A Better Universe

("Make Way for the Radical Center")

I get that we are all feeling disenfranchised and disenchanted. I understand that our voices and our votes seem drowned out in a tidal wave of partisan politics. I too envision a better way and a better tomorrow if only we controlled the dialogue. But don't spend your time until November, 2012 on some illusion. This is not some fantasy baseball or football league we can maneuver and manipulate.

Look, I am as frustrated as anyone. But, this image of a third party shaping our future, no matter how well intentioned is not going to happen. Is Teddy Roosevelt out there to lead the charge of this brigade of independents? Work on fixing what is broken rather than spending your days dreaming of a reality that will not occur, no matter how many fantasy votes you get on the internet. Let's not waste time contemplating a "dream team". We are not in the middle of a dream but an all too stark reality that must be addressed with real solutions.

If you want to spend your hours in a productive fashion, work on changing how government works. Demand that we eradicate, or diminish the impact of the filibuster and let majority rule have the meaning for which it was intended. Raise your dollars to make certain that procedural ploys, like refusing to authorize payment of debts which we have already incurred, have no place in our future. If you want to effectuate change, make certain that change can be effectuated. The hard and ugly truth is that good ideas die in process, and bad ideas are all we are left with. Government is dysfunctional because it has been manipulated into submission.

Change your vision and focus not on some alternate universe, but on a better one.