To accomplish this negative transformation, they have manipulated the political system via gerrymandering. They have controlled the primary election process. They have adjusted and abused campaign finance rules and laws to their advantage. They have turned the Federal Election Commission into a toothless enforcement bureaucracy. They have used taxpayer wealth to gain favorable deals and contracts for their campaign contributors.
The second trend is that they have managed to turn American against American. Whether it is pro life vs. pro choice, straight vs. gay, old vs. young, etc., they have done a masterful job of creating so much animosity between Americans that we end up fighting each other. As a result, we lose focus on who is really to blame for the decades of waste and non resolution of our major issues, the political class.
Think about it. We have been losing the war on drugs for over forty years. We have known for almost forty years that we needed a comprehensive and strategic national energy policy but still do not have one. The major deficiencies of our pubic education processes was identified almost thirty years ago, via a Reagan blue ribbon commission, but our public schools still severely under educate our kids. Over ten years ago, we suffered the 9-11 attacks but a recent analysis shows there are still major deficiencies in our national defense.
Throughout this time, both parties have been in charge of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate at various times. In fact, many existing members of Congress have been in office during this period when nothing ever got resolved.
Thus, we are in the worst possible place. We are ruled by a political class that cares more about themselves, a political class that controls and manipulates the nation's political processes, a political class that has had decades to solve any of several major issues without success, and a political class that has successfully pitted us against each other to divert attention from their incompetence.
This situation is best summarized and made real by journalist Charlie Reese. Mr. Reese has been a journalist for decades and I have taken the liberty of including one of his best works below, which has been circulating around the Internet for a while. He captures the frustration that many Americans feel in the current environment of dire economic and political stress and national self doubt.
Thus, a thanks to Mr. Reese for his thoughts and ability to cut to the heart of most of our problems:
********************************
545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do 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 equates to 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 now? He is the leader of the majority party. He 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 cannot 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 Army and Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...
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.
******************************
Well said. And now you know who is to blame for our problems and it is not each of us.
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.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment