Elections: running for redundancy

Some people might think that it's entirely too soon to begin talking about the 2010 elections. In my opinion, it has become ridiculous that we even bother holding elections anymore.

Like clockwork, every other year, we are treated to a tremendous amount of bullshit and lies, and the worst part is that we entertain them as if they were actually going to happen if we cast our votes. We pretend that each election is important, and that this time will be different.

Sadly, this is never the case, and frankly I don't understand why we think it would be. How can we expect things to change if we will only consider voting for one of two political parties? Why do we pretend to want change so badly, yet the average re-election rate during the past 10 Congressional elections is 90 PERCENT? How will anything change if we keep electing the same people? The same people who every few years promise us the world and give us a burning bag of dog shit.

If you ask me, it is the incompetency of our Congress that is wreaking havoc on our nation, and even though it is our own fault for turning these crazies loose, it is not too late to fix it.

Just to clarify quickly, I am not trying to imply that every member of the United States Congress is ineffective. There are some statesmen, such as Ron Paul, who during their tenures have delivered on their promises and never compromised their own integrity for the sake of political gain. But, for the most part, those who are serving us in Washington are either liars or corrupt.

Fortunately, there is a way to stop this, but it will only work if people wake up and demand action, and I'm not talking about demanding material items such as health care. It is time for our Constitution to be amended once again to finally restrict the number of terms that members of the House and Senate can serve. I think this could be the single greatest change to our political system, as well as the thing that saves it from self-destruction.

Without term limits, our Congress has transformed from a body of people who serve the interests of the nation into a body of people who serve their own interests. With a 90 percent re-election rate, many of these politicians have incredible job security. Sadly enough, this is not based on merit, but on the fact that the longer you serve, the more money you stand to gain from big donors. Let's be serious - elections always come down to money. Whoever has the most will win the most.

To accomplish something like this, it is necessary to start during the next election. Although I doubt that a third-party candidate will have a chance at winning any seat, we are finally seeing some real growth, some real change in the type of candidates who are running.

Although Ron Paul did not come close to winning the presidency, his run has proven to be the right jumpstart to putting some fresh faces in the Capitol. His son, Rand Paul, is running for the Senate in Kentucky, and his former adviser, Peter Schiff, is running in Connecticut.

People like them are running because they want to help the people of this nation and have already discussed their support for implementing term limits. This is what we need at this moment in history: men (or women) who see winning an election as a privilege and not as an excuse to make millions of dollars working for special interest groups.

I know, for the most part, the change I'm discussing is difficult, especially when our options during elections boil down to a race between a giant douche and a turd sandwich (thank you, South Park). That is why it is vital, when candidates who are willing to stand up for us come around, that we vote them in.

Even if we can elect only two per election, it will trigger a great transformation in our political system, opening the door for fresh faces that have truly bold ideas. Otherwise, I guess we can just continue voting for the same people and getting the same lousy results from our government.