Here is the Midwest Moderate prescription for improving our country:
STOP the partisanship. I'm sick to death of every politician beginning every answer to a question with blame about how the issue is due to the "other side". Politicians from both parties are guilty of this behavior. Remember that saying from parents, "I don't care who started it, I'm ending it". Vote in people who are willing to step up and try to work together.
Term limits. I know many people say that elections themselves are term limits but I'm not buying that. In every election, I hope that people will vote out incumbents. However it seems like most people say "politicians are terrible but my guy/gal is fine". I think anyone in Washington D.C. or even in state governments longer than 12 years needs to go. Yes, this would take an amendment to the constitution but I'm willing to bet there is a lot of support for this among regular citizens.
SOMEHOW stop the President of the United States from using Twitter. This penchant for 140 character sound bites is hurting this country. If the President wants to communicate with citizens he should make a speech, issue written statements or hold in-person press conferences. I have no idea how to accomplish this Twitter-ban other than to suggest that we all start ignoring the tweets. If he doesn't get media attention, maybe it won't be so attractive.
Stop consuming media that is "click bait" or is from sources that are very obviously partisan. We must recognize that by consuming media that is not responsible, fact-driven stories, we are contributing to the extreme partisanship in this country. Buy newspapers or go to your local library. Don't consume catchy slogans or sound-bites, but demand intelligent news.
Enact better campaign finance laws and stop the flow of "dark money" into elections. We are all being manipulated by the will of the rich in this country and most of the time, we aren't even aware of it. The ruling in the Citizens United Case in 2010 that gave businesses, and non-profit entities and unions the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money on political expenditures has been toxic to this country. These unlimited funds and the hidden trails of where the donations originate will continue to damage our country unless we do something about this.
Enact better campaign finance laws and stop the flow of "dark money" into elections. We are all being manipulated by the will of the rich in this country and most of the time, we aren't even aware of it. The ruling in the Citizens United Case in 2010 that gave businesses, and non-profit entities and unions the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money on political expenditures has been toxic to this country. These unlimited funds and the hidden trails of where the donations originate will continue to damage our country unless we do something about this.
Most of these suggestions boil down to one thing. We need ADULTS serving in our government and we ALL have a responsibility to act like adults to each other.
