Sunday, February 7, 2010

Ms. Danz blogs Washington


This past Tuesday, Illinois held it's primary. It's over...Thank God...I have about 8 months of non-election commercials...yeah!

But as we go through yet another election cycle, I can't help but wonder...does it really matter? Are we really electing "leaders", people with visions of a different future, who can sacrifice their personal agenda for the greater good? or are we only electing politicians (people who talk a good talk, walk a "somewhat" good walk, and plan to retire as elected officials.

Now, as most of you know, I live in Chicago...so, perhaps my judgments are a bit jaded. We don't have the best track-record of quality leaders. Our governors extort, blackmail and, eventually, make our license plates. Our alderman’s staff, drivers, admins, etc. are full of nepotism (sisters making $100K a year to be a weekend driver, yet, we have to decrease/eliminate routes on the CTA because we can’t make a budget).

On a bigger scale, our congressman and senators refuse to work with each other. Regardless of my personal party affiliation, I find it repulsive that elected officials can’t work together to compromise, listen to each other and come up with solutions that are acceptable to all. No one SHOULD ever get everything they want. It’s called working together people. You are all VERY well educated people, did no one ever teach you along the way how to get along with people? Or are you just too concerned about winning your next race, that you can’t afford to “piss-off” your contributors. What a sad world we live in when the people who really are making decisions are the people with the biggest pocketbooks.

I propose setting a tenure limitation for all elected officials. There is a reason we don’t let Presidents have endless terms (that would be called a dictatorship…ok- not really they are still “elected”, so I’m being a bit dramatic), but I really think if people weren’t worried about constantly campaigning, trying to get funds, trying to work with their various large corporate donors, etc that we could actually GET something done in Washington, Chicago, Illinois, wherever.

Now, I know no one is going to listen to me. I don’t sit in Washington, I am not a lobbyist, senator’s assistant, or even a poly sci major, I’m just a girl with a blog. But I urge you to think about it this year as we come to mid-term elections. Would you rather elect a politician or elect a leader?Someone with a vision, someone who isn’t worried to put their personal views on hold for the greater good.

1 comment:

  1. Me thinks you overestimate the length of time we are spared general election commercials. That being said I love them because they ALL have something to make fun of; bad pic, slogan, disingenuous shots of pols looking "real". Love it.

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