545 people

[pwd72s]

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese (Orlando Sentinel Newspaper)
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

[tobster1911]

I completely and totally agree. The question I would ask is WHY do they want it that way? The answer is continuation of power and personal re-election.

Mandatory term limits in politics. Serve and get out! I mean completely out, not just move to the next political office. That would fix a lot of our issues IMO.

[Zef]

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems
Never asked yourself who put them there...!!!?

[pwd72s]

Many people fail to understand the wisdom of this quote:

“The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government, they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get and promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten, that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction of the sale of stolen goods.”

-H.L. Mencken

[fingpilot]

Originally Posted by Zef

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems
Never asked yourself who put them there...!!!?

Actually, we, the voters don't do that either (electoral college).

It's pretty screwed up down here.

Actually saw a Democrat 'superdelegate' offer his vote for $20 mil on the news this morning.

[nynor]

this is my long standing argument with "party people", you know the ones i am talking about, the people that vote democrat or republican, regardless of who is running. the people that knee jerk (frog-step) to the drum of their pet political franchise.

the bottom line is that it doesn't matter which party is in office: taxes will go up, cost of goods will go up, government will get bigger, the deficit will grow, and we will go to war and not gain any real estate.

[Jagshund]

100% with you on manadatory term limits. Make the bastards think about doing something worthwhile BESIDES just keeping their sorry arses in office.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by 1968Cayman

100% with you on manadatory term limits. Make the bastards think about doing something worthwhile BESIDES just keeping their sorry arses in office.

Terms limits, small pension and eliminate the seniority system for committee appointments (another recent addition to doing business the FFs didn't anticipate). Return the republic to the strictures outlined in the Constitution. I want less government, not more.

There is so much basic, HS civics stuff in the original post it sickens me that a columnist felt the need to restate the facts: I'm sickened because he really did need to restate the obvious...we are that ignorant.

I have read posts on this BBS that should be auto-directed to this thread.

[Jim727]

Good article.

A few items to toss out in no particular order:

1) Don't really agree with term limits, though they are better than nothing. Trouble is, the "career politicians" term out of one office and lateral over to another. I would like to see a max limit of say, 12 years total in appointed plus elected office. See: Willie Brown.

2) Permanent lifetime barrier between being a public official (one who is on the public payroll in any way) and being a lobbyist (one who is compensated in any form to influence public policy).

3) Any meeting between a lobbyist and a public official must be webcast and transcribed. Meet in private - go to jail.

4) Public officials must be subject to each and every program to which they subject the public. No exceptions, no additions, no supplements, no nothing. They can retire under social security and medicare just like they want us to.

5) Pay raises require a 2/3 affirmative vote - no more auto pay raises. And the minimum wage is tied to their pay; if they have done such a great job for the country then the worker bees should share in the fruits of their brilliant management.

6) One bill - one issue. No more riders, non-relevant amendments, or anything that is not clearly the intent of the primary legislation.

...that's just for starters.

[sammyg2]

Term limits, bah.
Jerry Brown wasn't stopped by term limits.
He was the Ca. secretary of state, the governor of Ca. , the mayor of Oakland, and is now the Ca. Attorney general.

He just shuffled jobs.
But the real question is, why do these idiots keep voting for this jackhole?

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Jim727

4) Public officials must be subject to each and every program to which they subject the public.
.......
6) One bill - one issue

Two things I've been saying for quite a while. Thanks.