The Congressional Super-Committee: What a Joke!

by Frank Li

So the Congressional Super-Committee has just failed miserably. What a joke! Surprised? You should not! It was set up to fail three months ago! The politicians got the political cover by passing the buck to the committee: the Democrats got the debt limit increase they needed, while the Republicans allowed it without meeting their ultimatum of no new taxes. This whole thing was a mutually agreed conspiracy to kick the can down the road yet again, postponing the day of reckoning …

The American political system is essentially a 2-party system. To succeed as a Congressman or Congresswoman, which was paved as a career by the law-makers after WWII, you must pledge allegiance to your party, which will help you not only get elected in the first place, but also get re-elected again and again, without term-limits! As a result, serving the country has become an abstraction with a lower priority, but serving the party is of primary importance with tangible personal benefits day in and day out. Furthermore, because a party is backed by various special interest groups (e.g. unions and the defense industry), serving the party simply means serving the special interest groups! Still wondering how and why our national debt and deficit are so out-of-control now? Wonder not! The system is designed to spend only, for various special interest groups. We can’t cut, because any cut would offend one special interest group at least, which is much more costly for the politicians than to simply hand out more – It’s out of the public treasury, anyway!

Yes, the Super-Committee was a joke! Saddened? Don’t! The American Presidency looks more and more like a joke too: Virtually no qualifications are required, just sign up to run: “It’s easier to sign up as a candidate for president than it is to apply for a job at McDonald’s”! Winning is, of course, a lot harder, but it’s a popularity contest not even as serious as American Idol.

Saddened by such a miserable summary of the American Presidency? Don’t! While George W. Bush will prove to be the worst American President in history (so far), President Barack Obama has proven to be a joke. Here is an excerpt from my earlier post:

“Senator Obama had no executive experience of running anything, not even a candy shop, and his resume was not good enough to run any American company. Yet he won the popularity contest of the American Presidency! Now, has President Obama spent enough of your grandchildren’s money to buy your vote for his re-election?”

How to fix the problem? Change the political system, starting with 1-term (e.g. 6 years) for the American Presidency, on top of raising the statutory requirements (e.g. age 55+ and one full-term governorship)! For Congress, some kind of term-limits is a must, preferably 1-term (e.g. 6 years) as well!

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Articles by Frank Li

About the Author

Frank Li is the Founder & President of W.E.I. (West-East International), a Chicago-based import & export company. Frank received his B.E. from Zhejiang University (China) in 1982, M.E. from the University of Tokyo in 1985, and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1988, all in Electrical Engineering. He worked for several companies until 2004, when he founded his own company W.E.I. Today, W.E.I. is a leader in the weighing industry not only in products & services, but also in thought and action. Dr. Li writes extensively and uniquely on politics, for which he has been called “a modern-day Thomas Jefferson” (see page 31).