Accountability can imply many things: financial efficiency, honoring promises, imparting factual information, and taking responsibility for decisions that are made. When it comes to government, accountability doesn’t mean any of these things. It is just a fancy word thrown about to make politicians seem like they are looking out for our interests, but deniability and […]

Campaign finance reform is always on the periphery of politics, but not because the politicians in power want to change the very system that they have carefully constructed to maintain the status quo. Rather, these reforms are trotted out every so often as a means of placating the public, to assure us that our elected […]

Voting is fundamental to our system of democracy. It is through our votes that we pass initiatives that shape our laws. It is through our votes that we elect people to the halls of government. Without the ability to voice our political desires, democracy does not exist. But, as with so many other facets of […]

In democratic societies, government is said to be “for the people, by the people, and of the people.” In the broadest sense, one could infer from this that governing institutions such as ours are not controlled by hereditary clans or moneyed interests, but instead are an amalgam of the interests of the general public, instituted […]

To the average person living in a democracy, capitalism, and the social changes it forges, rarely is given much thought. And yet our very lives, not to mention our livelihoods, are so wholly connected to our capitalistic economy, that the line between people and business has become blurred, and the properties of one has been […]

It is often said that the only things you can really count on are death and taxes. Of the two, death is probably easier to accept. Death, at least, is fairly applied to everyone. Taxes, on the other hand, are a complicated, unequal, seemingly arbitrary and often manipulated endeavor. And while we all can accept […]

Democracy is a concept of government whereby the general population consents to abide by rules of society set in place by elected representatives. In a democracy, everyone is supposed to have a chance to speak their mind on any given issue through their vote or through direct petition to the government. In a democracy, government […]

It is one thing to sit around and pontificate about the wrongs of government and society, tossing about complaints and concepts for change. It is another to actively begin to take some steps to help change occur. I am fully aware that the changes I’ve already proposed, as well as the ones the will be […]

Up to now, I have been laying the groundwork from which to begin making our government more responsive to and more representative of the citizens of this country. This groundwork relies upon the concepts of Common Sense, personal involvement, and the demand for better leadership. I express a sense of urgency at times because I […]

There is something wrong with our government and they way it is run. I’m not just talking about the federal government either, but our state and local governments as well. Lacking common sense leadership, beholden to corporate interests and finances, cornered by special interests and threatened lawsuits, and muzzled by political party philosophies, our governments […]