My Christmas Wish

Santa doesn't bring us everything we may want, a lesson we all must learn at a very young age. The very best things in life are those things that we must work for on our own. I remember my mother passing along some biblical wisdom when I was a youngster, which I'll paraphrase: "God helps those who help themselves."

We only have our own efforts to ensure our success in life. This country was founded on that very concept and it is the only reason that our government has endured as long as it has. Why anyone would want to change that is beyond belief, yet that is exactly what has now happened.

We are now beyond the capacity to "fix" Washington. It is broken and beyond repair. So, you ask, what do you do when something is beyond repair? You tear it down and begin anew. It is time to get back to the basics.

Washington needs to be dismantled. It's present structure cannot be maintained, nor should be. Every single member of the Washington community, both elected or otherwise, needs to be purged. Recognizing the impossibility of that fact, we must begin somewhere. I suggest we begin with all elected officials and primarily those that have been a party to our present malaise. That list is long and extends to both political parties. So be it!

I will vote for the candidate of "No". I don't want to hear about what he or she thinks they could do better than the present bunch. I only want to hear about his or her commitment to ending the structure that currently exists. As with the current banking structure, the government needs to be broken down and services sent back to the regional level.

Wall Street needs to be disemboweled. The first and best way to do that is to re-enact something similar to the Glass-Steagall Act, ending forever the connection between investment banks and commercial banks. We have seen the disastrous results of that act's repeal with the financial meltdown of 2008. We cannot allow that to happen again.

A full, complete audit of the Federal Reserve must begin immediately. Only by shining the light of day on its practices can we begin to understand how to reform it. Special interests on Wall Street that have governed the Fed's actions must be exposed for the corrupt actions that they have wrought. Wall Street interests need to be replaced with Main Street interests.

I really don't think the above is asking a lot. We deserve so much less out of Washington than what we're getting.