My take on why Washington is failing us right now...

Surely I am not the only person to have thought of this...

While contemplating recently on the state of our country, and our two choices for President, this great idea popped into my head... Why can't we vote for congressional seats every other odd year and President every 4th even year?

So the presidential election wouldn't change... It would still be the same as it is now, less changes to the electoral college which is a whole different discussion...

Now, the real change would be congressional seats... I mean, lets face it, when does being the president really make a difference? Is Obama making a difference right now? Or is he simply a figurehead for the senate? His first two years he could have done anything he wanted... Is that how our government is supposed to work? Aren't we supposed to have checks and balances? In the first two years it was just a lot of checks, not so much balance... And now, it's just a lot of back and forth bickering like school girls... Sad really...

What if the monkey wrench were thrown into play that would force us to have the house and senate be of the opposite party as the incumbent president? When was the last time we had a balanced budget? Who was the best president of the past 20 years? I'm a conservative leaning libertarian, but I will acknowledge that Bill Clinton did more for this country than Bush and Obama have. And why was Clinton such a good president? Because he had a house and senate that agreed with each other, and opposed him.

See, if Clinton agreed with a law, it was easy to sign the law and move it along the conveyor belt... However, if he didn't like it he could veto it. It created the perfect storm of checks and balances.

He can tell house and senate majority leaders what he wants, and they have to draft something they agree on, and still have the president like what he sees in the end. It forces bipartisan voting and working accross party lines...

Sorry for the long winded BS, but the silliness must come to an end... We all know better than to think that when the right or left controls the Senate / House / Presidency, it never works out well. And when both legs of the legislative branch are controlled by the same part which is opposite of the controlling party of the executive branch, things just work.

It's a wild concept... And I really don't care which way it would go... If Executive is republican, the seats available in the next odd year congressional election are only available to democrats. And vice versa...

I guess the biggest point here is, there has to be a better way to ensure that the checks and balances exist. A "Supermajority" of either leg of congress, and certainly legislative and executive being from the same party should never be allowed again. It is absolutely ridiculous watching the political stalemate that has transformed this country from a super power to a super joke...