When are we Americans going to take back our government?

I completely agree with you, though I do not think some of the Founding Fathers would be all that surprised. Consider what Thomas Jefferson wrote in "Notes on the State of Virginia" in 1782:

"It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion."

We took our rights for granted for many years and then when we looked up one day from our big houses, fancy toys, and gadgets, we realized so many of our rights were gone. It's time for people to pull their heads out of the sand and stop drinking the kool-aid. Time is limited, but we can win all this back.

I vote against incumbents ALL THE TIME. It doesn't help because they have ensconced so many advantages for themselves into law.

Term limits I think are a good thing, but four years is CRAZY short. Four TERMS would be more like it. You want and need a certain level of experience. If you turn the thing over that often, you'll have nothing but junior congressmen. Four terms would keep down the 'lifers', but would still allow for a range of experience.

The only way to get special interest power down is to reduce the power of government. It's like expecting bacteria not to grow on food left out. As long as the power is there to affect the fortunes of your interest in profound ways, you WILL find a way to get money and influence to those who control that power. Only reforming the commerce clause so that congress does not have the power to spend on any object that has even six degrees of separation to interstate commerce can reign in the beast. And that would require either radical change on the Supreme Court, or a constitutional amendment. Neither is going to happen in a 50-50 divided country like we have now.

I agree with the idea behind your statement here, but I am not fond of the way you've framed it. Consider these points:

Of course the founding fathers would not recognize this form of government, nor would they recognize almost anything else about society. Rapid advances in technology, travel, and communication have completely changed the way of life since then.

They specifically wrote the constitution to allow for necessary changes, to accommodate all sorts of factors that they could not conceive of at the time. They realized that times change, and they created a set of rules that allows the government to change with the rest of the world as needed, and as deemed appropriate by the peoples' elected officials.

Yes there are significant problems with our government leaders, which has been going on for quite some time. Don't fall into the "founding fathers" argument, though, because it doesn't hold water. (Nor does its cousin, the "this is a democracy, so a majority vote from the general public is always right" argument.)

When the country is broke, pensions have been nationalized, taxes are high, and standards of living drop rapidly, then and only then will the American people have the incentive to fix the system. Until then, they will be too busy watching American idol and eating at chain restaurants.

hi

who are "we Americans"? the indians running casinos and selling cheap cigarettes? the people who came over on the Mayflower (there are so many claims to that there must have been about 1,000 Mayflowers)? I''m no more thrilled than you at the state of our country, but I have to admit it's been worse. much much worse. obama (the president that "we Americans" elected) didn't cause the depression--he's just trying desperately to fix itl that's a pretty huge task.

so: again, who are "we Americans?"

The Deceleration says that when the government begins infringing upon our basic rights that we have the right to abolish it. Its up to the American people to decide when the time is right...

You need to check the site out of WWW.take our government back-The petition site

I think it would totally take the whole global community to do this!

But it is wonderful for you to be involved, check it out.

As soon as ALL of us realize that is always an incumbent who whizzes in our Wheaties. It's never the guy who didn't get elected, is it?

when we vote all incumbents out

Its the only logical thing to do.

How come none of this stuiff bothered you when cheneybush was running the show?