Reflections on gratitude, frustration, and a new political party:

 So, while I still feel grateful to be who I am, where I am, with the freedom I enjoy, the security I enjoy both physical and financial, and the pride I harbor as a citizen of the most dynamic country in history, I can't help but be a bit frustrated by the partisan bull shit, dysfunctional, uncompromising, behavior of our legislative branch of government as exemplified by the super committee's inability to come to any sort of agreement on deficit reduction as they were tasked with, even though all concerned agree with the overwhelming necessity to do so! Wow 98 words in one sentence. I suppose I could have left out some of the adjectives.
My frustration stems from the evolution of both parties, which has not been for the better. Both parties have become way more about representing the extreme ideology of ether the far right or left, and way less about representing the real interests of the majority whether democratic, republican, or independent. Bureaucracies, which I think any political party would qualify as, have a tendency to develop a life of their own, and over time it's participants become slaves to an ideology which may have once made sense but no longer holds merit.
I have generally regarded myself as an independent since I tend to have a social liberal leaning and a more conservative fiscal position, but even those basic party policies have blurred. I mean, republican fiscal responsibility is somewhat of an oxymoron when you consider that 3 of the 5 years with the highest federal government spending ever (as present of GDP) were during the presidency of George W. Bush. BTW, the other 2 were during WWII.
This may sound simplistic, but I think we need a third party. I think it should be called the common sense party. It might be time for someone to be able to run for any political office with logical, pragmatic, reasonable thought, rather than deference and cow tow to ether the evangelicals or the labor unions or the millions of other special interests. We sure get an ear full of the "blame game" these days with each party blaming the other for whatever is pissing people off at the moment, be it, health care, entitlement spending, unemployment, to much regulation, not enough regulation, whether or not a guy couple can marry, or a straight couple can divorce,and whether or not pizza should be classified as a vegetable for school lunch programs. So anyone with half a brain (as long as it's the left half) must realize that no one person or political party or group or corporation is solely to blame for our ills or solely responsible for our blessings. It's all a big combination and a constant adversarial approach with no room for compromise seems unpractical at best and just plain stupid at worst.
We could start with a few common sense, rather universally accepted duties of our federal government. 1. Defense: we may argue all day about how much to spend on defense of our country but i think we can all agree that it is the job of federal government. 2. Education: while it isn't written in our constitution that education is a right of every citizen, it sure has been one of the most significant contributors to our nation’s success. 3. Infrastructure: Any efficient, free market economy needs modern efficient infrastructure to function. It's not just raw materials and innovation, we need roads, rails, bridges, canals & waterways, harbors, and energy production ( more on that one later) that are modern and in good repair to retain our place as an economic power. Let's face it, our current infrastructure is far from modern or efficient. 4. Financial regulation: Ok this is kinda sticky I admit. However America didn't become a financial super power by being a free for all. We became the world financial center due in large part to the regulated, fair, level, safe, playing field we provide. I realize the fine line that has to be walked, but to assure our financial further we must find that balance.
From here, it would be nice not to pass on a mountain of public debt to our kids and grand kids; that just seems very selfish to me. Also, it would be good not to trash our planet with continued massive carbon emissions. Once again, it won't make much difference to us baby boomers, or even Gen-x-ers, but it is rather bogus to pass along even the possibility of global catastrophe just because we were too cheap and selfish to implement strategies of renewable energy.
This is basically been an American formula for success that has been lost or at least obscured in recent times mostly because of the partisan bickering which has become our political norm. Soooooooo.....let's stop it. Only an idiot believes that only he has all the answers and only a party of idiots can believe they alone have all the answers. Why not listen to what the other guy has to say and accept responsibility for your own mistakes....what a novel concept. I will close this observation with two final thoughts: If the tea party guy wants less government, less tax and more personal responsibility, than he better fucking well be educated enough to accept that responsibility!!.... AND: If the liberal guy wants more government, and a bigger more expansive social safety net, than he better fucking well be ready to pay for it.... After all, there is no free lunch !!!!! and even though some frozen processed food lobby got the frozen pizza classified as a vegetable in the New York state legislature for their " healthy" public school lunch program
(which probably cost the lobbyist quite a few free lunches) I'll admit that a "Hanks Big Pizza" with mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoes would qualify. But then, he might have paid me to say that.
The bottom line is that most people of differing political beliefs (at least the ones I talk to) usually agree on more than they care to admit or ever realize. So WTF, let's start acting like it and through example show our elected officials how to behave. Who knows, maybe the super committee could have come to a consensus........not !!

hummmmm....maybe