Fixing our Broken Government
If I were to say that our government was broken, I do not think that many people would disagree with that statement. In Washington, we have rampant pork barrel spending, corruption on both sides of the aisle, excessively partisan politics, and increasing inefficiencies in every government program. It is time that Americans unite to discuss the issue. This is not a Republican issue and this is not a Democrat issue, and we shouldn’t treat it as such.
Of all the problems I listed above, let me focus on partisan politics. I firmly believe that the excessively partisan politics is what causes the rest of these major problems. Pork barrel spending is an attempt by legislators to gain political ground in their district. Corruption happens when legislators try to use the system to their advantage. Inefficiencies occur because the House and Senate cannot work together with the Executive Branch to propose bipartisan solutions to many of the problems of our day.
After saying that, I am not about to propose that Democrats and Republicans unite in the legislature. Partisan politics has its place, but excessively partisan politics does not. What do I mean? The purpose of the legislature is to be a law-making body. It is the place where ideas are formed. Raw, rough-around-the-edges ideas come out of the legislature. The Executive Branch, or as I would rather call it, the Managing Branch, should help the legislature mold their ideas and proposals into cohesive bills worthy of passage.
What I am saying is that partisan politics should be restrained to the House and Senate. What we need in a President is not an idealistic conservative prototype. That’s what we need in the Legislative Branch. We need a President who knows how to manage. We need a President who can crunch numbers, fix problems effectively, bring people together, tell idealistic legislators “No!”, and turn the excessive inefficiency we have today into a diverse governmental machine.
Don’t get me wrong; I want a conservative President who upholds the principles of Republicanism. However, while the Republicans and Democrats in Congress beat each other up on ideology and policy, the President should be the glue that keeps both sides from causing a shutdown of our government. If our President is somebody who knows how to manage, America will be in much better shape.
This post was written by AdamRBitely on August 14th, 2007.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Righthanded
Time: August 15, 2007, 3:58 pm
This idea that you would seek in what supposedly a forum for educated republicans to define for us a concept as simple as what pork barrel spending is simply offensive. This post was simply a childish rant from someone who obviously has no knowledge of government or basic understanding of the logic behind the decisions of the legislature. A president’s job is to best serve the people and while in an idealized world that would be served by the president staying above the fray of parties, however that is impossible.
The problem with all bureaucracies are that they are inherently inefficient, but they are used around the world to establish the fairest system to serve the people. I would say that our current president manages America extremely well and that so long as our next president is less concerned with instant popularity and their chance of being elected again and more concerned with whats best for our country.
Comment from Steven Latimer
Time: August 16, 2007, 9:58 am
Even better yet, can’t we just have a president that follows the Constitution to the letter? This means abolishing the Department of Education, Dept of Energy, Federal Reserve, IRS, DEA, etc etc etc and cutting all taxes and spending by 70% or more.
Comment from Kevin Bolling
Time: August 16, 2007, 1:31 pm
In response to “righthanded”, I first want to thank you for being the first to post a comment on this blog! I can’t wait for things to become much more active where we have a lively debate on policy.
My post was fairly idealistic. Along those same lines, I do not believe that any person, Republican or Democrat, will ever be able to stay completely above the fray of partisan politics. In fact, it may even be impossible to elect someone like that, because they would never appeal to the party bases on either side.
I disagree with one thing that you said. First, “The problem with all bureaucracies are that they are inherently inefficient”. That is a completely true statement. Our bureaucracies, especially in the government, are very inefficient. Why do I disagree? Do they have to be that way? While I don’t believe that government will ever become as efficient as private enterprise, I firmly believe that the government can learn a lot from the business world about increasing its efficiency.
I simply wanted to open up a discussion on the topic. I would enjoy hearing others’ ideas for a more effective management of the government. Whether you believe it is currently well run or not, I believe there is always room for improvement.
Comment from Mike
Time: August 18, 2007, 8:34 am
Mr. Bolling,
I’d like to respond to the earlier comment left by righthanded. I’ll start from the bottom of his post and work up.
First, anybody who runs for president in the first place WILL be interested in re-election. Career politicians are sure of two things: One day, their term will end; and on that day, they want to be re-elected. The idea that a President would serve only the will of the (fickle, easily swayed) masses is, in a word, ridiculous.
Secondly, President Bush has not done a good job managing, period. During the Rove era, the Bush White House was known for its heavy-handed attack tactics - not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but they WERE known for annihilating their opposition. That is not management. That is a full-bodied embrace of partisan politics - a President saying “If I must be involved in this petty politicking, I’m going to WIN!”
All of that aside, I’m not sure what re-election of a President has to do with pork-barrel spending. You see, it’s the LEGISLATURE that is responsible for such spending. In this, I see an ill-developed, poorly thought out comment by a person who obviously has no knowledge of the inner workings of the American federal political process, or of the logic used to make such decisions as are made.
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