Some advice for the malcontent masses

They say: You only get one vote. Not exactly true.

We've been keeping up a bit with this latest presidential cycle. The biggest thing that supporters say of one Democratic candidate over the other Democratic candidate is this:

That's great, but it's not feasible. He can't do it.

This is what we have to say, where we weigh in: you're absolutely right. He can't.

Make no mistake, voting in the most progressive and strangely "radical" candidate as Democratic Presidential nominee, or even as President of our country, will not change our national policies. It may change the conversation of our current policies, may change the tone of those conversations, but it will not change the way things work. How things have worked, for the past several election cycles.

That's great, but it's not feasible.

Yes. This is because there are checks and balances in our governmental system, intended to prevent (or at least slow) the proliferation of corruption, the power of profit over the running of an entire country. These checks and balances will almost certainly check and balance what any one politician - even The Top Politician - can accomplish.

But that's good. It keeps the total wackos in place (usually). It's why our constitution isn't modeled on, say, Dictatorship or Fascism.

We're a Democracy. And in a Democracy, there is only one solution. While there still is Democracy, anyway.

Here it is:

That's great, but it's not feasible. He can't do it alone.

Vote this cycle, vote hard, and then after? - vote often. And then speak up, explain why you voted how you did. We have the technology these days to make our (small) voices heard: social media, even if not mainstream media.

Go read up on Arab Spring. (Why are we still behind?) Perhaps American Spring is on its way.

Vote for your candidate, and then actually support him or her. We're going to be honest here, we do support Bernie Sanders. But we understand our vote is not a one-time quarter-in-the-jukebox end-all-be-all. Put your money where your mouth is. Put your vote where your mouth is. And, yes, put your time and your actions where your mouth is.

Because he can't do it alone.

-Mgmt.

A letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders - Political Transparency

Political processes at their simplest. Picture unwittingly donated by MilanaOP. Check the original at this link.

We figured Mr. Sanders is a busy, busy guy, but we had a point or two to bring up to him.

(Also, apologies to the extreme lull in our posts. We've been... catching up on politics.)

Have you ever wondered why politicians are corrupt? Actual question: why is there so much leeway for politicians to be corrupt? We think we found the answer. Read our letter to Sen. Sanders below:

"Dear Sen. Sanders,

You have touched upon voting records in your campaign for President. While I am not the most politically-minded person, I came upon perhaps a useful idea for you to implement your policies, should you win the Presidency. I would anticipate much opposition to, for instance, doing away with private insurance companies. The answer? Simple shame.

When a bill is presented, voted in or vetoed, make voting records easily accessible. Since you're speaking to a large national voter base, I would imagine your national voters would get miffed should their Senator so blatantly oppose his/her constituency. This would make Senators/House Reps/ people voted in more accountable to their constituents, yes?

Then I realized we had transparent voting systems! www.senate.gov! So much for that idea.

So I tried an experiment. I looked up a random bill to get put in - S.J. Resolution 22 (Jan 21, 2016). Here's what I came up with:

Voting record (in Senate):
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?&congress=114&session=1&vote=00297

Text of Resolution:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/22/text

(This resolution is calling for a nullification of a previously passed piece of legislation. No further information. So...)

I looked at one of the links on that page of the Resolution, to Ch. 8 of Title 5:

http://uscode.house.gov/docnotfound.xhtml
(Broken link - I think it's the authority that Congress has to override the EPA's rules.)

So I turned to Google. The original piece of legislation, 80 Fed. Reg. 37054, was attempted to be nullified, so I searched for that.

Full text:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-06-29/pdf/2015-13435.pdf
(75 pages long)

Discernible text:
http://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/clean_water_rule_40_cfr_230_3.pdf

See a pattern? www.senate.gov, www.congress.gov, broken link, www.gpo.gov, www.epa.gov... It's been two hours researching this Resolution - which came to a strictly partisan vote (Republicans - pro-Resolution, Dems anti-Resolution, you voted against), all over an EPA rule about defining US Waters - and ostensibly how those waters are protected by the EPA. But let me cut to the chase here: this is insane.

You talk about Super Pacs pouring money into the election process, millionaires and billionaires who are rigging elections. I think you know the "who" and the "what" of the system, but can you fix the "how?" Can you make this farce on transparency into what it should be: an open, clear system where I can see what my elected official is doing? I am a former Mensan - #100289943 - so I am no idiot, but I know deception when I see it.

Clear up voting records. Add that to your list. Let people see what their voted officials are really supporting.

And then leave it to us to clean up the rest. You just raise the issues.

As much as I would love a response, I would rather hear it on the campaign trail instead of receiving one personally, so I have not selected the "response" checkbox. Thank you for reading this.

-Matt"

Politics at work. A few more fun facts: Sen. Sanders voted against this Resolution in the Senate (Sen. Marco Rubio abstained). The President vetoed the Resolution, which, quite frankly I don't have a clue what it's really about. Back door dealings hidden behind shades in a dark room obscured in code stashed in four different places... Jesus Christ, Voldemort was not this difficult to kill.

Seriously.

We think some transparency, and yes, clarity, and perhaps organization are in order, here. It's disgusting to think of what these elected officials can do - and are doing - out in the obscured open.

-Matt