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Webster’s definition of morass: “Something that overwhelms, confuses or impedes: a frustrating, confusing or unmanageable situation that impedes or prevents progress.”

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I have come to the conclusion that our Founding Fathers failed miserably at predicting how party politics would influence a future that they couldn’t imagine. Maybe that’s because America’s history had very few Founding Mothers except for Betsy Ross, but one has to remember in those days if you weren’t a white male, landowner or somehow rich by another means, you didn’t deserve the right to vote in the first place. Unfortunately, today we are suffering with morass in government and it’s a problem growing larger because of party politics. I also have the feeling that our political system having just two major political parties has seriously divided our country.

I don’t believe that George Washington or Thomas Jefferson could have foreseen it taking more than a billion dollars to become elected President of the United States but the last election for president proved it could happen. In 2012 more than $6.2 billion were spent on elections with more than $2 billion spent on the presidential elections. This does not include money spent on elections for each state’s legislature or local elections. Without a doubt the printers that make the signs that pollute our countryside along with various types of media outlets make a fortune off of the elections. I suspect that they would love an election every six months. I also figure that much of the money gets spent except for the amounts that candidates hide in their closets or freezers (that’s actually happened).

I used to believe that the rancor caused by the ever-increasing hatred between the two major political parties was far worse at the national level but that has crept into our state legislatures and even some local elections. It is like sprinkling pepper into a cup of water and then putting a dash of salt in afterward.

There is total gridlock in Washington, D.C., which is having serious consequences for our nation. A recently released Harvard study shows three major problems facing our economy. They are an uncompetitive K-12 education system, a poor tax code and a broken political system, which I am writing about here. Very simply, we will never fix the first two problems without correcting the problems with our politics and politicians. Those three problems are leading us into lower wages and job growth while stagnating our economy.

If that’s not bad enough, Sen. Harry Reid and 48 other Democrat senators want to stifle our political speech, which will ensure incumbent politicians stay in office because we won’t be able to criticize them in public. They want to do this by amending our First Amendment rights to free speech. You also hear them complaining about corporations being able to spend large amounts of money influencing elections, but you can bet your bibby that they take each and every penny that they can get their dirty hands on. I haven’t believed in so-called “clean elections,” because it’s our tax dollars going to politicians instead of money from outside sources. But I have come to the conclusion that some kind of limit should be placed on election campaigns at all levels in the United States.

What I find even more perplexing is the recent Cumberland County Republican caucus to elect a candidate to replace the candidate who unfortunately lost his life. If I remember right, 10 whole swinging people came to that caucus to nominate and elect Kaile Warren to run against former state Sen. Bill Diamond. This came as a total surprise to many of the Republicans I know in the greater Windham area, and from the feedback I am getting will have serious repercussions in the future of Republican politics in our area. It confirms why I dropped out of the Republican Party after living in Windham for a few years. I still want no part of them.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, is tuning out the election commercials because he’s sick of the morass and lies in government.