This is a problem that I have thought of for years. Looking back there are many times where I wish I never had voted because both candidates were a level of suck that I was not willing to back even if they had won. Now that the problem is identified, what are we as a nation going to do about it? I see a lot of discussion about the failings of our political system but no one is putting out solutions. Here are a couple ideas that I had.

1) Politicians are paid on a sliding scale after their term is up that is based on their general approval rating. So basically if you suck ass and have a 25% job approval rating then you get 25% of that positions standard salary. That way you as an elected official have a vested interest in doing the right thing by the majority of your constituent population.

2) Ban all political advertising. Give each candidate a specific forum to answer questions that are selected by the American people, then have those answers available for all to see prior to election. Formal structured debates would also be a good idea, but the most important part is getting the money out of election races. If they can not advertise, then they do not need 90% of their current budgets, which gets them out of the pockets of special interest groups. Make it illegal for any elected in office politician to accept money from any source other than their private business ventures (which should be closely monitored) and their pay as voted on by the people.

The reason we have to vote for the lesser of two evils is our political system rewards backstabbers, liars, cheaters and the independently wealthy. We have to fix that before we can have a decent candidate to vote for.