Amen FRiend.
When we won our independence, a popular rallying cry was "No more Kings!"
What we have now in this Nation is a nominally "elected" professional politician class, that is mostly devoted to remaining in office, and will do whatever it takes (even to the detriment of their constituents) to keep their personal power. The power of incumbency is awesome, and politicians use this power to full effect. The longer a person is in office, the more power they attain; this is called "seniority" and voters are hesitant to throw out a "senior" politician because that constituency will lose the "pork" that the pol can provide. We need the BEST people to run for office; and the system is such now that the "best" people are unwilling to put up with the bullsqueeze necessary to become elected. This is a National disgrace.
So... how do we fix this?
Term limits is one answer, and so is a law that prohibits an elected official from introducing a bill to benefit his/her own district as well as an anti-quid pro quo provision that keeps one pol from "porking" for another and vise versa. A law that prohibits lawyers from elected office would also help a great deal. Lawyers are "officers of the Court" or de facto members of the Judiciary - that they also number as the vast majority of elected officials is a clear violation of the seperation of powers, and may explain why Congress is unwilling to reign in an out-of-control Court system. A line-item veto (and a President with the balls and the integrity to use it) would also help a great deal. A Constitutional Amendment that forbids an elected official any benefit not provided to the national population would also reduce the abuse of power.
The best way, perhaps, to fix these issues is to return to the truely Constitutional method of electing our representatives, and to force the Courts to behave in a Constitutional manner. Unfortunately, this will require a Second American Revolution. (which I see as inevitable in any case). The last two election have indicated that this Nation is divided 50/50 between socialists and freedom-loving patriots. A house divided against itself cannot long stand.
How else do you "fix" a system that is so corrupt and disfunctional as ours is?
So... how do we fix this?
Refuse to re-elect anyone who has been in office for two terms. Encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same.
There seems to be something about these power hungry monsters that doesn't allow them to go back to civilian life. Maybe the retirement benefits or undeserved respect is what they become addicted to, I don't know.
I don't think we need people to make careers out of politiking. The benefits of short term officials would certainly be a much more balanced level of power through out the legislative halls.
Another benefit would be a much more open system of goverance.