I’m tired of all of the political indignation by Washington Republican Party members of congress that leaves them with no choice but to shut down the government! Ouch, that hurts…everyone except members of congress and other high-level government officials and employees!  All of the rest of us (aka The Pawns) are left to grin and bear it until congress decides that it is okay for us to resume our lives again.

Here is a novel idea, why doesn’t congress pass a law that says whenever the government is shut down that – along with all of the other Americans who are not being paid, falling behind on their mortgage payments and other bills and are having their lives ruined, they too will not get paid until the government resumes normal operation? I would like to see something like this become a permanent law but even if they just gave it a trial run first by making it a sunset law I would bet that we would have fewer shutdowns or perhaps, none at all.

And even if congress did pass a law that would force them to forego their pay along with the rest of struggling Americans whenever there is a government shutdown, who on God’s green earth would want to place a Party in control of the US government whose solution to every problem is to shut it down? Obviously, the question is rhetorical because currently there are those who are willing to do this.  One can only hope that there are more voters who would not be willing to do it and that they will show up and vote in the 2016 general election.

And while I am venting my frustration, here is another thing that is still a constant irritant to me; have you ever thought when you hear the name US Chamber of Commerce that this organization is in some way affiliated with the federal government? Maybe you haven’t but I certainly have; albeit a very long time ago.  I know better now but I wonder how many people out there still think that the US Chamber of Commerce is somehow connected to the federal government?  I’m sure that I am not the only person in America who at one time or another thought that this was the case; and maybe there are still those who think so today.

Here is yet another novel idea, why don’t they rename the US Chamber of Commerce? Perhaps they could call it the ‘Chamber of Commerce in America’, ‘American’s Chamber of Commerce, ‘America’s states Chamber of Commerce’ or some other name that is much better than the ones mentioned here?  Then, if the state Chambers of Commerce also needed to change their names for the same or related reasons as those of the US Chamber of Commerce, they could.

For example, maybe instead of calling Colorado’s Chamber of Commerce the Colorado Chamber of Commerce they could rename it the ‘Chamber of Commerce of Colorado’, ‘Chamber of Commerce – Colorado or something of that nature. They could do this same thing in the other states.

Just don’t call it the US Chamber of Commerce or, as mentioned in the preceding example, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce. Why?  Because whether or not there are Americans who still believe that these Chambers of Commerce are affiliated with the federal or state government, the names imply that they are.  And many times when these organizations line up against certain candidates for public office, especially the office of US President, that implication can have an impact on the way that one will vote especially if they believe that it is an affiliate of the federal or state government that is recommending one candidate over another.

But right now, my concerns about potential government shutdowns and name changes pale in light of the current situation in the Republican Party, which is threatening our two Party system and has the potential to destroy it. At this point it looks a lot like the Republican Party has inadvertently initiated a countdown to assisted suicide.  I say ‘assisted’ suicide because it was high-level congressional Republican leaders who were instrumental in bringing many of those who are now a part of the rebellious Freedom Caucus into congress.

This happened by way of what I will refer to as a mini Trojan Horse scheme instigated by disgruntled conservative Republicans. Incumbent congressmen like Speaker John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy pulled these mini Trojan Horses inside the gates and once the imposters were elected the real candidates emerged from their hiding place and began to wreak havoc.  They have already brought about the demise of the two men who pulled them inside the gates, Speaker Boehner – who has agreed to remain in office until they can find someone to accept the speaker job, and Kevin McCarthy who was in line to replace Speaker Boehner but withdrew as a candidate as a result of pressure applied by these same rebels that pushed Speaker Boehner out of office.  Now they are baiting Paul Ryan to take the speaker job so that they can completely rid themselves of Speaker Boehner.  And then – if they do not get their way on every issue under Paul Ryan’s leadership, they will likely try to oust him.

Paul Ryan has made some demands as a condition of accepting the speaker job but he had better be very careful no matter what promises this so-called Freedom Caucus group might make to him. Would you ever have imagined before now that any politician would be running away from a job where the person in that position is third in the United States presidential line of succession?  This means that if something were to happen to the President, Vice President Joe Biden would be first in line to take his place and the next person would be the Speaker of the House.  Nonetheless, the fact is that no politician of consequence really wants the job.

