I feel alienated by politics

I have been a Republican since I was a child, but only in theory.  True Republican ideals can be beautiful.  Republicans are supposed to be the party for small government and responsible economic policies.  I normally don’t agree with Republican social policy, but am willing to accept it given that the party runs the country with good Republican economic principles.  They have not been doing this for decades.

 

At this point, I feel that the choice is limited to two parties who both prefer big government and fiscal irresponsibility.  The soul of the Republican party is gone, and I’m forced to vote only based on social policies, which is very sad to me…but I think that if I am voting based on social policy the Democrats are the more sensible party if we are excepting the Constitutionalists.

 

I will be voting third party this year, even though I know it won’t matter, I feel that I need to send a message to the Republican party that compassionate conservatism and big government are not the path back to America’s real soul.  The Republican party has lost its way.

 

Of course at this point all politicians, with very few exceptions, are not in office for the people, they are bought and sold by campaign contributions and corporate interests.  All of this despite the fact that the Internet has enabled the power of the people through small donations and grass roots mobilization of the voters.  Washington needs to get it through their heads that the people are the ones fueling their campaigns through their donations, and in the end the will of the people should outweigh the influence of the well connected corporations.  Is this a lesson that they can learn before it is too late?

 

Approval for the congress and the executive branch is at an all time low, and the reason is that we’ve been on the path we’re on for far too long.  The parties have clear directives philosophically which neither party is following.  The veil has been lifted by the information age, and the idea that getting into politics is a vehicle to get yourself and your friends rich is one that will only lead to exposure and the unhappiness of the American people.  We see what the politicians are doing, and we don’t need the traditional media to show us.  The men and women in office now have been exposed as liars and cheats.

 

When the Democrats were given a majority recently, America was giving them a mandate for change.  They did not take hold of this opportunity because they were far too busy chasing pork legislation and fulfilling the promises made during their campaign.  This was more acceptable when the compaigns ran on large donations from large donors.  In this era, though, the PEOPLE are able to finance a compaign.  

 

Below is a message, from one of the people financing your compaigns, to all politicians :

 

Bring the balance back.  Make government smaller if you’re a Republican.  Enact powerful legislation to help people if you’re a Democrat.  Keep each other in check.  Don’t allow the center stage of American discourse to be dominated by social policy.  Don’t cheat the American people by wasting all your time on pork legislation just because everyone else is doing it.  Do something good for the entire country, not just your constituency, once in a while.  Do something you can be proud of while you’re in office.  Leave office with less money than you came in with.  America needs help.