Pulling up the Linoleum and Putting down Carpet

The following is a except from my book "Ravings of a Sane Man"

My brother was a carpet salesman. Because of this my parent’s house got all new carpet—the whole house. That means, the kitchen, bathroom, every bedroom, the hallway—every room. I don’t know if you have ever made that drastic change--going from linoleum to carpet. This is something that you have to get used to; it takes some time. It’s completely different, the way you treat it is different and the way it reacts is different. I no longer have to put on slippers just to get a drink in the winter (vinyl floors are cold), but now I have to act more quickly if I spill something. [We won’t even talk about going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.]

The Congress is about the same; every two years we have an election for Representatives and every six years for Senators. The number of incumbents is overwhelming; anyone who is newly elected has to spend his/her first term just getting to know the established in’s and out’s. The newcomers even have to attend an orientation meeting (well, series of meetings) so they can learn the system. WHY?!

These newcomers represent the throw rugs that go over the linoleum to cover the bad spots or to use while someone gets a drink of water. I just don’t think that is acceptable. What if we pulled up the ‘linoleum’ disaster and started over with all new ‘carpet’ rules? What if this November we elected an entirely new Legislative branch? Not the typical one-third we elect, but all of them—100%. That is, anyone who has served or is serving is not eligible for a position. Could we go further? Could we say that candidates cannot have held any elected office—from dogcatcher on up? Further, we tear up all the silly and burdensome procedures. Let the new guys and gals make their own rules about getting bills to be laws (within the limits of the Constitution). What is the worst thing that might happen—our Country gets deeper in debt; no good laws are passed; lobbyists get their way? OH MY, how would we live?

Dare we go further in the “remodel”? The congresspersons can only succeed themselves once. Chances are, even with this plan the new carpet we lay now would be threadbare and would closely resemble linoleum with in 18 years. So, we start over again, a whole new body of leaders. Where would all the red tape go? Would the ideas of a minority be better heard? Could everyone who feels that they could do some good get a better shot? These are real questions. These are hard questions. I don’t know the answers, but I do know that it is time to stop blaming the President (no matter how ridiculous we may think he is) and start blaming the ones who pass these silly laws that only corporations (or special interests) want—Congress.

I know, I know this is closer to the world of a fantasy than non-fiction. However, not that long ago, space travel was limited to the pages of fantasy books. So am I to believe we can live where there is no natural air, food, or water, but can’t change the way we govern ourselves? No, not hardly. Our government is an ever-changing entity, of course it can change this way—if we really want it.

We live in the best country in the world, but the best can always get better. I believe that starting over in congress with a few new rules (and a lot less of the old rules) would be a great step in the positive direction. The problem is, how are we going to convince these politicians to vote themselves out of work. Well, if we write enough letters, call enough times maybe we can get done what we feel is the right thing to do. Every year, at least one candidate in each party has term limitations in their platform—even if they are the underdog, maybe we can pay a little closer attention to them.

We can rip up the linoleum and start over gain....maybe not carpet, may tile, or hard wood, textured concrete.   But we've got to start thinking about this remodel in serious and meaningful ways.