Someone Needs a Time Out

We need to figure out a new name for the people we elect to government positions because "representatives" they.are.not.  These self-serving, power addicts don't make decisions based on what's right or in the best interest of the country.  Instead they spend their entire term in the pursuit of their next term, increased power, and ways to advance their own objectives.

The Affordable Care Act has nothing to do with the current antics in Washington.  It's merely the most convenient excuse for the toddlers we've elected to play their games.  It doesn't matter if it will help anyone or not.  They have dubbed it "Obamacare" simply for the PR effect.  By calling it that they can get a good soundbite.  Their rhetoric is very effective in manipulating the opinions of the voters that have attention spans shorter than the average donut.  

Do we blame the elected officials or ourselves?  We're the ones that keep electing them.  Positions in the House of Representatives and US Senate were never meant to be careers.  When the government was founded, these positions were established with the intent that people would serve a term and then return to their previous life.  No one could have imagined how being a politician would become a life career.

We don't need to worry about outside groups or countries destroying the United States.  We're going to destroy ourselves from the inside out with corruption and apathy.

The government has shut down.  The politicians are getting exactly what they want - attention - and their chance to grandstand in front of the cameras.  Plus they're still getting paid (unlike a lot of their constituents).  Nothing is going to change unless and until fundamental changes in the way we do business happens.  

• Both major political parties have gotten too big for their britches and should be disbanded.  
• Lobbyists should be taken out of the equation and any politician accepting so much as a Snickers bar from someone for free should get jail time. 
• Campaigning should be eliminated.  All candidates should be given equal space on one website where they can state their case.  Maybe also use some of that Sunday morning public interest time on TV to do the same thing.  That might stop the massive arsenals of campaign contributions that buy votes on things that are counterproductive to our Nation's health. 
• Not only do we need term limits, but the law should only allow them to serve in ONE office/position in a lifetime (with the exception of President).  After that you're done.  Go back and work for a living in the real world with the rest of us.  
• Most importantly, bills should be required to stand alone.  Absolutely no combining things up or attaching anything to a piece of legislation to shove something through that could never make it on it's own merit.  

It's all become a big game for rich people to play, with the rest of us stuck being the pawns.  We pawns need to wake up and smell the corruption.  Voting needs to be taken more seriously.  Perhaps we need to clean house - vote all the encumbents out and don't ever RE-elect anyone.  At the very least we have to take the time to educate ourselves on our options and make sure we do vote - every time.

Time to Step Up, Pittsburgh.

It has recently come to my attention that Pittsburgh is still firmly ensconced in the 1960's, and it makes me profoundly sad. Back in the 60's I was a child who believed that my generation would fix things. I was sure that by the time that I was an adult attitudes would be changed and people would respect each other. I'm all grown up now, and apparently not a lot has changed. OK, there has been some progress – progress that I think is measured very differently depending on your perspective. From a white, middle class background I recognize the huge differences in the number of minority students attending universities; the number of highly positioned minority professionals; minority politicians (yes, even as high as our president), and I think “things” are different! Then I talk with some friends and I discover how wrong I am. Those things only indicate that the nation has been slowly improving in some aspects. They say nothing of attitudes. To my shock and embarrassment I've learned that Pittsburgh, in particular, is not a nice place at all. We think we have a wonderful community. We're so proud of our Black N Gold, of all our recent positions in those Top Ten lists for this or that. What a great place this is supposed to be to move to or visit. Little did I realize that an educated, professional, black, man is still treated like a second class citizen on a regular basis here. This is not an aberration. This is not just a few prejudiced individuals being jerks. This in an ongoing problem for him and my other educated, professional, minority friends. Wow. I was ashamed to hear stories of how they're treated by people that they aren't even interacting with. Walking down the street or riding a bike and passing motorists yell crude, racist comments at them. Our local law enforcement officers stop them for no reason to ask them where they got their bike!!! AND I DON'T MEAN IN A FRIENDLY 'WHERE-CAN-I-GET-MYSELF-ONE” KIND OF WAY. This is appalling behavior to me. These are good, law abiding, businessmen who can't move about our city minding their own business without being harassed, humiliated or made to fear for their safety.

I don't know how to fix this. Part of me hopes that my childish beliefs just underestimated how long change would need to really take root. That now sounds naïve even to me. Maybe when this generation is my age things will be different, but do we really want to wait? I'm challenging Pittsburghers to step up. NOW. Start treating each other with the respect that you want to be treated with. When you witness someone being a jagoff, call them out on it. Teach your children and grandchildren to treat others right. It doesn't matter how much pigment someone does or doesn't have in their skin – they have a right to basic, courteous, respectful treatment. Think about it. If you can't treat people decently you have no right to be proud of yourself or your city.