When the queen was told that the peasants were so hungry that the did not have bread, she is reported to have said "Let them eat cake." [Note: whether she actually said those words is apparently open to historical debate; however, whether or not she did is immaterial since most people think she said the phrase.] The arrogance of such an attitude is amazing. She was so out of touch with the reality of her subjects she did not understand that if they did not have bread, they certainly did not have the more expensive cake.
Her attitude was so condescending, why should she be bothered with such trivial details? She was the queen, she did not need or want her subjects to be bothering her with these petty details of their lives. Let them eat cake and get away from me with your problems, I am the queen.
Many times I get that same pompous, arrogant vibe from our elected officials in this country. How dare we come to them with our problems, they are elected politicians, they should not be bothered by the mundane needs and pains of their humble constituents, they are in office, much like the queen of France was on the throne.
The latest example of such arrogance was displayed in the past week by Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia. As the government was about to shut down, he was in his home district conducting a town meeting. A gentleman stood and addressed the Congressman in a polite, if passionate and emotional manner. If you look at the whole videotape, you see that there was no profanity, aggressiveness, bad behavior, or anything of the sort from this gentleman.
The constituent of the Congressman stated that he was a 27 year, disabled veteran of our armed forces and wanted to know why the Congressman was not back in Washington helping to avoid a government shutdown, a shutdown that would cut off and/or delay paychecks to our armed forces. He was worried that the families of our armed forces would suffer considerably and that should have been the focus of everyone in Congress, not a town meeting.
The Congressman's reply was quite disgusting. First, he thanked the gentleman for serving his country, "if" he had actually done so. Why would you disrespect someone who said he served his country for 27 years, got disabled in the process, without any proof that he was lying? Rather than just say thank you for your service, the Congressman had to get that little, undeserved cut in, "if" you served your country.
That sign of arrogance and disrespect was bad enough, but the Congressman went onto say that the veteran's comments were "caustic." Again, viewing the whole exchange between the two, which is up in various places in its entirety on the Web, there was no way this guy was "caustic" or disrespectful. He was passionate but in a positive way, you could tell that he was really worried about our armed forces not getting paid.
However, the Congressman took it as a personal affront and described the constituent as caustic and cast some doubts on his military service. He eventually told the veteran that he could or should leave the meeting for dong nothing more than expressing an opinion to a sitting Congressman. Marie Antoinette would have been so proud.
Speaking of pay checks and government shutdowns, I was shocked to find out that if and when the government shuts down, the politicians in the Federal government would continue to get paid during the shutdown. Our armed forces might not get paid, hundreds of thousands of government workers would not get paid, but our political class in office would get paid.
How do I know that this would happen? Because a dozen or so Senators last week were busy proclaiming that they would not accept their pay checks if the government did shutdown. Let's see: creating a Federal budget by these same politicians, which is a basic responsibility of their job, is six months late. But they will still get paid for such incompetence while untold thousands of Americans, who have nothing to do with the budget's development, will not get paid? "Who cares if these people cannot afford bread or cake because we were unable to do a basic part of our job, we can eat it for them since we will get paid." Pathetic.
This is very similar to the sweetheart, Marie Antoinette type deal these same politicians have cut for themselves regarding annual pay raises. They have rigged the system so that they automatically get a pay raise, regardless of how poorly they performed their duties, how poorly the country is doing, and how poorly the citizens of the country are doing. They do not even have to vote on the pay raise, the raises happen automatically in the stealth of the night.
The examples just keep on coming, the politicians take care of themselves at the expense of the country and those that live outside the political class life. In the April 8, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, there was an accusation regarding Congressman Charles Rangel, who for many years headed the House Ways and Means Committee, the main tax writing committee of the Federal government. The accusations of arrogance in the piece were so disturbing that I researched other sources to see if they were true. Unfortunately, this arrogance was very true.
According to a March, 24, 2011 New York Times article, several years ago, a lucrative corporate tax loophole was due to expired. I will not go into the details that were laid out in the article, but this loophole, international "active financing," annually denied about $4 billion [Source: The Street website] to the IRS and U.S. Treasury. Corporate benefactors included Caterpillar, JPMorgan, Chase, Ford, IBM, and especially General Electric. Initially, Chairman Rangel was strongly in favor of letting this loophole expire and gather in that $4 billion from the companies.
However, according to the Times article, one day he suddenly reversed his position, decided he wanted to let the loophole continue, and made sure that it did. Shortly afterwards, General Electric's charitable foundation donated $30 million to NYC schools, of which $11 million went directly to schools in Congressman Rangel's Congressional district. Thus, NYC schools were able to $30 million worth of cake, with the schools in Mr. Rangel's district getting the best tasting pieces. Meanwhile, the American taxpayer, the national debt, and the U.S. Treasury is out $4 billion worth of bread a year and Congressman Rangel bakes votes for his continual re-election. Disgraceful.
And it gets worse. Last week, even though the government was facing an imminent shutdown, the President decided to make a thinly disguised 2012 campaign stop in Pennsylvania. During a town meeting-like gathering, someone from the audience asked him what could be done about fast rising gas prices. To this honest inquiry, the President rather flippantly said to buy another vehicle from Ford, GM, or Chrysler that wasn't getting 8 miles a gallon.
Again, more political class arrogance. Rather than trying to understand the pain that this questioner and other struggling Americans are going through, with almost $4.00 a gallon gas being thrown on top of everything else, the President told them to eat cake, just simply buy a better mileage vehicle.
Did it occur to the President that many struggling American families cannot afford to simply buy a new vehicle? Did it occur to the President that maybe many Americans already have a high mileage vehicle but adding over a dollar a gallon to the price of gasoline over the past year is still a hardship? Did it occur to the President that the reason that Americans are suffering financially is that the political class over the past forty years have been unable to develop and implement a coherent national energy strategy?
No, apparently none of these possibilities entered into his mind except, buy a new vehicle. Don't like the current car you own, just buy a new one. Don't have any bread, just eat cake. Marie would be proud.
But this type of behavior should not surprise us, not from the President, any Congressman or any Senator. Remember when New Yorkers panicked two years ago when Air Force One and an accompanying fighter jet buzzed low over NYC taking pictures? Many New Yorkers freaked out, thinking that the were being subjected to another terrorist attack. The President's reaction to their fear and stress? Later that same week he joked about the wasteful and frightening flight by joking at an event that his daughters would no longer be allowed to take Air Force One out for a spin. No sensitivity to the needs and worries of his subjects.
When Americans legitimately, respectfully, and peacefully questioned the financials and impacts of Obama Care legislation, they were branded as racists, knuckle dragging Neanderthals, Ku Klux Klan members, $%#holes, and other names by various politicians. When their questions and concerns slowed down the passage of the legislation, they were told to "stop bickering" by the President, as if we were interfering with the President's plans and calendar.
Please do not bother them with your sorry lives and lack of bread, they are the rulers of the country, they have better things to do, cake to eat, paychecks to cash and raise. Marie Antoinette's spirit, arrogance, and pomposity lives on within the Beltway.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendmen.com
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