Corruption here and abroad

We Americans are so caught up in correcting corruption in other countries that we have ignored a more pressing problem at home.   Our system of government is more corrupt than most because we have paved over the obvious and have deceived ourselves into believing we are the good guys and all the others are at fault.  The current conversation on the airways deals with the problems in Libya and what we can do tohelp the poor citizens achieve a more stable government. But what about us?

Our elected representatives have been bought by the millions being pumped into their "campaigns" by those with a heafty wallet.  One of the most blatant examples is the Koch brother empire which sends millions into politicl campaigns in order to secure a strong voice in Congress,  And the sad part of this whole fiasco is that many representatives see nothing wrong with taking money from special interests in order be elected. It is the American way.  As a result we have a Congress that listens to those who finance them instead of the millions of working people who make up the middle class. These people comprise the engine that drives the wheel of commerce yet they are ignored. 

Unless we can devise a way to correct this problem we are headed for an autocracy and "democracy" will be nothing but a faint whisper of the past. The present group (both democrats and republicans) are so entrenched in their thinking that working people are facing drastic reductions in social programs, including medicare, social security and good working conditions.

The long battle the unions have fought over the years to improve job safety and wages will be lost if the monied class has its way.  They obviously have nothing but contempt for working people and it shows in many ways during the election process. Frankly I am puzzled as to why anyone would vote against their best interests, yet we see it at every ballot.  It is perhaps our own fault  because we have been content to let others do the heavy thinking when it comes to sorting out the mess of candidates who offer themselves up to public service.

I would favor a drastic correction to this unbalance in government by changing our constitution to provide for a more orderly way of selection.  Let us consider a form of government patterned after the city manager system, in which a president is picked based on his (or her) qualifications rather than heavilyfinanced fampaigns designed to sway (and deceive) the voters. It is something to consider.