(August 7, 2013) -- I am the first to admit that I am a political junkie. I have had this condition for a very long time and I suppose that it has a great deal to do with the fact that I have spent all but 5 years of my adult life working in the public sector. Two years in the Army and then over 30 years working in law enforcement. When you work in the public sector everything that you do, in some way or another, is impacted by what elected officials, or politicians, do or don’t do.

I have great respect for the law and for the governments that are entrusted with enforcing those laws. What makes this country the greatest country in the world is that we have laws that protect citizens and we have public employees who are entrusted with enforcing those laws. Between the elected officials who make the laws, the judiciary who interprets those laws and law enforcement who are given the very important and powerful authority to enforce those laws, we have a system that is better than any other on this planet.

Having been an elected official I have first-hand knowledge and experience in knowing what it is like when government does not do its job and when politicians don't do theirs. It is a delicate balance.

Since the beginning of the year, or more specifically since the beginning of President Obama's second term I have been more than frustrated with the state of government and with the state of politics in this country on the federal level. I really thought that after the American people rejected the party that lost the election that our congressional representatives would finally begin to do their jobs and legislate. Unfortunately I could not have been more wrong. The current Congress is actually well into doing a worse job than the last one, a feat that I would have never thought possible.

I look at the state of America today as still being very delicate from an economic standpoint. Yes, the stock market is booming and many Americans have finally re-gained the losses that were experienced by their IRA’s and 401(K)’s in the meltdown of six short years ago. Real estate is rebounding nicely in many areas of the country, Southern California included. There are still many cities and states that have huge problems, and California is not without its shortcomings there either. We are gaining jobs but not really replacing the good paying jobs of a decade ago. Instead we are replacing them with minimum wage jobs, most of which provide no benefits for those who work those jobs, many on a full-time basis.

I look upon public service with an obvious different attitude than many in Congress today. Today they play politics, party politics, above and beyond all else. Solving problems is only something that happens accidentally if and when it fits the politically correct purpose. There is no compromising on any level when it comes to the House of Representatives and while the Senate seems to be trying to act a little more like statesmen and do the right thing, anything and everything that they do is and will continue to be stymied by the obstinance, arrogance, idiocy, and partisanship that we see today in the House of Representatives.

My level of disgust for Washington Politicians goes beyond any words that I can use. The Republican Party is virtually paralyzed by those on the fringes of the party, the Tea Party extremists and those that covet extremist religious views that totally cloud their ability to see resolution to the issues of today. I do not see anything good coming out of all of this, not for the party itself, or for the American people as a whole. Their record of problem solving has been near non-existent.

I see no resolution that will amount to anything with regard to the immigration issue. Right Wing extremists, once again, are opposed to anything that will strive to fix this mess. Those who oppose the Affordable Care Act continue to refuse to do anything, from a legislative perspective, to address those portions of the law that need addressing. The Affordable Care Act is anything but perfect and like many new programs will need modification and change before it works in the way originally imagined. President Obama gets the automatic ‘No’ response from those on the Right on everything that he says and everything that he does. This is just a crazy way for our elected delegations in Washington to act as far as I am concerned. In a democracy there is no progress without compromise and this congress and its immediate predecessor congress have failed miserably in this thus they have failed in their primary obligation which is to legislate and to solve the issues facing us today.

In my mind, probably the single best example of just how dysfunctional this Congress is right now is exemplified by their total inability or unwillingness to do anything in the area of gun control. I am not talking about taking away someone’s right to own or possess a gun I am talking about something as simple as making it mandatory for everyone who wants to own a gun to pass a simple background check. In the aftermath of the most tragic and heinous mass shootings in my lifetime, for this congress to not even be able to keep guns out of the hands of ex-felons, and the mentally ill is absolutely beyond inexcusable.

As I have said, I believe in government and I believe that it only works when individuals who hold elective office are willing to do the right thing even when it may not be the politically correct thing to do. This current group of elected officials in Washington D.C. has shown over and over again that they are not up to the job specs that I believe are the minimum requirement for the job.