The simple fact is that our government is controlled by two parties whose concern for the well-being of the country is secondary to their desire to control power. We all know the saying about how power corrupts; what the two parties seek to do is to dominate the government so that their power (and corruption) will be absolute.  Sadly, we now are closer to this point than any of us care to admit.

But we can do something about it.  Here are my simple proposals:

1. Amend the Constitution to limit members of the House of Representatives to no more than three terms.  More elections for open seats means more competitive elections.

2. Repeal the 17th Amendment, which disenfranchised the States by creating a popular vote for the US Senate. Give this power back to the States as was originally intended by our Founding Fathers.

3. Leave the role of establishing congressional boundaries to the States, but limit the gerrymandering mischief by stipulating that zip codes must be placed in their entirety in one district or another -- no splitting of zip codes.

4. Institute ranked choice voting, so that voters' second and third choices are considered.