I read an article in Vox recently where the author said that “the GOP might be in chaos, but Democrats are in a torpor.” He went on to talk about how the Democrats were not in any way preparing for or strategizing on how to support down-ballot candidates in 2016, which is where they really need to focus.  This author has a point but with all of the gerrymandering by Republican controlled statehouses that took place based on the 2010 census data it will be hard for Democrats to gain any ground in those states until the next time that districts are redrawn no matter how much preparing and strategizing they do now.  And even then things will not be easy.

But until then, Democrats will have to work hard to educate voters and sell them their message, which they believe is the best way for America to move forward. It will then be up to voters to get informed, reflect on what has happened and how our government has been run – especially over the past five years when a lot of new faces entered congress, and vote for candidates based on their voting record and what they have accomplished for their constituents and America instead of on sleek sound bites.

Eulus Dennis

Elected Democrats at local, state and federal levels would be wise to pay close attention to what is happening to the Republican Party. It is coming apart at the seams and imploding on itself because voters are not just angry but they are completely fed up with politicians and politics as usual.

They are fed up and they are doing something about it. What they are doing about it might not be the right thing to do – personally, I find what they are doing to be quite scary – but politicians have forced them into action.  They have forced them into action because they have continued year-after-year and election cycle-after-election cycle with the same old worn out, run-of-the mill politics; smiling at both the everyday American voter and big money constituents but only listening to the voices of the latter and acting on their wishes while ignoring the voices and wishes of the former.

This is a phenomenon that has already caught up with the Republican Party and is in the process of destroying it, and it will succeed if the Republicans do not immediately take intervention measures, but it is lurking at the doorstep of the Democratic Party. One would think that elected Democrats would learn from the Republican Party’s dilemma and begin to make any required changes now.  However, not only is there no guarantee that this will happen but because most politicians seem to have become so brainwashed from practicing boilerplate politics, the odds would suggest that it is more likely that it will not happen.

Under these circumstances the odds would suggest that elected Democrats will eschew the opportunity to learn by way of a vicarious lesson and be forced to learn by personal experience. They will likely be unable to come up with a workable balance between their big money constituents and the everyday American voter so they will opt for their big money constituents.  They will then count on their charisma and the sleek ads that they purchase with the money that they receive from their big money constituents to charm everyday American voters and get their votes.

They will be unable to accept that this does not work until they experience what the Republican Party is now experiencing. Is this a cynical way to think?  Maybe.  Is it an unreasonable way to think?  No.  As a matter of fact, I hope that this will not occur and that Democrats will take the vicarious route to learning this particular lesson.

To be fair, it is hard to blame politicians for choosing this route with the way that our election system is set up. This system can only be changed with the insistence by voters that it be changed and with their help to assure that it is changed.  As I have mentioned many times before – and will continue to mention for as long as it takes to get the attention of voters and move them to act on this issue, we need to stop assigning such a small value to our collective power as voters.  We have been subliminally trained to do this by those rich and powerful constituents who do not want us to recognize and exercise that power.

During the recent Democratic debate, Senator Bernie Sanders asked the question as to whether or not we want to be a nation run by the people or one run by an oligarchy consisting of the rich and powerful. It is obvious that we are not an oligarchy but a democracy.  But in order to assure that we do not operate like an oligarchy we should always exercise our right to vote.

It is important to note that not all of those who are rich and powerful are trying to suppress the power and input of those who are not among their ranks. And it is just as important to note that the large majority of those who are not rich and powerful are not opposed to the rich and powerful.  The fact is that many of us would someday like to be counted among their ranks.  The point is that we all should have an equal voice in our democracy and that the majority should prevail.

Regardless of the actual outcome of the interesting occurrences that are taking place during the current Democratic and Republican debates, whether we are Democrats, Republicans or Independents we must continue the march forward as everyday American voters to assure that big money constituents do not have an outsized influence on our elected officials; we can do that by way of voting. And always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis

The Democrats held their first debate on October 13, 2015. As you probably know, it was hosted by CNN and the moderator was Anderson Cooper.  I must admit that before I tuned in to the debate I anticipated that it would be boring but I had long ago decided that I would watch it anyway.  Not only had I decided that I would watch it but I had also determined that I would somehow endure the full two-and-a-half hours.

Boy am I glad that I decided to watch it! More than 15 million other Americans apparently decided to watch it as well.  It was worth every bit of my time and I believe that the rest of the 15 million plus people who watched it likely felt that it was worth it for them too.

