Breaking Gridlock

The public is disgusted with government. Why can't they get anything done? How can America move forward with this partisan gridlock?

Here are some ways to break the gridlock:

1. Impeach and convict and remove the president AND the vice president for no just cause, so that current Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) can become president. The Democrats in the Senate wouldn't enjoy cooperate because it's their duty to try a president and convict him/her.

2. Vote to overturn the majority of the House of Representatives -- throw out Speaker Boehner. Then Democrats would have control of the House, Senate and presidency. This would require a huge number of House races (currently being contested) to flip from Republican control to Democratic. Nobody has found a way to convince that many voters to change their vote.

3. Vote to kick out Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) who has abused the filibuster as nobody before ever dreamt possible. But, Republicans would elect another Leader who would probably continue the practice.

4. Vote to turn over the Senate to the Republicans. Problem is, only one-third of the Senate seats are up for election each cycle, so this would require at least another election. And, nobody has found a way to convince the electorate to change their views that fast.

In short, you can't just enforce "getting things done". If the public are not of a unified view, if there is no consensus, then things just aren't going to get done.

So, what should the voter do? Vote for the person you think is going to do the best job, as you see that. It's what the Founders of this country wanted. They didn't think it always necessary for Congress to move quickly or at all. They thought it was important for a sound majority to exist before anything could or should happen. Not changing things isn't the end of the world (usually).

As a partisan Democrat it bothers me that certain things aren't getting done and I blame Republicans for holding back the nation. There are Republicans who say it's President Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi (House Democrats Leader) and all the Democrats who are standing in the way. This is an extreme case of partisanship or of ideologies being less overlapping, but it is not "against the rules" or "a broken Congress". It's just frustrating.