ABOLISHING POLITICS Are you utterly disenchanted with politics in America? If so, you are not alone. It is increasingly rare to find anyone who is not completely exasperated by the current (and seemingly unending) political chaos. But believe it or not, there is actually a way to completely rid ourselves of this interminable menace. And how do we do that, you ask? Very simple. We bring back the draft. Before you jump out of your skin, let me explain. When I say bring back the draft I'm talking about something a little different than what you normally think of whenever you hear that highly volatile word. I'm talking about a draft of everyone, of every citizen without exception, and not—ipso facto—a draft into military service. Service, yes, but not necessarily in the military. The worthless politicians are famous for giving a lot of lip service to the idea of public service, and I think we would all agree that engaging in civic duties is indeed a good thing (if only there were more of it). The problem with public service, however (as it is currently practiced), is that not everyone may participate in it. You have to be rich to run for office. Consequently, politics in America is all about money, no matter what the politicians are mouthing off about. The only way to effectively change our situation and really do something about our problems is to change the system to make it possible for anyone to serve in a legislative capacity. We need to strip the rich of their exclusive power to make the laws. We need to figure out a way to put the poor and middle class in office. Such a task is not as daunting as it might at first seem. Already we are in command of the technology that would enable us to pull it off. In the same way that anyone (rich or poor) may be selected for jury duty, the same kind of system should be implemented for the purpose of selecting representatives to serve at the legislative level. Instead of someone running for office (always a person of means) and going through all the nonsense and lying involved in the process of campaigning, we should simply select our legislators in the same way we select citizens to serve as members of a jury. In other words, make it a form of public service that we as citizens are required to participate in, not something that we may be involved with if we just happen to be wealthy. Yes, bring back the draft, fully modified to include everyone, some for military service, some for legislative (or other public) service. Being drafted into the legislative service should only apply to the House of Representatives. The Senate would remain an elected group. That way we could still have elections for those who are so insistent on maintaing their right to choose their lawmakers. It would constitute a sort of compromise between the rich and poor. Both classes could serve and thus participate in the process. I am sure that you can think of reasons why such a system would not work, and you might be right; but you have to admit, it couldn't possibly any worse than it is now. Could it?
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