Initially, I had become less than enthusiastic about watching it because I had watched the full long-and-drawn-out Republican debates where very few issues that we Americans are concerned about were addressed. And those issues that were addressed, if you will permit me to use the word ‘addressed’ without insulting your intelligence because the subject issues were in effect ignored, were addressed quickly and superficially so that the candidates could get back to insulting one another, immigrants, sitting lawmakers and – in general – the American people.

The Democratic debate was just the opposite of the Republican debates. It was very informative and it allowed one the opportunity to gain important insight into where each candidate stands on the issues that are currently at the forefront with Americans whether they are Democrat, Republican or Independent.

It was a major win for the two front-runners, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. I have said before in a number of articles in my blog that I like Senator Sanders as a candidate.  I like him even more after witnessing how he comported himself during the debate when he had the opportunity to really hammer Secretary Clinton on her email problems and on her relationship with Wall Street but instead, chose to take the high road.

Senator Sanders made it clear during that particular exchange about Secretary Clinton’s email problems that what he was about to say was not a gaffe. So I believe that his decision not to take full advantage of her comment regarding her efforts to reign in the Wall Street crowd was not a mistake and a missed opportunity either but a realistic glimpse of who Senator Bernie Sanders really is.  He is a true statesman.

Senator Sanders has some weaknesses with Democrats, especially the base, when it comes to guns issues and the support of African Americans. He has had a clash or two with the Black Lives Matter group on issues that impact in particular on African Americans and other people of color.  This has obviously had an impact on how he is viewed as a candidate by African Americans.

I believe that Senator Sanders is a sincere and fair-minded politician who stands on principle and who wants all Americans to be treated equally and allowed the opportunity to prosper based on their ability and willingness to work hard to achieve their dreams. I hope that this is how all African Americans, despite our differences of opinion with him, will view him.  Differences of opinion can be worked out or adversaries can respectfully agree to disagree.  Differences of opinion notwithstanding, Senator Bernie Sanders has proven by way of his record as a politician that he is not an enemy of African Americans; therefore, he should be viewed and treated as the statesman that he is.

Having said that, I do not believe that Senator Sanders is electable. Polls show that a Socialist, which Senator Sanders openly admits that he is, cannot be elected to the highest office in America.  Even if he could be, given that Hillary Clinton is running to be the 2016 Democratic nominee I would not vote for him; I would vote for her.

I reiterate that I have long been and still am an avid supporter of Secretary Clinton. I believe that she should be the next person to take the helm of the Democratic Party as President of the United States of America.  It is my opinion that she was the overall winner of the debate and her performance went a long way to regain the confidence of those who had begun to doubt her as a result of the email server and emails problems that continue to cloud her campaign efforts.

The fact that Representative Kevin McCarthy all but admitted that the Benghazi Committee was established to pull down her poll numbers and other Republicans are beginning to speak up with regard to the questionable purpose of this committee should further boost her chances to regain the loss of supporters that she has experienced.

Let’s all get behind the Democrat of our choice for President and move forward with the primary process. And when the 2016 general election time arrives, let’s come together and put the Democratic nominee – whomever that may be, in office.

Eulus Dennis

What’s up with the US congress nowadays? It seems that they have a new job. That job is establishing committees; what a great idea! I guess one can’t blame them for revisiting this facet of their job, sort of reinventing it, elevating its importance and looking at it as a new job… sort of. After all, they have spent the last few years doing nothing and everybody gets tired of that, don’t they?

They have grown weary of battling this public image of being a ‘do nothing’ congress. So fortunately, one day out of the clear blue someone came up with a brilliant idea. Let’s put an end to this crazy perception by the public of us being a do nothing congress and establish committees one of them must have suggested. Other members in the group must have thought it was a good idea too because that is what they are doing now.

Yeah, that group that was swept into office in 2010 and 2014 is really making things happen. It’s hard to keep track of how many committees they have established, how many investigations they have conducted, what those investigations were conducted on and how long they lasted. I think that it was Rachel Maddow who suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that maybe they should establish a select committee to investigate select committees. I hope that none of these congressmen were watching her show that day because a light bulb might have flashed on inside their heads and we might soon see a select committee to investigate select committees. If that happens, blame Rachel.

On the serious side, I am really tired of hearing about all of these committees that are investigating some group or someone. There are plenty of more serious problems that America is faced with that would keep congress busy for a long time to come if they would start governing instead of trying to figure out what committee they should establish next.

