This country we live in, this America, has two levels of government. I am talking not about parties, but about the philosophical and political differences in the parties.

Democrats believe in the strength and survival of the community. Republicans believe in the strength and survival of the fittest and the corporations. [To Republicans, corporations are people in the legal sense and have created laws that have given them that right. Therefore they can take you to civil court and win through attrition with deeper pockets. It is very difficult for the little guy to get justice in this America!]

Democrats believe that survival of a group of people, a community, a village, a city, a state and a nation depends on concern for each other, helping each other and allowing the government to be there to help when only the government can help. Republicans call this socialism. Republicans go further. They call their survival of the fittest philosophy "Individual Responsibility." It is your individual responsibility to provide for yourself in hurricanes, old age, health care and tragedy. If bad things happen, it is through your own lack of planning or responsibility. Republicans believe social programs that protect citizens, prevents "Free Enterprise" and opportunities to make money.

Democrats believe that the proper way for corporations to operate is with regulations. Regulations ensure companies are safe working places, have safe products, don’t pollute our environment and do pay their fair amount of taxes to support the things common to communities. That requires regulation. Republicans want to eliminate regulations; saying that through "Free Enterprise" companies can be more profitable, employ more people and when these things happen, society benefits. That type of thinking is the politicizing of their philosophy. Through these types of arguments, Republicans have removed regulations to the detriment of society. Another way they express it is to call it "trickle down" economics. Every time trickle down economics is tried, it has not worked to the greater benefit of society. Republicans will argue and say it does work. Perhaps they actually believe it, but it only works for corporations and the wealthy. It is in reality, Republican double talk. The greater benefit to society is to regulate corporations.

Society to Republicans is a labor source. Many in society are perfectly fine with being the labor force. But they also want to be treated fairly, know that they will not be taken advantage of and to be told the truth. An informed labor force knows that the company they work for must make a profit. They know that without a profit they will not have a job. When the lowest paid employee is making $5.15 per hour and the CEO is making $5000 per hour, there is a problem with America!

To Republicans, society is the labor force that must be kept busy, poorly informed and unaware of their rights as citizens. In this way a labor is kept strong through ignorance, provides an army for wars of Peace, and maintains freedom through slavery to corporations. If that sounds Orwellian, it is!

Perhaps I over simplify. Here is what we must do to take back our country from the Republicans and the Corporations. Declare corporations as businesses, not persons. Regulate them for the common good. Counter every Republican political phrase with the truth of their philosophy.

If we want to improve our government as a whole we must do three things. 1) Get rid of the lobbyist’s influence in government, 2) Make elections state funded and 3) Amend the constitution so that any bill passed by Congress can only deal with a single issue. Let me address each one in detail.

Get rid of the lobbyist. There have been numerous scandals of government officials being paid off for their votes. Congressmen and Senators have discussed laws and official rules of conduct such as review boards, limiting paid travel and limiting paid lunches, dinners and parties. Some of them actually get passed and then are later modified. Eliminate the money and you eliminate the influence. Congress can not have anything paid for by someone else, period! Then there is no greed, no vote buying and no influence.

Make elections state funded. Congressmen and Senators have to make anywhere from $1000 to $5000 per day while in office to run for reelection. That makes it possible to gain influence by contributing money. Laws limiting certain kinds of contributions from certain kinds of entities do not work. Eliminate the requirement for the money by having the Federal and state governments fund elections. Also make the campaign a fixed length of time. We could also address the ethics of campaign issues.

Amend the constitution. One of the biggest wastes of money and a source of corruption is the deal making that goes on in Congress to get a bill passed. If we eliminate the deal making by making each bill a single issue bill, then the Congress will have to vote on the merits of the bill. How they vote will become apparent to the voters and the voters can select the people they want to represent them based on how they vote or promise to vote in Congress.

This may seem like an over simplification. But I believe that solving the greater issues of this country starts with these three principals.

That’s as I see it. . .

How do you see it?