...All revolutions were first a thought in one man's mind...
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "History Essays," First series, 1841

Does the term revolution frighten you? The connotation is shooting, death and destruction. Would it surprise you to learn that an effective revolution could be successfully conducted without the use of force, without a shot being fired in anger and without world wide indignation? Such a feat is not only possible, but necessary when a government becomes riddled with corrupt politicians and self-serving bureaucrats.

Our government is very close to that position today. It is acknowledged all over the world that some of our politicians are for sale. In fact, some politically powerful corporations and foreign countries literally own some of our most powerful and influential members of the House and Senate. When I say that, I mean it in the context that they will go to bat for their real employers quicker and much more vigorously than they will for their constituents. They will put the interest of their employers before our national interest. They are well known within the Congress and to the lobbyists who circle the Capitol like vultures looking for prey. (They find plenty.)

There are incidents of blatant disregard of the public interests by members of Congress who take trips and benefits from the lobbyists to favor legislation for their clients. It seems to have become a favorite game for those who take that kind of payoff not to campaign openly for the interest of the lobby, but to have friends do it. It could be called indirect voting. The favor is returned when it comes time for the friend to go on his own junket.

Some of these people actually look the television camera in the eye and smile at the naivete of their constituents when they say, "We were talking business for my district."

Baloney! S-u-u-u-ure you were, Congressman. Now all who believe that colossal lie stand on your head. Governments usually collapse after the governed lose confidence in their leaders, which, in turn, leads to loss of confidence in the government itself. Therefore, phase one of our existence as a democratic republic may be about over. It lasted over two hundred years in spite of political bosses and corrupt politicians. Their part in the big picture was small in comparison to other problems at the time. In the past that justified our looking the other way when their indiscretions surfaced. Deep down, we knew that the system had a rotten spot that would eventually have to be cut out or it would inevitably spoil the whole.

Over the more than two centuries of its life, our government came close to collapsing several times. Each time it managed to survive, not because we were completely honest with each other, but because it had the one ingredient that no other country in the world has, or has ever had: free, knowledgeable and ambitious people who were too busy growing and expanding their country to take the dishonest people operating within the system seriously.

Actually, nearly all of us participating in the system are a little crooked in one way or the other. We habitually cheat a little here or a little there in our daily lives. We try to extract as much from the government process as we can. It is called working the system. Tax cheating has become the norm. Fear of being caught is the only reason it isn't more pervasive. Cheating in schools and colleges is commonplace. Students brag openly that they buy answers to examinations. Stealing a little time on the job is as dishonest as actually stealing a car, only smaller in scope. Unfortunately, we all do it. It has apparently become an American way of life.

These are a part of the problems we have developed over a lifetime of living the good life. There are many more. You know what they are without my spelling them out. They will be corrected only when we raise our personal values enough to make moral standards a part of our daily lives. It is my opinion that the churches must take some of the responsibility for this problem. Active recruiting and better planned activity programs to teach the moral values of life can be done only by those who practice what they preach.

Some of our people openly admire crooks and hold them up as role models to their children. That is a sad commentary. The Arabs will cut off the hand of a thief. The Chinese are apt to shoot him in the back of the head.

The principle theme of this book will take many professions, institutions and trades to task. We will display a blueprint for correcting existing situations that will delight some and infuriate others. Whatever the fallout, our approach will be honest, open, sincere and determined. It will be done, now or later, but it will be done. People have tolerated all of the ineptness and dishonesty that they can stomach. We first have to recognize that we have many common faults and problems, then design solutions to correct them.

Most people are followers. Leaders constitute a relatively small percentage of the whole. Leaders realize rather quickly in life that they have an advantage over the masses. They can usually be spotted in a crowd as early as elementary school. They inevitably take the lead in most situations. Unfortunately, the dishonest among them take advantage of the situation and exploit their followers. That is exactly what has happened to our country. Our few dishonest leaders have exercised their advantage to the fullest.

Until recently we would overlook a little dirt in politics and graft by political bosses who ran cities like New York, Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, New Orleans, Boston and many others too numerous to mention here. We couldn't impeach them because they were not elected and worked behind the scenes. They were not politicians. They controlled the politicians. They appointed all of the judges and prosecutors and selected the grand juries. They hand picked their political candidates and elected them with votes they controlled through their cronies or businesses they owned. What better insurance does one need? What better way to keep out of jail?

Well, it finally grew to such proportions and became such a serious problem that we couldn't overlook it any more. We gave them the one treatment that they couldn't stand....publicity. One by one the old machines fell by the wayside as the leaders grew old and died. The follow-up leadership wasn't as powerful, and the machines dissolved into a group of back-room politicians who called the shots. In many cities and states, that is still the case. They are still there. The big difference is that today's political boss is very visible. While the old gangs shunned the limelight, these people relish it. You see the glitz and glitter. You don't see the dirty side of their souls or know of the deals designed solely for the benefit of their pocketbooks done in private meetings.

The antics of some of the old political bosses were amusing as long as they were in a far away city. These people were able to do their thing because we were a genteel, hard-working society and slightly ignorant of the inside workings of politics. We didn't know how to catch them. They held all of the cards.

Suddenly, one bright morning there was Watergate in the news. We began to realize we had trouble, real bad trouble, at the top. Our top leaders openly and deliberately lied to us and got caught. It took a second-rate burglary to bring it to the surface. The nightmare was just beginning. Every turn of the screw revealed new and more startling indiscretions involving politicians and their friends. As the revelations continued to develop it became clear that the big inducement was money and power.

Although we were aware of the corruption in cities and some state governments, we had no idea that the "For Sale" sign was hanging on the Congress and the White House. The media went on a feeding frenzy with every new revelation, and there was a new one nearly every day. "It was a sight to see," as the saying goes. ----

Ed note:  This is obviously a book of frustrations.  Jack W. Boone has spent a lot of his adult life working with and supporting politicians.  He has every right to be a little bitter about the national political situation in general.  He has seen it all.  His concept of a consolidated third party will never fly, and he knows it.  He claims to have done it as an alternitive situation.  Jokingly, he claims that if he were challenged to clean up the mess in Washington, this is how he would do it.  Don't worry.  It's all in fun.  It will never happen.  He still writes good fiction.