Think about this. Since President Obama was elected Republican leaders have cast doubt on whether he was born in the US and is a ‘legitimate’ President, we have had an elected member of congress yell out ‘you lie’ during the President’s State Of The Union address, had 47 US senators write and sign an open letter to the leaders of Iran warning them not to negotiate with the US President because he might not be able to follow through on his commitments to them, invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – against President Obama’s wishes – to speak before a joint session of congress to contradict a foreign policy decision that President Obama made, publicly label President Obama as a weakling compared to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his great strength as a leader, label him time-and-again as a lawless President and threaten to sue him for decisions that he has made and the list goes on. Surely no other US president has endured such disrespect of himself and the office.

Unfortunately, since those who were elected to office in the 2010 and 2014 elections entered congress, it appears that congress’s ability to actually govern has become worse. It also seems that some Republicans have come up with their own definition of the word ‘lawless.’ It seems that their definition is that it is anyone who disagrees with them on any issue.

For example, President Obama has been labeled as lawless for implementing Executive Orders that he has every right to implement as President and the Supreme Court Justices who supported same sex marriage have been labeled as lawless for rendering that majority decision. Some Republican leaders have even encouraged Americans to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling.

What is happening to us? Why are our lawmakers acting this way instead of working with one another to solve this problem and all of the other pressing problems that we are faced with? What has caused them to decide that they would rather waste America’s time and money establishing politically motivated committees that spend years and large amounts of money on investigations that lead to nowhere? Why do they refuse to govern? Could it be that they just do not know how? That is a scary thought but it appears that this could actually be the case.

If things continue to go the way that they are currently going I hope that voters will come to their senses and begin to clean up this terrible mistake that they made in 2010 and 2014. I hope that after witnessing how this gang of inexperienced, young uninformed politicians have come in and been instrumental in bringing about the demise of top Republican leaders in the House and perhaps focusing on trying to do the same thing to top Republican leaders in the Senate, that voters will put a stop to this nonsense.

What makes the situation even worse is that they have no idea of who they will replace these lost leaders with and how those that replace them will perform in their new positions. Kevin McCarthy is projected to be the new Speaker; have you heard him speak? If you have, what do ya think? If you haven’t, oh well…

Wait; newsflash! In the event that you have not already heard the news, based on an article by The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis entitled ‘Kevin McCarthy has dropped out of race for House speaker’, Kevin McCarthy is no longer a candidate to replace Speaker John Boehner. As of Thursday, 10/8, every well-known news show and likely most of those that are not so well-known have verified this. Wow! The situation is even worse than I thought; it’s back to square one.

Eulus Dennis

It is hard to believe that all of this noise about doing something about gun violence as the result of the latest mass shooting is anything more than just that; noise. If all of those elementary school children could die at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Americans could become angry and raise the decibels about confronting the issue of gun violence and yet nothing happened as a result of it, it is hard to envision a situation that could occur that would make something actually happen aside from a lot of noise.

I realize that adults also lost their lives in this tragedy and my intension is not to marginalize those lost lives by placing emphasis on the children whose lives were lost. But, instead, my intension is to emphasize how numb we must have become to this kind of thing in America to know that all of these children died such a violent and unwarranted death and yet do absolutely nothing about it. Perhaps some of these deaths could have been prevented if when previous tragedies like Sandy Hook occurred we had put reasonable gun laws in place.

But we will never know because every attempt to establish such laws has been successfully apposed. The opposition to these laws has usually been led by the NRA even while polls show that many of its members are not opposed to them. This leads some to wonder why the NRA is opposed to reasonable gun laws and why they continue to always hammer home their ‘slippery slope’ mantra.

I read an article in the New York Times by Alan Berlow entitled ‘Who the N.R.A. Really Speaks For.’ Mr. Berlow opened that article with the following words:

An angry and exasperated President Obama, speaking to the nation last Thursday after the slaughter in Roseburg, Ore., made one oblique reference to the National Rifle Association, asking gun owners to question whether their “views are properly being represented by the organization that suggests it’s speaking for you.”

According to that article, a 2012 poll found that “87 percent of gun owners supported criminal background or ‘Brady’ checks for all gun purchases.” It further stated that by December of that same year “92 percent of Americans supported background checks for all buyers, including those buying on the Internet and at gun shows.”

