Damn Congress for this Sequester

I am amazed that everyone is so surprised that Congress has let us go into the "sequester".  That sequester is really just spending cuts not carefully targeted,  so they will do more economic damage than any possible budgetary good.

Publicly claimed,  this was supposed to be a "bitter pill" that would force the two parties into compromise,  and to do their jobs for us (producing a budget).  But,  it didn't work,  because it was never intended to work.  This really was all just the typical political grandstanding from both sides,  trying to position themselves for the next election.  Nothing but a circus to distract us,  just like Rome about 1700 years ago. 

Look past all the circus nonsense at what really happened,  because actions speak far louder than any worthless words members of either party might utter.  The Democrats got their tax increase-without-spending-cuts when the Congress and the White House set this thing up months ago.  Now the Republicans get their spending cuts-without-a-tax-increase as this thing goes into effect.  Both extremist ideologies get to trump the public good.  Circus-as-distraction!

Both sides got exactly what they wanted,  and (because of the privileges of their individual offices) neither has to feel the slow but deep pain this will cause the rest of us,  as some necessary government services fail because of the "blunt axe" of non-targeted cuts.  The Defense Department in particular will suffer,  but since the wars are winding down,  the Democrats don't care.  And because Chuck Hagel now heads that department,  and his own party now hates him,  the Republicans don't care,  either.  That's in fact why they confirmed him,  after a particularly repugnant circus-like display they called confirmation hearings. 

All this happens,  and has happened for many decades,  because election politics and high-dollar corruption are more important to our elected officials than doing the jobs we elected them to do.  They don't work for us (or hadn't you noticed?),  they work for whoever bought their offices for them.  After so many decades,  the damage they do is really starting to show.  It has gradually become a real threat to the continued existence of our nation.

Maybe what we need is an additional phrase in their oaths of office:  that they swear to do the people's business in priority over all other considerations (like party advantage and personal gain).  Then we make oath-breaking a very serious crime.  With CSPAN,  it would be easy to prove.  I'd vote for public executions of oath-breakers,  but then I'm a little extreme,  because I'm so angry about this long-festering problem.

Maybe we need to get the truly astronomical amounts of special interest money out of our politics,  which is how the "big boys" own all of our elected (and unelected) officials.  One way to get a start on this would be to outlaw all private funds in all election campaigns;  everybody gets the very same campaign budget from tax dollars.  At least it would be fair,  and they'd work for we-who-elected-them (for a change). 

We have to do something seriously radical,  and we have to do it soon.  Otherwise this big,  corrupt,  unresponsive political machine in Washington will sell all the rest of us down the river,  into Third World poverty and slavery,  for their personal fun and profit.  That's exactly what they're doing to us.

I'd rather do this at the ballot box than by armed revolution in the streets,  because there's a whole lot less mess to clean up afterward (example:  Syria).  So,  my fellow citizens,  please quit listening to the ideological propaganda from both sides.  Please look around for some real statesmen to elect.  Please quit electing these destructive party-hack ideologues (from either side) that currently fill our government.