Implications of the Dysfunctional Political System in the U.S.

Experts have been pronouncing on the subject every week yet no commentator has pointed out one of the main reasons for dysfunction in the US political system. One-third of the members of the House and the Senate are due for election every two years. These lawmakers are fighting either the Primary race or the election itself over most of this period. They are in no position to support unpopular decisions no matter how important these are to the country. That is why there are never any meaningful cuts in expenditures and no increase in taxes. Add the lack of party discipline to the mix, you have a recipe for the economic disaster the country is facing now and has little chance of avoiding.

Earlier this month, three wings of the U.S. government cobbled together an agreement at the last moment which increased the debt limit and averted the disaster but did nothing to solve the basic problem. A bipartisan committee with no authority to enforce its conclusions has been given the job of identifying savings. In the meantime, the TEA party republicans are as determined as ever to hobble the government by opposing any meaningful legislation to increase the revenues. With industry in doldrums, growth near zero, unemployment high and the citizens scared to spend on things most of them don’t need and a President too weak to stare down the belligerent opposition it will take a miracle to solve fundamental problems in the economy which have persisted for some time.

The system of government with three evenly weighted wings was designed to neutralize the prospect of any region or community dominating others in the eighteenth century for a widely dispersed agrarian society with no means of rapid communication. It served the country well for a long time but it does not meet the demands of an industrial society with a population a hundred times larger and infinitely more diverse than it was in the days of the Founders. It is the failure of this antiquated system still venerated by much of the population and paid lip service to by those who know better that has got the U.S. into such a mess. The recent events show that the government is unable to take strong unpopular steps that are needed and therefore has become ineffective and is incapable of even trying to solve serious problems. United States is a great country in so many ways and is blessed with many natural resources and incredible human talent much like the other Super Power of not so long ago. The situation of President Obama may not appear as serious as that faced by Secretary Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in the late eighties but it is not much different. The capitalist system is more flexible than the communism was and it is possible that the U.S. would emerge stronger from the crisis. Still, as the situation stands today, we may be looking at the beginning of the end of the United States, much as the end two decades ago of the other great Federation that brought its economy to near collapse by spending more than its means allowed. The emergence of a strong anti Federation Tea Party candidate in Rick Perry, whose support in the disgruntled former Confederate states seems to far exceed that for President Obama, could hasten the process as Yeltsin’s obduracy did in Moscow.

Leaving aside the politics and focusing on the U.S. economy, is it possible that the consumerism is hitting the ceiling? There is only so much one can consume before the pills for indigestion fail to work. This has been the case with many developed economies for a while. Rather than a stronger medicine to fix the sickness, there is a need for a change in the life-style. We should devise a new economic system that does not demand growth every month but is based on stability – permitting a stable or declining population of workers to produce what is needed for comfortable living without suffering from over indulgence. Such a system will be consistent with ecological limits of the planet, emphasis on reduction of human population to a sustainable number and the long term survival of all life forms Mother Earth gave birth to. There will be no need of Super Powers, Economic Engines, Wall Street and other destructive paraphernalia we can’t seem to manage without at present. Although the likelihood of it happening is perhaps miniscule, one can only hope that the current system can gradually evolve to achieve these ends without a major catastrophe.


A new profession

Doormatologist: Helps in dealing with the psychological issues of subservient spouses.

A new Definition

Freezer: Storage for leftover food till you don’t feel guilty throwing it out.