"Opinions are like (anal sphincters)- everyone has one." Similarly, in a Democracy: everyone has a vote. This is assumed to be a good thing. Is it a good thing that voices of reason, of profound intelligence, wisdom and compassion, of concern for the welfare of all, of willingness to sacrifice for the greater good ... are nullified by a far greater number of less enlightened voices, by all the Archie Bunkers and Jack Abramoff-wannabe's and Jerry Springer afficianados and devoted fans of so many mundane reality shows and soap operas and simple trusting consumers of Fox News and the mass marketing directives that attempt to shape all our desires so as to make us their consumer-slaves while telling us that such is our freedom ...

And in response to the outraged response that how dare I suggest that most people are not qualified to vote, let me first ask the question: how many people in modern-day America are so addicted to the possibility of immediate selfish gratification that they are indebted to so many providers of credit and consumer-goods, and so unable to consider the consequences or their long-term security and well-being that they fail to create and follow through with any practical savings plan? The simple answer is: the vast majority! Is the cause of Freedom (as supposedly so perfectly served by Democracy) truly assisted by the votes of so many people who have already committed themselves to Debt-Slavery, who are so bewildered and misled that they have no clear sense of consequence or future benefit?

Even if we discount this first point, that most people lack the self-discipline or vision to determine what is truly in their own or anyone else-s best interests, and therefore should not be allowed to vote (especially as a majority, and therefore to negate the votes of better-qualified potential stewards of society)... let's remember that our opinions are not free of whatever informs them. Internally, that would be our own motives and agendas; externally - well, that would be the media. And who owns the media, who uses it not to inform and protect our liberties, but to mould our opinions and our votes. We are being asked to vote for people we truly know almost nothing about. They are mythical creations, chosen and defined by the media. Who the hell are we voting for? Do we really know any of these public political figures, behind the make-up, the craftily created images, the specially created scripts they read from, the opinions they espouse (after their handlers have determined what they should say to any given audience, according to their demographic considrations and opinion poll results)? Do we really know who these people are, what they truly believe in, what they are committed to, what they are passionate about? We value our right to vote for so many people whom we have no idea what they really represent, aside from a few well-crafted media-bytes!

Our modern democracy is populated primarily by career politicians, who say whatever they feel they need to say in order to get our votes. They cannot afford to be persons of unwavering integrity, of constant truth. Oh, this is such an unpalatable subject, to actually consider the characters of most people in public politics, and so much is already available, I gladly say no more here about them.

Next: lobbyists. As foul a nest of deceitful, self-serving corruption exists in Washington as ever did in any previous prince's court or caliphate. And it is very normal (especially under the current administration) for industry lobbyists to be rewarded for financing the winning political tickets with executive positions directing the affairs of the various governmental agencies (eg Departments of the Interior, National Parks, Water, Wildlife and Resources, etc.)originally designed to protect our natural resources from the very inductrial concerns that such (now ex-) lobbyists worked for in the first place! Talk about the fox running the hen-house!

So what to do? How about starting a whole new system, say something along the lines of Government By, Of and For The People? Where there are no more lobbyists and corporate media and a centralized ruling elite 'voted-in' by us on the basis of a very short list of potential candidates has been given to us by the powers-that-be via their media mouthpieces along with whatever information they want us to have about the lives/achievements and beliefs of the same. How copuld this be possible? Simple - by bringing back the Democratic Republic of America ... by:

1) Electing our own local representatives, whereby there is plenty of opportunity for candidates for such to be heard in local forums and open discussions, and where such persons actually belong to the communies they are appealing to, and are knowm for who they are and what they believe in and actually do

2) Entrusting those elected representatives of ours to elect from their own body persons for higher and larger office, who must remain accountable for their actions and votes to their own body of electors

3) Establishing an appropriate means of paying all such representatives, via a system whereby what such an elected member would otherwise be earning from his regular job or business, so that he neither stands to lose by achieving public office, nor improperly gain from it. And provision could also be made to provide business owners with surrogate managers to stand in for them during their absence. But there would be no career politicians, no senate pension-plans, nothing available to them that would not be available in their regular careers

Hey - just a thought!