My Opinion of David Reinstein's Article: Seminal Concerns About "Us" Following the 2010 Mid-Term Elections
I followed the Mid-Term elections closely, and I voted. I think it a shame that more people are not more interested in the election process and what their politicians are doing. Many people are willing to take a back seat and let others make all of the decisions.
I agree with David that, "Changing the people in power may not be the real key to needed change at all...". I do think that the people who have been steering our country are ideologues. They decide, based on their personal ideologies, what they think is best for the country. Who we should be voting for are people who are willing to listen to their constituents, and not to the special interest groups.
I think that people truly want change in this country. The kind of change many want is a reform in government. The federal government is slowly becoming the final authority in everything in our lives. The individual state's sovereignty is being eroded.
People wanted healthcare reform that worked and I don't see the current monstrosity working to hold down costs. I know that some people believe in the current healthcare reform bill. As an example of why I disagree with the current law; my health insurance premiums over the past two years have increased by 30%. They increased in 2009 by 17%. That's before healthcare reform passed. Now that the healthcare reform bill has passed, the percentage of increase was 13%. That doesn't look like much of an improvement to me. I see healthcare being a major problem for many years.
If you're a conservative, you can't understand the type of spending that the government allows for your hard earned money. We have politicians, like John Kerry, who feel that the American voters are uninformed and easily led. Then there's Dennis Kucinich, in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, who in essence said that the mid-term election outcome is a result of the impatience of the American people, and that now that impatience has been transferred to the Republicans. Long term Senators and Congressmen many times show a disdain for ordinary citizens.
We need to follow a different path. Cut spending, do something about special interest groups funding political candidates. Candidates for political office spend millions on getting elected. Quit spending tax money for things like funding for candidates in Presidential elections. Put some limits on how much taxpayers pay for rent on congressional district offices. We pay over $18,000 a month just for Nancy Pelosi's district office in San Francisco. I would love to see earmarks and deal making disappear from our government process. I could go on and on, but then you would get tired of reading.
I don't want it both ways. I want it done sensibly. I worry that the economy is going to crash, that I won't be able to afford healthcare, or that everything I have worked for in my life will disappear. Am I being an alarmist? Maybe I've been watching too much Glen Beck.
This lowly individual doesn't see any real attempts at change going on. Legislators refuse to work together. Political ideology gets in the way of good governing. Basically I agree with David. Thanks for writing your article, David. I enjoyed reading it very much. As I said before, I wish that more people would take an interest in what is going on in their government. Until the American people see real cooperation, and the federal government and our legislators stop over stepping their bounds; we won't see real change, and the frustration will remain.
Sources:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5975528/seminal_concerns_about_us_following.html?cat=75
Published by Pat Bartels
Previously employed in the Human Resources field, Pat enjoys traveling and tweaking computers when she is not writing articles for Associated Content and Factoidz. She is fascinated with personal finance, th... View profile
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14 Comments
Post a CommentWell-done. It is indisputable that state sovereignty has been eroded during the Obama administration. The Left's idea that a federal one size fits all approach is best in a nation of 310,000,000 people is absurd. To belabor the obvious, the people of Vermont have almost nothing in common with the people of Texas.
Cycy, I think the effect of HCR is unknowable because it's so huge and the system is so large and complex. They're trying every spell in the spellbook, hoping to contain the inflation.
Super article. Our Representative ran for a vacant Senate seat and lost. He wouldn't have won his Rep seat, because he only voted for his constituents about 24percent of the time. That is not representation, and not what he was elected to do. I don't know why these guys think they have invincible power once they are elected.
I totally agree with you Pat! 1 point though - even though the health care reform bill was passed most of it goes into effect down the road (2011 - 2019), so cost increases seen now have little to do with the health care reform bill (and personally, I do not believe we will see any real savings in the long run).
Good job Pat. Our 2011 insurance has now taken us to the low level we were at 17 years ago. I feel sick as we try to decide what to do. I am concerned about the vote to change and if people really looked in depth at the candidates. $18,000 a month makes me furious at politicians who set themselves so far above the people they were elected to WORK for.
Pat this is a fine, integrated component to David's piece.
The way our politicians run their political campaigns is so disgraceful, I can't even bring myself to watch them anymore. I'm so disgusted with way they handle themselves, I can't believe that people running for Congress can be so immature. I want to hear about ISSUES, not about what the politician thinks is wrong with the other politician. What happened to integrity, honesty, and compassion? And why are we so divisive? The Democrats and the Republicans need to understand – we are a UNITED States. Let's stop the war between our political groups.
This article is more than a post-script to my own... it is a thoughtful and complete piece in and of itself!
Well said, Pat.
I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO agree with you. There is too much waste just like the $5 billion dollars a day being spent for the president to visit India. Give me a break. People are starving in this nation and our politicians (all of them) are wasting money like there is no tomorrow. I say enough already! Instead of bashing businesses for being successful, maybe they need to take some pages out of a business playbook and figure out how to run this country efficiently.