Ok! It is now 1-1-11. I am sitting here thinking about what we have to look forward to this year. Well, for starters, we have the beginnings of the campaigns for the 2012 Presidential elections. That in itself makes me stop and do some thinking.

We elect a President for four year terms. In the past the campaign season happened in the actual election year and it only lasted a few months. Now we have never ending campaigns with a super heavy concentration for two years. That then leads me to the thought why do we give the President a four year term? He only concentrates on the first two years. The next two years are spent campaigning to get another four year term of which he will only spend two years doing anything of any significance and the next two years he will be lame duck because he can't run again so Congress wont give a hoot what he wants and will work on their own campaigns because they don't have term limits. Are you following me here?

Am I the only person who thinks we need to make some changes? I do believe there should be term limits for every person holding an elected position. It will prevent a lot of the graft and corruption that comes with holding an elected position for a lifetime. That in itself will bring about more honest hard work and save this country a ton of money. Don't tell me that isn't so. If you knew you could only hold the office for say, eight years, you would want to do your best and leave a good mark on that position you held. There wouldn't be time to create "good ol' boy networks". Major corporations and unions wouldn't get so established and hold such command over the politicians. There wouldn't be time or reason to do so. I also think we could do away with the party system. Run on their merits and win or lose on those merits. Keep fresh blood flowing and I don't mean the red liquid kind. John Adam said the two party system would be a bad thing and I think he was right. It all comes down to Republican and Democrat or for you Democrats reading this Democrats and Republicans. (I don't want to offend anyone) It doesn't come down to merits of ideas or honesty. It comes down to who is willing to do how much for the party. Never do the voters matter. A person will only be allowed to run by how much they are willing to give back to the party under the standards we have now. I have a friend who is a perfect example. This has a position she does extremely well. She is a huge benefit in that position. She may not get to hold that position because she is not out kissing the butts the party wants her to kiss. So, they will put someone up against her in the next election and help them win and her lose. Never mind the merits of what she is doing and how well she is doing it. Is this right? Absolutely not!! We have to change this. I have run for political office. Small as it was I still had to agree to terms from the party in order to get their endorsement. I will probably never run for office again because I realized that what I may accomplish in that position will not matter unless I kiss the butts they want kissed when they want them kissed. There is no sense of accomplishment when that happens.

I am going to leave it at this point for now. I will come back with more thoughts when I am not so tired. Happy New Year everyone and do me one favor this year....stay away from the media. If you want to know what is happening go online to your elected officials websites, to the Congressional websites, to your state and local websites and watch how your representatives vote. Download and read the bills even if they are over 2,000 pages. It is the only way you will know the truth. Decide for yourselves and not what the media tells you to think. Exercise your rights as Americans and not as puppets of a government.