look it up). At least the states had direct representation in Washington before just as the founders wanted it.

As I said, I would not want to live anywhere else and I would not want any other system. But the unintended consequences of democracy are clear. (You know, like two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.)

How about we eliminate broad swaths of the bureaucracy, eliminate lobbyists and create a new elected national office called the People's Advocate (100 new people vs the tens of thousands now on the government dole). Its sole mission would be keeping congress focused on the country as a whole and not getting stuff for their constituents so they will be re-elected. Congress would not only have to be responsible to their home turf but fear the sunlight shining on it by the Advocate.

And for you more sinister types who love checks and balances, how about allowing negative votes (weighted)? If I live in West Eastovia and think Mr. X from tf North Southolina is a crook I can vote against him. Reach a certain number or negative votes and you're out!

Just a thought and a raw one at that. But the government has to represent all of the people, not just the sum of all the districts.