Stop The Gridlock

To kick off the New Year I am working on a petition directed at our Legislative Branch. I know it's probably futile, but the prospect of many, many people directly telling them we are fed up at least feels good in my belly. Please read below and let me know what YOU think? Would you sign it and pass it on? What, if anything, would you change?

Here it is:

Our Democracy has reached a tipping point with Political gridlock which our Founding Fathers never envisioned. They expected we would have our political differences, but they also expected that as Americans first, we would work together to resolve those those differences. The emergence of Party First idealism is tearing our Democracy apart. It is up to our current Leaders to correct this abuse of our Constitution and restore sense and civility to the legislative process. Presently we have lost our way. We,the undersigned demand an end to Political maneuvering to empower Political Party over Country.

In this regard, 1. We demand that any Legislation passed by Congress be voted on by the Senate and any Legislation passed by the Senate be voted on by the House of Representatives. 2. We demand a return to use of the Filibuster as it was intended. The tracking system, which began in the early 1970s and allowed other business to proceed during a filibuster, along with the reforms of 1975, divorced the filibuster from debate and ruined it's original intentions.

Today, filibusters are used to prevent debate, not extend it. They don’t require anyone to talk about anything, which reduces the barriers to using this extreme tactic and renders the concept of extended debate a hollow shell. All but a few of the hundreds of filibusters that have taken place in the past three decades involved no debate at all. 

We believe that through the implementation of these two changes that the Legislative Branch will return to its intended function and problems will begin finding solutions. Anything else is self serving and not in the best interest of the Country.