Recently in Status of American Politics Category

The Republican Party has lost its integrity. All the money of the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson, will not buy that integrity back. Integrity matters in democratic elections, and will make a difference in the November 2012 election.

Conservatives like Sen. John Warner and Ronald Reagan influenced many to become more conservative. That kind of conservative, however, no longer exists at the core of the Grand Old Party, which has become dangerously extremist. The Warner - Reagan conservative was about governing for the future of America, first and foremost. The current GOP is not about governing, but winning elections at any cost to the nation and people. Let's take a look at these differences and what, if any hope lies with the Democratic Party.

"To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." --Theodore Roosevelt. 

There is a general perception among the majority of Americans today that our political system is corrupt and our government is failing as a result. Most recently, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators speak to the very same kind of corruption which Theodore Roosevelt spoke of back in the 1920's. When government legalizes bribery and blackmail, these do not cease to be acts of corruption. This is precisely what has taken place in American government and politics, corrupting our system to the point of growing demonstrations in our American streets.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has gone viral. The core of the movement is centered on the singular perception that it is not healthy for the nation, or majority of Americans, if 1% of the population controls the economy for their own benefit, while the other 99% experience declines in their financial and employment status. It is a perception that is nearly impossible to argue against with a straight face. Where is this movement going, however?

American voters and their democracy are under attack, as politicians seek to change election rules to benefit incumbents, regardless of the will of the majority of voters. America's workers are under attack as American corporations and companies, who contribute to election campaigns in record amounts, seek cheaper labor overseas. America's political system is broken. And it is ruining the the government which made this nation great. If voters do not remove these politicians responsible for America's decline, our democracy will be lost, and our vote rendered ever more meaningless.

Many civilizations in history, which failed in the absence of being conquered, faced the same 'Zenith Threat' America faces today. Confronted with the threat of leaving their prosperity zenith behind, their civilization divides. Divided, civilizations fail from within. What divides nation's in the face of a Zenith Threat, is two different ways of knowing and consequent prescriptions. I define these two ways of knowing as empiricists and 'wishful believers'. If 'wishful believers' capture control of the nation's decision making apparatus, that civilization fails. America is currently an example of a nation in the throes of a Zenith Threat, with its divisive and hence, potentially negative consequences.
 

It is often informative to view lines of history as a tug of war between ideologies or paradigms. Some historians view our political history as a record of the swing of a pendulum from conservative to liberal, and back again. Such has often been the case since the Great Depression and stock market crash of 1929. Replacing it, is a new pragmatism of necessity.

The federal government's debt ceiling will be raised on a bi-partisan vote and signature of the president. There is only one condition, in which, that previous statement could end up not true, and that would be, political imbecility. It will take only one political extremist, or dummy, to pull this off, and there are several candidates for the role.
 

Last night, with less than an hour to go before shutting down the U.S. Federal government, an agreement of intent was reached to avoid the shutdown. If one can call such brinkmanship up to the edge of the precipice, a working system, then our American system worked. The problem with Russian Roulette is that eventually, the chamber actually has a bullet in it when the trigger is pulled.

Dear Sen. Cornyn,

In your reply to my petition regarding the Citizen's United case, you said:

"I agree with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a law that violates the intent of the First Amendment, which reads: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press."