If you don't like to read angry blog posts about political stuff, stop now. You have been warned.
In the United States, I sometimes wonder if certain folk who are in charge (and certain agencies) are intentionally trying to destroy the country. A recent ruling by the EPA about drilling in Alaska is a wonderful example of this form of rampant, destructive stupidity. There seem to be too many government agencies that have either outlived their usefulness or which have interests that conflict with their mandate.
Alas there are not too many solutions to all this government overburden. If there was sufficient political power in Washington (house, senate, etc.) one could simply de-fund and otherwise eliminate all the waste. Hopefully a solution like this will be sufficient and timely enough to get the job done. For otherwise, at the moment, it seems that a new sort of civil war may be looming in our own country.
What can one person do in such times? Be aware of the issues. Vote for folk whom you think will do a good job. Vote with your wallet and don't support candidates or companies who are doing piss-poor jobs. Be vocal, find sensible ways to express yourself and your opinions. Make the system work for you, so that the system can be used in a self-correcting mechanism.
After all it is only after all other reasonable efforts to fix the country have failed that more extreme measures should be considered. I dearly hope that that day will not come in my lifetime, for our country has already had to live through one such event and it may not survive another.
