Whatta You Think About America's Problems?

       Let's see now. What do you think is the number one, single issue in America that's causing our country to be less than great? What is it that's holding us back? Do you think it's terrorism? Or jobs or the economy? How about the debt and deficit? Maybe you think it's the Congress. Some people think it's one or a combination of these issues.
       Some people think it's the President. If he had never been elected, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now. But then the same can be said for our Congress. But what about that deficit? Oh, it's dropping pretty steadily. Well then the debt, it's not dropping? The economy is continually improving though, even if at a snail's pace.
       The lack of jobs, at least good paying jobs, certainly hurts. Let's face it, most of the jobs coming back are much lower paying, so much so, that people cannot live on just one or even two jobs. At least not without help in the form of entitlements or charity. Jobs are absolutely a big problem, but are they the biggest problem? And then we have terrorism which hurts in at least two different ways; you have the danger of attack, but you also have to give up so many rights in order to be protected.
       What about Congress and the President? What if everyone in Congress was replaced tomorrow and the President the next day? Would that solve our problems? Is it apathy on the part of the electorate? What if we raised the taxes on anyone who didn't vote in each election? We'd get more people voting, but who thinks they would care enough to become knowledgeable?
       I personally think the biggest problem facing us today is gerrymandering. What the heck is gerrymandering? It's a way that majorities in state legislatures redistrict so that their majority is guaranteed, thus making it necessary for Congressmen to appeal only to the most extreme part of their party. It means, then, that they must only represent that extreme and never represent the minority. However, any way you slice it, Congress is supposed to represent everyone.
       If we somehow required that each district in both state offices and national house districts were mapped out to as close to a square as possible, or had to conform to municipalities as closely as possible, two things would happen. First a lot of representatives would lose their seats in the next election, and those that didn't would be forced to represent everyone in their districts. How bout dat?