WASHINGTON - Robert Hirsch wonders where all the statesmen have gone. Ed Laliberte wishes politicians would stop bickering and start fixing the nation's ills. Diane Heller says everybody in Washington is corrupt or out of touch.
"I don't see any great leaders on the horizon," says Heller, a Pleasant Valley, N.Y., real estate broker.
These voters are not alone. More and more, Americans are frustrated with politics as usual in Washington, where incompetence, arrogance, corruption and mindless partisanship seem the norm rather than the exception — a pox on both the Republican and Democratic parties.
Analysts say the public may be getting angry enough to give the U.S. political system a jolt, one way or another.
Voters could toss Republicans from power in Congress this fall, or turn the White House over to Democrats in 2008.
Maverick reform-minded Democrats and Republicans might shake up their parties.
Or perhaps voter unrest will fuel a credible third-party presidential campaign.
"There is certainly a lot of anti-incumbency out there and neither of these parties is doing swimmingly well," said independent pollster Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center.
His surveys suggest a throw-the-bums-out mentality is on the upswing, especially among independent voters.
I would love to see real leaders step up and provide concrete solutions to help solve these problems, but I still doubt these leaders will emerge. Our political system is corrupted by money, by corporate influences, and by extremist ideologues. And those politicians who are in power, will do whatever they can to maintain the power, money and influences they currently have, rather than enact reforms that may reduce their power and influence.
The only way for real reform to occur in Washington, is for a major disaster to hit this country--a disaster more powerful than 9/11 or Katrina. A disaster that will affect everyone in this country, similar to the Great Depression of 1929. Only in this manner will you have a large number of Americans angry enough to demand accountability from their politicians, and are willing to rise up and fight against the transgressions and incompetence of their lawmakers. Will such a disaster take place? I can't say.
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