Many readers have complained about the poor handling of the credit crisis by the government along with the bailout orgy involving many industries at tax payer’s expense.
Who is really at fault for the problems that plague this country? To get closer to the truth, the following was sent in by a reader referencing an article written by Charlie Reese, a former columnist for the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper (sorry, no link):
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 a n 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 exist 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 100% 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!
It’s hard to argue with his viewpoints; however, I would add that changes will never happen because I don’t see any way where you could get 545 people to agree on anything. Even if they were all replaced, pretty soon we would be back to business as usual.
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Comments 4
Reese’s column has a certain attraction, as it shifts the blame, but in truth, the 300 million of us who continue to vote these politicians back into office cannot avoid responsibility for the present economic mess.
“Vote the rascals out…but not MY rascal…”
Doug Keeling
12/18/08
When it comes to summing up the essence of our current situation no one can beat this statement from Jim Rogers:
“What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent,” he said. “What’s happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics.”
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It is unlikely that this will be the last time I post this statement. I am a firm believer in consequences for incompetentcy. I’ve had to pay for my own in the past.
G.H.
Reese’s article should be required reading for all in the House and Senate chambers … and after they have read it, they should have to initial a copy to indicate their understanding. That initialed copy should then be filed in the archives and used in future criminal proceedings.
Over the top, I know.
In the final analysis, the original poster has it right: we the people ARE to blame for the poor performance of our elected reps.
I think he left out the Vice President; perhaps not. We simply had an arrogant, ignorant and incompetent President who unabashedly favored Big Money.
What is most frightening to me is that the American voter, if given the opportunity, would vote for a Circus Clown.
Actually, what I think we need is a change in our form of government, whereby we can actually, not figuratively, oust an administration and replace it with another, in a timely fashion, without having to go through the hell of 8 years of incompetence.