How to beat the stalemate of the budget, use polls

Many years ago, Washington seemed to be this closed section of America where the public was only privy to the happenings via the news media but with the invent of social networking and the internet it can be more open and transparent but only if those in Washington learn to use it.  Partisan gridlock was constant then but can be easily removed by now.  The refusal of compromise by one party or another will soon be a thing of the past if the process is more opened to the public. 

Issues dear to the public should never be so long and drawn out and should bring the best and the brightest to the table with solutions instead of sound bites.  Andy Sullivan of the Reuters pens an article titled Democrats offer deeper cuts in U.S. budget fight in which he reports that “President Barack Obama's Democrats on Monday offered to cut another $20 billion from the U.S. budget in an attempt to reach a deal with congressional Republicans that would avert a government shutdown.  With time running short, the two sides traded barbs in public even as they continued meetings aimed at resolving a dispute that has dominated Washington in recent months, even though the money at stake represents a small slice of the $3.7 trillion federal budget.  Democrats said Republican leaders were more concerned with catering to conservative Tea Party activists than finding a compromise that could keep the government running beyond April 8, when current funding runs out.  Republicans said they hadn't seen the Democratic plan yet.”

All this while so many other pressing matters need to be addressed, seems to be a severe waste of time, money and energy when the solution is to post the cuts Democrats want to make and those the Republicans want.  Make them available for the public to access, and then use a poll to tell you which one is best received by the public.  This poll needs to be conducted by a completely independent agency which is not slanted to either side.  Once the results are in the choice will be clear and the decision should be made.  It’s time to stop acting like children on the playground and start acting like adults.  The donors are not the only contingents that the sides have and their deeper and more profound responsibility rests with the public.  If you need the president to make your choices for you then you have no business occupying that Representative or Senate seat.  You work for the people and with the ability to get the word out during the 24 hour news cycle, allow the people to have a voice.   

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