There are a lot of people angry with the government. Many times when I am with a group of people talking politics, you can see the normal lines starting to be drawn as liberals start using their talking points and the conservatives pull out theirs. It is usually at this time that the conversation devolves into meaningless babble or maybe even angry shouts.

But there is a sure fire way to turn the conversation into something that all parties will agree on. Just throw out the topic of government corruption. Mention that the real problem is lobbyist and special interest money and soon you will have a chorus of agreement. You see the usual talking points are really created by political opinion makers and special interest groups. They are made to divide us. And the side that can get the most people to join their side wins until dissatisfaction creates a breach that the other side can manipulate to get people to join their side. 

It is like generals on an ancient battle field that cheer on their troops to push into the ranks of the opposing army. And just like most ancient battles, victory usually goes to the side with the largest army. A successful tactic these generals would sometimes use to win the day was to make secret negotiations with a captain on the other side. They would offer them and their troops money or land or maybe the head of a rival if they would switch sides during the battle. Is that really any different from the secret negotiations going on in Congress? Isn't that exactly what earmarks are for? Isn't that why the government writes these complicated laws that give special exemptions to particular groups in order to get their support? You see we really haven't changed that much in the last 6,000 years or so.

If you look at history you will see that these ancient battles were really about money, power, and big egos; just like our modern day politicians. So what is the fix? Is it really possible to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? I don't think you can get money, power, and big ego out of politics altogether because that is pretty much what politics is about. But maybe there are ways to contain them.

I believe it starts with publicly financed campaigns. If special interest groups and lobbyist are not allowed to contribute money to political campaigns then politicians will not have to bow to them in order to get reelected. Then maybe we will get back to a system where an elected representative is more mindful of the people. I believe that lobbyist and special interest groups have their role but currently they have way too much power. And it is not just in campaign contributions but in other perks as well. How many former representatives and high ranking government officials are now on the pay roll of big lobby groups? How many spouses of government officials are on the boards of corporate America?

This is what needs to stop, the political paybacks, the high paying positions that are given in exchange for favors while in office, and of course the campaign money for elections. Term limits have been tried and they do not get rid of the corruption, term limits merely puts it on a faster cycle as the lawmakers under term limits have only a certain amount of time to make their deals before they are termed out.

The worst part is that the very people who benefit from todays culture of corruption are the ones responsible for making the rules to end corruption. So how do we force their hand and make them give up the current government gravy train? That is a tough one, maybe a strong third party could come into enough power to force changes before they too become fat cats in the Washington power club. Maybe if people could force changes at the local and state level, then enough pressure can be put on Washington to clean it's house.
 

However the changes are made we need to have a system that is exclusively funded with public money for qualified candidates. Third parties should not be able to run political ads, or at the least it should be limited so a candidate would have the resources to rebut them. Ex-government officials should not be allowed to represent a lobby group or a foreign entity for at 6 years after they have left office. And ex-government officials and their spouses should not be allowed to hold a board position for a corporation for at least 2 years before, during, or after they are in office. Maybe then the government will listen to the people.
 

- Thomas Paine 2

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