Here we are, after at least a year of the 535 folks the country has elected to represent them, not being able to represent us at all. We have elected a group so fractionalized by far right and far left ideology that they are incapable of providing any form of governance. Our fiscal problems are critical, the financial track we're on is unsustainable. Everyone knows what needs to be done. Spending must be cut dramatically and revenues must be increased.

The Congress and the POTUS traded plans on what should be done several months ago and couldn't reach even a small agreement. The Congress voted to kick the can down the road and let a "super committee" come up with the plan. Now it appears that the super committee is so frozen in competing ideologies that they will fail to come up with any plan to address the fiscal crisis either.

Virtually all polls for months have shown that the country is disgusted with all of those who have been elected to govern them. In the background to what's happening in Congress are the early stages of a presidential election campaign. The sitting POTUS is viewed with record low levels of approval. He is ripe for replacement in the 2012 general election.

But the field of candidates sparring to compete with him is so pathetically unqualified and disorganized that it's possible that even an unpopular president may be re-elected. The Republican electorate is so ideologically split that it can't make up it's mind on which candidate is best to compete wirth the sitting POTUS. The "favorite" has changed so many times in recent months that it's embarrassing.

Who are those candidates? Several seem to be campaigning simply to sell their books. When faced with reasonable questions in a debate format, several were so woefully unprepared as to be embarrassing. Many have made little effort to construct a political organization that has a chance of winning local elections. What they're doing with the campaign funds they're raising is a good question that maybe someone should ask. They seem happy with the notoriety and the book sales that follow a series of TV debates. A couple seem well-qualified, but are being rejected by the GOP "base" and ultra-conservative pundits for narrow ideological reasons. Many are clearly unprepared and unqualified to be POTUS. Several better potential candidates have chosen not to enter the current political fray. It is a sad and frustrating vacuum of leadership.

And here we have a "political forum". To discuss what? To argue the merits of one side of the political spectrum or the other? Both appear to be badly faulted and irresponsible. Most of those elected will seek re-election. They must be pretty good jobs. Virtually none of them appear to have any interest in actually governing the country. The current state of our democracy is pathetic!