I received a call from the Oregon Democratic Committee a few weeks ago asking me for money. I said no. I’ve gotten to the point in my life that I can’t relate to either party and, after this call, finally filed the paperwork to become an independent.
I don’t usually talk politics here but feel so strongly about what’s happening to our country. I’m worried. David Brooks wrote a tremendous article recently that gets at the crux of the problem. As a nation we have moved away from the hard work and thrift ethos that made us the world’s greatest.
Personal debt has gone from 55% of GDP to 130% of GDP over 60 years. Finally, in the past year, we seem to have gotten the message and are saving more. But the government can’t stop spending. We will be closing in on $1 trillion per year in interest payments alone by 2020!
It’s both parties. The control-spending Republicans seem to be all but gone now. Instead of fighting the Democrats urge to spend, the party seems to have devolved into a spitball throwing organization. Instead of smart conversations about affordability of health care and the smartness of government hand-outs, we get lunacy like “death panels.”
And the Democrats, never one to say no to a government hand-out, must be drunk with power, handing out dollars to everyone who asks without requiring anything in return. (Yes, I’m talking to you, car companies and financial institutions.) The party owned by fiefdoms of lawyers and unions and PERS programs can’t say no to the very people that put them in office.
I get the sense that there’s a backlash coming. And I get the sense that those of us who care about such things are struggling for a way to fight back. Running a start-up (in essence) as we re-invent Infinity Softworks for the third time, I’m working and supporting a family of four on less than the median US wage, while I save money each month at the same time.
And it seems, with each passing day, that doing what’s best for me and mine is not nearly enough. It seems that something more is needed. The problem is I don’t know what to do.
Elia Insider 
Welcome to the Independent movement! I’ve been one since the day I was old enough to register to vote. I couldn’t agree with you more that the two prevailing parties are a complete crock at this point! They are held hostage by extreme thinking and behave like 15 years olds entering the “hard years” of puberty.
I think the answer is a third party who represents most Americans – moderate thinkers not loud mouths. Gen X just needs to step up and take the reigns for a change instead of sitting back and watching it all play out. We have to be MacGyver and solve the problems!
Larry Lessig and Joe Trippi have founded ChangeCongress.org, which aims to remove the non-public money from campaigns which give us the corrupt and totally failed legislative branch of government that is at the heart of the problem you posted about.
Here is a great video of Larry’s presentation:
http://change-congress.org/who/