Although the decibels were raised, the NRA once again simply circled the wagons and waited for them to die down, which they did, before it launched its own devastating – and once again extremely effective – counterattack. Those politicians controlled by the NRA licked the NRA’s boots, we American voters soon became frustrated and lost interest and things returned to what we have come to accept as normal in our country. No reasonable deterrents were put into place in an effort to mitigate the proliferation of gun violence and the NRA once again faded into the shadows and is, in all likelihood, lurking there while watching and waiting for their next opportunity to pounce on a helpless hapless public.

Chalk up another victory for the NRA under the relentless and effective leadership of its president, Wayne LaPierre. And chalk up another devastating loss to the American people and especially to all of those people who have lost loved ones to gun violence. American voters must accept the fact that the longstanding effectiveness of the NRA is due in no small part to the failure of too many American voters who fail – for whatever reason – to exercise their right to vote.

Those Americans who advocate for the implementation of reasonable gun control laws must also accept the fact that the NRA will continue to dictate the agenda on issues surrounding guns as long as American voters allow them to do so. We have the power to change the NRA’s dominance on this issue if we vote. Our votes can decide how long we continue to have bootlicking politicians who constantly ignore our voices and listen to those of the rich and powerful people and organizations that line their coffers during election cycles.

I recommend that you read Alan Berlow’s article ‘Who the N.R.A. Really Speaks For.’ It will give you a shocking overview of the kind of power that the NRA wields. While I do not agree with the blanket statement in Mr. Berlow’s article, which states that “…the N.R.A. [is] no longer the voice of law-abiding gun owners, but rather a voice for criminals” I found it to be highly informative. Therefore, for your convenience, I have provided a link to it. You can read the article in its entirety simply by clicking on the link.

Eulus Dennis

There is a faction of Republicans on the right that is destroying the Republican Party and has the potential to seriously jeopardize the ability of America to effectively govern. It is hard for me to understand exactly what it is that those who espouse the ideals of this group truly want.

There are many among them who say that they want to elect politicians who will fight President Obama and not compromise with him under any circumstances. They feel strongly enough about this that they recently felled their top leader in the House of Representatives. And after doing that, Senator Marco Rubio said that it was time for new leadership. Not to be outdone, Bobby Jindal – Republican governor of Louisiana, even said that it was time for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to follow suit.

The 2016 Republican presidential candidates, among which are Senator Rubio and Governor Jindal , are likely saying negative things about establishment politicians in hopes that they will get a boost in their poll numbers and enhance their chances to become the nominee. Both of these candidates are trailing Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina who are all outsiders that have never held elected office and who have no political experience.

All of those candidates that are trailing the three frontrunners seem to be trying to emulate, of all people… wait for it, wait for it, wait for it; Donald Trump. All of these seasoned politicians are trying to pattern themselves after The Donald! This is the same man that when he first entered the race that many of them said would not last long at all. Some in the Republican Party even labeled him as a Joke and clown. Now the 2016 candidates are trying to emulate him?

What makes this whole thing so bizarre is that Mr. Trump is saying that he will do a lot of things that are all but impossible to do and he has provided no details as to how he would go about doing them. As seasoned politicians these other presidential candidates know that many of the things that Mr. Trump is saying that he will do as President he will be totally unable to do unilaterally yet they refuse to confront him on this and instead try to emulate him.

All the while that these candidates are following Mr. Trump down the primrose path Republican members of congress are once again demanding that the government be shut down unless they get their way and the Republican Party is coming apart at the seams. Why aren’t Republicans more focused on what is happening to their Party and working to prevent its utter demise?

Although I have hammered Speaker John Boehner in this blog more than a few times for being an ineffective leader, even I realize what a tough job that he has in trying to be reasonable and govern while trying to lead a fractious group that is full of rebels whose desire is not focused on governance but on getting their way on everything and if that doesn’t happen, their first resort always is to shut down the government. That is where the problem is. Democrats and Republicans need to have discourse in order to be able to resolve their differences. And they cannot even begin to do this if one side demands that you agree to do everything their way and if you do not agree to that, then that is a deal breaker and discourse cannot even begin.

It is reasonable to assume that those who make these kinds of demands know that in a democracy when there is disagreement as to what should be done and how it should be done, no one ever gets 100% of what they want. If things are to be resolved at all then everyone must give up something in order to reach common ground. That is how things work in a democracy.

This seems to be a case in which a group that is in the minority is demanding that things be done exactly as they want them to be done or they will destroy the system. The really sad part about it is that they are not bluffing! It is unlikely that they would succeed but without doubt, they would try.

