President Trump is draining the swamp – of his own appointees – and doing nothing to disfigure the political crime-wave that has astounded the American populace with governmental ineptitude for many decades.

Actually, the ineptitude belongs to the voting public for allowing greed-borne officials to attain office in the first place and to build upon their ill-gotten wealth to assure success in re-election after re-election, flouting the power of incumbency.

But it is not entirely their fault, either, because political parties tend to limit their picks to career politicians or their families as the most horrible choices from which to choose. It is not a positive, but a huge negative in the general elections. “Who will do the least harm?”

Political parties think it’s easy to control nitwits with highly questionable backgrounds, so that’s what they give us.

The Iconoclast has taken “draining the swamp” to task and with the help of two experts who have studied governance for many years has developed a workable plan to make it happen in less than 10 years, maybe as few as five.

The basic purpose is to remove the influence of both Democrats and Republicans from American culture, to take away the power of political parties that dictate when grid-lock occurs, and to order all elected officials to stand on their own two feet.

The author of this editorial is a former small-city mayor, elected to three two-year terms, whose aldermen did not run based on political party and were not influenced by party politics. Its members were individualists who made decisions on their own, standing on their own two feet, and voting in a manner that they felt best represented their constituents.

It was not a matter of Republicans vs. Democrats, or right vs. left, or liberals vs. conservatives. The concept was more in league with that great statesman of yore William Jennings Bryan and his humanitarian approach to progressivism which many cities have long embraced because it involves dealing directly with the masses.

In a meeting of the minds with two very reclusive subjects who are experts in political dissection, The Iconoclast has not only developed an outcome but also a game plan designed to rid the swamp of maggots while in the process to build bridges that will re-institute the vim, vigor, and growth of the middle classes.

The first individual who offered input goes by the name of Lowell McIntyre, a rancher who was the subject of a book entitled “Epitaph” about his Bee Rock Philosopher days. He has studied the ramifications of politics his entire lifetime, its ups and downs, its malady for greed, and how political parties are like murderers who keep interjecting themselves into the crime-solving process to screw things up.

The other was a scientific recruit who has intensely studied the effects of reverse “suoicodilaipxecitsiligarfilacrepus” and its impact on embryonic political behavior as the fetus loses its ability to detect the difference between chivalry and ethical deficiency. Dr. Manfred Meriwether does not normally offer his expertise, but felt that the nation is at a tipping point and it is crucial for immediate action.

He said, “Doors are quickly opening and closing, and generally not in favor of the American public. The choice of which doors to open and which to close is, in today’s world, of extreme importance.”

He, too, favored a resurgence of the middle classes and offered this quote from a movie, “There now, you see how more people be. That there’s what you might call a doorway to a place of enchantment.”

THE GAME PLAN

According to the Bee Rock Philosopher, a man known for his down-to-earth savvy, the first step is to think outside the box and do something that at first sounds like attempting the opposite to gain the proper finished product.

“Join with the Democrats and Republicans,” he explained. “It does not matter which state you are from, but all states need to participate for the needed numbers. We need to form a group that is linked nationally. In stealth mode, run a Democratic and a Republican candidate in each statewide and national race, each of these candidates popular and electable who shares our concept and is secretly willing to do something unheard of upon being elected.

“It does not matter which of the candidates finally wins in the general election, but one of them must. Let them ride and do their usual service when they win. But in the next election, in which the original candidates are still in office, do the same thing, loft a Republican and a Democrat as candidates and get one of them elected. Run the numbers in the House and Senate, and when enough of our constituents are elected to be able to change policy and override a presidential veto, set a date. It is now time for all of our elected group to resign from their political parties and vote to change the law whereby you don’t have to be a Republican or Democrat to get elected. Independents and individuals will now have a chance, too.

“Change the way politics works, whereby elected officials cannot run for re-election. They serve just one term. They cannot get involved in the endorsement of and the campaigning for other candidates.

If it is a four-year term, the final two years are no longer spent trying to get re-elected or going on lavish vacations funded by taxpayers. They are, basically, full-time officials with only one chance to do what’s right.

Ban intervention from political parties in the creation of policy. The elected official stands on his own two feet and can vote however he wishes, knowing that he has only one shot in that position. There are millions of people who are qualified for each position, so let’s give them a chance.

“He can run for a different office, but not while he is serving his current term. Political contributions by corporations will be outlawed, as will contributions from think-tanks and 501-C 3 entities, along with lobbyist groups. If an office-holder violates this trust, he will be immediately removed from office.”

Dr. Meriwether explained that this concept would force lawmakers to reassess their positions. “Republicans and Democrats could still offer candidates, but upon election the winner would be forced to immediately resign from the party and serve as an individual, free from the shackles of the party machine. The psychological impact would be immense.

“It would also serve best to do away with run-off elections, instead having voters rate candidates, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. as to their preferences. If a candidate falls short of 50 percent, step down to the second choice and recalculate both sets, and so forth, until a candidate attains enough votes. If an officeholder is removed from office, the appointment to fill an unexpired term goes to the second-place candidate, eliminating special elections or political appointments. The appointment is therefore being made by the voters.

“Basically, for this plan to work, you would be finding like-minded candidates who crave this type of change and are committed to it, get them elected based on the highly corrupt old-style format currently in place, and then abruptly, when enough are elected, sweep in and force party resignations and make changes to the electoral process. Do away with the electoral college and base all elections on popular vote, since the electoral college essentially makes many votes not count and provides the likelihood of a government by the minority. If you vote, you want it to count. It doesn’t matter where you are from,” offered Dr. Merriwether.

The end result of this type of change as voiced by our two experts would deflate the power of the minority few and would bring new power to the middle classes, while really putting America first, not just with lip service to falsely make us comfortable.

We agree with Trump in that the swamp must be drained. When we learn that someone in national or statewide office is running for re-election, we automatically cringe. They have become career politicians who embrace their political parties as their rulers. When elected, they are not subject to the populace, but are being controlled by big corporations, big money from lobbyists, greed, and of course, their party.

Because of their lack of interest in having changes made in the electoral process, for it will not favor them and will shroud them with transparency, they have become maggots feeding on the highly partisan antiquated system that put them there.

This plan is a workable way to truly drain the swamp and must be done to bring integrity back to government and to revive the vanishing middle class citizenry.

It will take leaders to pull this off and individuals who are willing to actually do something to make it happen, which is also the proverbial roadblock, for few people have the guts to do it. They are quick to belch whines, but are dainty and timid when it comes to action. We hope we are proven wrong about this.

Trump says he is going to drain the swamp.

He won’t.

The Iconoclast sent him an e-mail prior to his taking office suggesting that the first thing he should do upon filling Obama’s seat was to resign from the Republican party and become a president of all the people and distance himself from the minority elite.

You know what his answer was, quite the opposite on all counts.

It is therefore now incumbent upon ourselves to drain the swamp for him.

–W. Leon Smith