Getting out of a rut

Someone once described a rut as a grave with both ends kicked out. The US is in a serious rut, confined there by a corrupt political system sold to the highest bidder by the Supreme Court and hijacked by the lunacy of the T-party by gerrymandering. Getting out of a rut this deep will likely require some sort of social revolution involving mass demonstrations, and the resulting resignation of several justices of the Court, political leaders of both parties, and anyone with even a hint of T-party stench clinging to them. There seems little chance of such a thing happening soon, Americans are simply too locked in by the relentless propaganda and miss-information programs of the mass media.

Honestly, the system is clearly failing. I know this sounds a bit extreme, but our current leadership is walking us straight down a path that eventually leads to a complete breakdown of society. We have a heavily armed population where the majority are sinking ever deeper into economic dispare and poverty. All social programs are in jeopardy as the nation's wealth migrates to an ever shrinking percentage of the very elite. Rioting and violence seem inevitable. The military and police forces will certainly be called in to try and protect the system that has betrayed most of the population. At that point all bets are off and the resulting chaos could last several generations. (Think Lebanon, the Balkans, or parts of Africa.)

But the nice thing about being off the reservation is one can imagine what might be possible with a President who had a spine and a congress not completely subservient to capitalism. We don't have to stay in the rut. Anything even half intelligent we try which, almost by definition, will be significantly different that what we are doing now, will be an improvement over what we have. (Watching the Obama / Democrat / Republican / T-party show going on in DC is to witness evil parading as lunacy at work.) So, short of burning the place down and trying to start over ...

Eliminating gerrymandering would go a long way to fixing the government. Surly an algorithm can be written that would take each state's population density, divide it up into the proper number of districts, and then make each of those districts roughly a square (admittedly with wiggly boarder lines). No consideration for political leaning within those boarders, no consideration of race, just population and geography. The algorithm draws it up and there you have it. Most likely running for office in the new districts would mean appealing to the broadest possible constituency, certainly in the general election and probably in the primary as well. Lunatics will not be silenced but their chances of hijacking a party would be considerably reduced. (I know eliminating race while making up districts will cause a lot of heart burn. But consider this; within a generation white will no longer be the majority. Districting while trying to accommodate race will likely be impossible anyway.)

Fixing the Supreme Court is necessary as well, so how about we try this? The President nominates. On the second Tuesday after the nomination the entire Senate gives an up-or-down vote, (no committee bullshit games). Then - on the fourth Tuesday following the Senate vote - a special National election is held on a straight vote. To get appointed to this lifetime post the Nominee needs a 60% "yea" vote of those voting, no campaigning (as such). The national media gets to fulfill their responsibilities in a free society by investigating, interviewing, and sharing their findings with the public. No competition, no alternative candidate to be voted on, just an approval of this one person, yea or nay.

These changes might get the government out of the grave with no ends, but our capitalist economic system, which has been bought by robber Barrons and serves mostly the military, is buried just as deep. So how about we cut military spending by 20%? Even at that the US still fields a military dwarfing that of the next 5 or 6 largest military forces on the planet, combined. Drone and stealth technology, along with even just half of the current nuclear force, would still threaten anyone, anywhere, in the world. (Isn't a 800 pound gorilla in the room full of chimpanzees just as big a threat as a 1000 pounder?)

Then we take that money and pay off every student loan in the country.

Just think of the explosion of economic activity that would result when that generation, in the prime of their lives, full of energy, imagination, and resolve, is freed from the clutches of compounding interest. They could buy houses, start families, invent things, start companies, higher employees. As a group they are pro-environment so new energy sources and uses are almost a guarantee. They are far less raciest and sexist than is my generation and the "leaders" we have put in power. They are much more committed to universal civil rights, far less likely to be religious fundamentalists or anti-intellectuals. Many of them realize that consumerism is not sustainable nor is it the path for a fulfilling and joy filled life. Someone has to invent a new way of modern living that doesn't include gang raping the planet to death. My generation failed, why not give the next one a chance? They are, after all, the best educated generation the world has ever seen. Turn them loose and the rest of us can ride the wave.

Sure Wall Street would howl, but who cares? Most of the howlers belong in jail anyway. Besides, it isn't like they will not get their money, (principal only, they can shove the interest rates up their collective asses). All this new economic activity would need financing ... Wall Street will do fine. (The ones that didn't end up behind bars that is. I'm assuming a President and congress who would take such a bold move would actually enforce the laws Wall Street now ignores with impunity.) There would be some major realignments in the stock market. That is a serious concern since most of us have been forced to participate in that charade and are exposed to the manipulations of that den of thieves. We might try this; banks are borrowing money from the government (i.e. us taxpayers) at near zero interest rates. Then they loan it back to us at rates far above zero. Lets reduce every mortgage loan in the country to a rate of 1%, make it a law. Or maybe we should just nationalize the mortgage industry? The government (i.e. your taxpaying neighbors) loans you the money to buy a house (one house, buy a second one and you get to talk to a bank). You pay them back at a rate of 1%.

To keep this new economic engine running lets nationalize the oil companies as well and use that money to make a Bachelor's or Master's degree available to anyone. Why should massive profits for exploiting a natural resource go to the very few? Brazilian, Venezuelan, and Mexican citizens share the wealth of the oil in their respective nations, as do the citizens of the state of Alaska. Why not all Americans? Sure big oil will howl, but you just know that a bunch of them should be sharing a cell with their Wall Street buddies. In exchange we get tens of thousands of talented and well educated people working on making a new world.

The rut we are in is deep, climbing out will take imagination and fundamental changes in the way the political and economic system is managed. But it beats burning the place to the ground and starting over. Most importantly, an America working like this is an America still free, committed to civil rights, working at the leading edge of discovery and learning, and a democracy that responds the the needs of its people rather than those of its political, economic, and military leaders.