What this means is that – under the circumstances – rational Democrats, Republicans, and Independents must come together and reasonably work together to prevent the destruction of the Republican Party. This will be for the common good because we need a two party system. And just as important, we have too many true conservative Republicans who have too many good, meaningful and workable ideas that would be good for America to allow an irrational group – that is in the minority in the Republican Party – to destroy those true rational conservatives.

This is something that should be done now. Although it might be intriguing and tempting to some elected Democrats and their constituents to wait and watch to first see if the demise of the Republican Party would provide some kind of a strategic advantage for Democrats in the hope that everything would then be rosy, it is too much of a risk. And as previously mentioned, we need a two party system. So the best thing to do is begin to work to solve this problem now!

Eulus Dennis

Anytime that people without money and power challenge the rich and powerful, the chance that those without money and power will prevail is slim-to-none. If I could come up with a phrase that represented something less than slim-to-none without it meaning absolute zero, I would; but those without money and power do win at least once out of every ‘some unimaginably large and scary number to even envision.’

One of the main reasons why this is the case is because the rich and powerful created the system and, of course, they skewed it to favor the rich and powerful. Our whole system of justice is built on a foundation of money. As usual, it is always about the money. It seems that if you follow the money all the way through, ultimately, you will always find the true answer.

You see, if you want a top-of-the-line (expensive) lawyer, you have to have money. If you need to do research, you have to have money. If the other side’s attorneys bury your side’s attorneys in unwarranted paperwork as a result of ‘Discovery’, you have to have money. If the case is long and drawn out due to appeals or for whatever reason, you have to have money; and the list goes on.

The rich and powerful know this and they never fail to use it to their advantage. If you are looking for a judge that will see through the antics of those rich and powerful people that you have challenged and who are blatantly guilty of the allegations that you have leveled against them, you are out of luck. Judges have a job to do based on the law and they are sworn to do that job so are going to do it. It does not matter that they may know that your side is right and that the other side is guilty as alleged. What matters is proof. And if your attorneys cannot prove your allegations are true, then you will lose.

The system is obviously rigged in favor of the rich and powerful and until something is done to level the playing field the few will continue to dominate the many. The playing field can be leveled but, aside from non-violent civil disobedience, efforts to level it should be made within the law. And even the non-violent civil disobedience should not be the first resort.

This whole money-based approach that we seem to take to everything in our country is deep-seated in our politics. Our political system is a money-based system that currently requires our politicians to depend too heavily on the rich and powerful in order to be elected or to continue to hold the office that they are already in. This gives the rich and powerful (the few) far too much leverage over those without money and power (the many) and, thereby, allows them to control our politicians and be king makers.

This should not be the case and we, as American voters, can put a stop to it simply by getting and staying informed on political issues, elected officials and candidates that are running for elected positions and then exercising our right to vote. Until we do this, politicians will continue to smile at us and say all of the things that we want to hear while continuing to kowtow to billionaires and millionaires. They will be our ‘Lonesome Rhodes’ that smile at us to our face and laugh uncontrollably at us behind our backs.

A good example of this and an eye-opener is the 2016 presidential campaign. The rich and powerful folks are sorting through the candidates and winnowing the field, which use to be the job of early voting states. Once the field of candidates has been narrowed down to the final two, they will start their process of trying to pick the winner by flooding the airwaves (which costs tons of money) with commercials favoring their candidate and tearing down the opponent.

As it stands, those politicians that are political puppets were responsible for setting up and reinforcing the money-driven election system that we are saddled with right now. American voters are the political pawns that far too many politicians use to achieve their political goals and further their political ambitions. And far too many of us American voters have willingly allowed ourselves to be used as political pawns by virtue of our complacency as regards politics, the meager value that we place on our right to vote and our failure to actually vote.

Although we reserve the right to complain about how unfair the system is, we should not complain if we are not willing to do our part to change things by voting; it has the appearance of diminishing our sincerity about what it is we are fighting for.

We can change things if we are willing to put in the time and effort. Let’s resolve to do that. This does not mean that things will then be exactly as we want them to be. But what it does mean is that we will have had our say and input into how we would like them to be. That is fair and all that one should really expect; the final outcome will be up to the will of the majority of the people who accept the responsibility of voting and take the time to actually do it.

And finally; whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis