“We’re sorry, America. We didn’t get the job done you sent us here to do. We’re weak and scared and unable to communicate the simplest of messages to the American people. Therefore, our bill will guarantee that 12 million of you will still have NO health insurance. And that’s because we have decided to leave the greedy, private insurance industry in charge of our system. Forgive us for this and for continuing to allow profit to be the determining factor as to whether a patient gets the help she or he needs.”
-Michael Moore, 3/17/10, http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Article from The Nation: Our Democracy No Longer Works and the Problem Is Congress

Solutions:

(1) Citizen-funded elections such as described in the current bill sponsored in the House by Democrat John Larson and Republican Walter Jones, in the Senate by Democrats Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter. That bill is a hybrid between traditional public funding and small-dollar donations.

(2) Ban members of Congress from working in any lobbying or consulting capacity in Washington for seven years after his or her term. Better yet would be banning them from employment of any kind with any corporation doing business with or lobbying the government.

(3) Overturn the recent Supreme Court decision allowing corporations unlimited political contributions. Some of this could be done by legislation but ultimately a Constitutional Amendment will be necessary and Congress will never write one, so the people must, by convening a Constitutional Convention (as provided for in the Constitution). This could be dangerous as a convention could make ANY changes to the Constitution (but they would still need 38 states to ratify), but the much greater danger is the status quo as the article link above makes clear.

My next effort here will go one step further.

#10: Detoxify This!
People who want to “detoxify” often don’t have any idea what ‘toxins’ they’re talking about. They may vaguely believe that modern life contaminates us with lots of bad things that we ought to get rid of. It’s reminiscent of religious fasting and purification rites. Orthodox Jewish women go to a ritual bath (Mikveh) that restores them to purity after childbirth or menstruation. Shamans used smoke for purification. Numerous religions observe periods of fasting. American Indians used sweat lodges for purification and sacred ceremonies. It’s mysticism, not science. Or bodies come equipped with livers, kidneys, stomachs, intestines, enzymes, and metabolic processes that deal with toxins efficiently with no outside help. There is no medical evidence to support any other methods or benefits of “detoxification.”