Perhaps We Should Have Known Better

A Note: This post was obviously written several months ago. I don’t know why I didn’t publish it when I wrote it. But then, there are many things that I do that cannot be explained, even by me. Still, in the spirit of “better late than never,” here it is.

*******************Originally written December 11, 2008*************************

This is (perhaps) going to be quick; but in light of certain events, I feel double compelled to write at least something down.

The assumption is that many of you have already seen and heard the news about Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, [allegedly] trying to sell President-elect Obama’s senate seat (among a growing list of other things). Score one more for stupidity.

There is much talk in the media about this being a “bad day” for Illinois; true. But it is also one more in a long list of bad days for the policy makers (and unwitting citizens) of this country. The fact that a high-level official actually thought he could hock the U.S. Senate seat of the President-elect is dumbfounding; but no more so than how senators and congressmen think it alright to take millions of dollars worth of gifts for political favors; or presidents to lie in order to mount wars and alienate countries; or cabinet officials to operate above and outside of the law for political and economic gain. Sure, this may be status quo on steroids, but it still wreaks of business as usual.

Not so long ago, Barack Obama ran a campaign on change, and won for it. But the problem is, we need more than one guy willing to take on the system in the name of principal; we need a system willing to break itself in order to become a better machine. Think of it in terms of evolutionary process: things change (sometimes radically) or else they die. Simple. And history abounds with examples of societies that have died because those in power were unwilling to change; and far to willing to bring the people down with them.

Governor Blagojevich has shamed himself; but this is really less about him as an individual and more about us as the collective that accepts and elects (and re-elets) him. We need politicians who actually care about the people, not their pocketbooks. We need individuals in office who are there to make a difference, not to build a career. This system was not designed for career politicians; it was designed to be a government OF the people, FOR the people, and BY the people. And we need to take it back