“Take a step back and look at the broad picture. A comprehensive database of all things is being formed. Your picture is being hosted alongside your Social Security number, which can be referenced for all of your family’s mortgage, credit, and loan information. . . . Your entire life is going to be fed into federal databases, and I have no doubt federal domestic spying programs will easily and secretly access it all.” A. English

June 3 2014 ~ Every other year I’m stuck in limbo, alternating between apathy and exasperation.

I have never had a desire to join a political party and neither allow independents to vote in Maryland primaries. So here I am, once again, stuck on the sidelines as the old guard doles out money and support to partisans that toe the party line.

In the giant electoral race towards pitiful mediocrity, the Maryland Democratic Party political machine churns away, insuring that there is little chance of anything new.

The results are predetermined, though the person sporting perfectly quaffed hair and spitting out dull talking points may change.

In this situation, I feel apathy is justified, if far from ideal. The exasperation is what kills me.

Primaries are a perfect time for candidates to establish safe positions for the “low hanging fruit” issues. Find something that appeals to your base and might draw some independent votes, then let gerrymandering do its job in November.

In the all-consuming need for conformity and no meaningful debate, incredibly important issues that will sculpt the future of America are systematically ignored or suppressed.

To get into office, candidates cannot just set themselves apart from the herd and find something that resonates with the people. Candidates have to stick to the same inconsequential issues.

Here is a prime example. The fruit doesn’t hang any lower than this, but congressional candidates won’t touch it.

Two-thirds of the population are concerned about the collection and use of [their] personal information by the National Security Agency. Either party could take it up, considering 70% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans agree on it.

Yet no one will break ranks with their parties and risk being buried in an election landslide as their competitors get all the money and backers.

In fact, the concerted effort to keep this issue out of the ballot box makes the situation even worse. It is an implicit mandate to double down on blatant government overreach that attacks key rights and liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Continue reading →