[Mule]

545 People -truer words never spoken

Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 02:22:43 +0000

545 People

By Charlie Reese --

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