Government change of Direction

Our system of parliamentary government is broken. Yes, it works better than a Monarchy or a Feudal system, but it has become so cumbersome and so self-serving, that honestly we can no longer afford the current system.

The Canadian government recently disclosed the security costs for the G8/G20 conferences to be held in Toronto this month, may cost as much as $1 BILLION. One billion dollars FOR 3 DAYS.

This is a prime example of what is wrong with our elected officials. Our governments have no concept of getting for value for OUR money. Most of us have this innate ability that helps us to recognize that you shouldn’t pay $2000 for a hammer, when you can buy one for twenty bucks. Or that rather than blowing a BILLION dollars to secure Toronto for a 3-day summit, it might be more prudent to, say, hold that summit at the UN Headquarters in New York City, where there’s already most of the infrastructure and security in place… or maybe look into TELECONFERENCING?

But governments and the government system don’t seem to work that way. The idea of “value for our money” seems entirely foreign to them. Why? Well, it’s not their own money they’re spending.

And they feel that with power comes the privilege to spend taxpayers’ money without regard. As far as they’re concerned, the money just keeps flowing.

Now, in 2010, we are seeing a period of economic crises. What’s happening today in Greece and Ireland and Spain may well happen in other countries, including the UK and the US. Even governments who pass NO-DEFICIT-ALLOWED legislation find ways to circumvent it. Politicians who promise "no new taxes" find reasons to justify their change of heart. They may propose cuts to social programs or so-called “non-essential services”. But they never ever - touch on cuts to their own ranks.

There are over 540 members of the US Congress and in the UK, there are about 650 Members of Parliament and over 730 members of the House of Lords. Have these people done a good job in handling our countries’ finances? I say they have not. So if such a large group cannot do a good job, why should you and I keep supporting that large group? The system is broken and I suggest it can only be fixed in one of two ways. The first way is to replace government with ME as your Benevolent Dictator. I will eliminate all of those elected representatives and bureaucrats that cost you and me a fortune in salaries, AND benefits AND pensions. One benevolent dictator can replace all of these people who are feeding at the public trough.

Okay, okay. So you don’t like the idea of me as your Dictator. That’s probably wise, since I tend to get drunk with power when I’m made the Banker in Monopoly games. So, why don’t we elect a let’s call him or her “the President” - for 1 single 5 year term. He will not be eligible for re-election, and once elected he will be responsible for all aspects of our Federal government. He will not have to worry about having a majority in the House or the Senate to pass legislation. He will not have to appease other politicians, or worry about their desire to get re-elected. His nation, AND HISTORY will judge him alone on his accomplishments in bettering our society. Could that really be a worse system than the one we currently have?

If we stay complacent and do nothing we will end up broke. We’ll have to cut Medicaid and old age pensions, and social programs and slash public works and infrastructure projects… And that STILL won’t be nearly enough to get us out of debt, so we’ll have to pay substantially higher taxes.

But the politicians will still have their jobs, and their benefits and their pensions paid for by us, the electorate. So what motivation DOES a politician have to change? None that I can see. Yeah, that Belevolent Dictator thing isn’t sounding as bad now, is it?

Either way, something needs to be done. Soon.

If you don’t like my ideas fine. Let me hear your ideas. Do you agree that our form of government needs a complete change of structure and direction, or are just a few tweaks required.

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