by Ronald Adams

Created on: June 06, 2008

Here we are in the middle of a presidential election, and I find myself ready to vote for none of the above. There are 100 U.S. Senators, 435 Congressmen and women, 9 members of the United States Supreme Court, and one president, all of whom have vowed to defend and uphold the constitution of the United States of America, all of whom make themselves exempt from the laws that they pass "for our welfare."

We have become, not a nation of laws, but a nation of liars. And the 545 people in power in our nation's capital are completely responsible for the overwhelming level of gross incompetence and corruption. It is amazing to me that both major parties are against high inflation and high taxes, and yet we have both. They are against the federal deficit and it continues to grow. They are against pork-barrel spending, as long as it doesn't effect the spending that takes place in their districts. Which bring me to another question. When you and I are out of money, which happens with alarming frequency, are we allowed to spend more of the money we don't have? Or better yet, the money that our children and grandchildren's children don't have? I didn't think so.

The president proposes a federal budget. The House of Representatives approves it, and votes on appropriations. They write the tax code, they set fiscal policy, and pass bills with amendments that have nothing to do with the original purpose of the bill. Once we send a representative to Washington, we have to trust them to do the work of the people, and to represent our best interests. What they do accomplish, by and large, is overshadowed by petty bickering and self-serving politicking. In the creation of this nation, the founding fathers envisioned a democracy where citizens of good will would participate in the running of the country, and return to their private lives after serving the public on a temporary basis. NO WHERE did they expect that a politician would be an actual long term career.

If there is a budget deficit, it is because the politicians want it. If we have trillions in national debt, it is because they have allowed it. If we are taxed in order fund policies we don't agree with, it's because it is their say, not ours that matters most in Congress. But I don't wish to complain. I want to offer the following solutions:

1. Each elected official should be limited to one six-year term in office. That's it. No extensions and no exceptions. That way the first term won't be spent trying to get to the second

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