The American Political Class: Taxing Us Into Economic Slavery While Giving Us Nothing In Return

Far too many times we have made the case that the American class does only two things very well: taking and spending a lot of our hard earned wealth via excessive and burdensome taxation and then spending those tax dollars on government programs and projects that don't work anywhere close to what those same politicians promised. In just three recent posts, we found this to be true:

• A recent research report found that the Federal government annually loses $129 billion in its social support programs to criminal fraud.
• The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco together put together $1.5 billion in taxpayer wealth to try to help the homeless populations in their cities and audit reports and reality have shown that they failed miserably in doing so, resulting in far fewer housing units than promised being established and those that were established were done so at an astronomical cost per unit.
• And of course, the biggest waste and failure of government expenditures, the 20 year fiasco in Afghanistan. The American political class placed our armed forces in the country in 2001 to rid the country of terrorist cells and remove the Taliban from running the country. Twenty years and one trillion tax dollars later, the Taliban are back in control and the country is now the home to terrorist cells.

Another post discussed a study done by using Department of Labor Statistics tracking and found that in many states across the country, long time residents of those states pay almost 50% of their earnings to taxes at all levels of government. Think about that relative to my original home state of New Jersey: the study found that long time New Jersey residents can expect to handover over 49.5% of their earnings to cover their local, state, and Federal government tax assessments and that they will pay, on average, almost a million dollars during their working lifetime in taxes. I can guarantee you that those New Jersey taxpayers are not getting a million dollars back in benefits.

Paying half of what you earn in taxes is a form of economic slavery. Plus, paying so much in taxes reduces your economic freedom which impacts your quality of life. Think about what a New Jersey resident could have done with that near million dollars in taxation:

• They could have sent their kids to better schools.
• They could have started their dream business.
• They could have contributed more to their favorite charities.
• They could have gone on better vacations, ate better meals, lived a better life.

Those options would have been better than having government entities and the politicians that operate them waste that money on bad programs and lose it to criminal fraud.

Charlie Reese was once a writer at the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. He once wrote a long essay which laid out how only 500 or so members of Congress have screwed up this country and have increased the taxation burden on all of us with few benefits in return. We have already posted that essay in the following post:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/07/part-5-freedom-and-liberty-guest.html

What we did not include in that post was his comprehensive list of taxes that the American political class has imposed on us over time. Remember, many, if not all, of these taxes did not exist a hundred years ago. And you know what? The country and government got along quite nicely without these taxes.

But over time, the American political class, in their never ending quest for power and control, came up with dozens and dozens of new taxes, all of which sounded good at the time, and most, if not all, never lived up to the benefits we were promised but the taxes never went away despite those failed benefits.

Review Mr. Reese’s list and count how many of these taxes you pay every year:

1. Accounts Receivable Tax
2. Building Permit Tax
3. Federal Capital Gains Tax
4. State Capital Gains Tax
5. CDL license Tax
6. Cigarette Tax
7. Corporate Income Tax
8. Dog License Tax
9. Excise Taxes
10. Federal Income Tax
11. Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
12. Fishing License Tax
13. Food License Tax
14. Fuel Permit Tax
15. Gasoline Tax
16. Gross Receipts Tax
17. Hunting License Tax
18. Inheritance Tax
19. Inventory Tax
20. IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
21. Liquor Tax
22. Luxury Taxes
23. Marriage License Tax
24. Medicare Tax
25. Personal Property Tax
26. Property Tax
27. Real Estate Tax
28. Service Charge Tax
29. Social Security Tax
30. Road Usage Tax
31. Recreational Vehicle Tax
32. Sales Tax
33. School Tax
34. State Income Tax
35. State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
36. Telephone Federal Excise Tax
37. Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
38. Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
39. Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
40. Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
41. Telephone State and Local Tax
42. Telephone Usage Charge Tax
43. Utility Taxes
44. Vehicle License Registration Tax
45. Vehicle Sales Tax
46. Watercraft Registration Tax
47. Well Permit Tax
48. Workers Compensation Tax

Unfortunately, since Mr. Reese came up with this list, politicians have created new taxes. Just in New Jersey there are two new taxes:

• If you sell your home in New Jersey, you pay a tax at your house closing.
• Also in New Jersey, you have to pay a climate tax based on the area of your property that is non-porous, e.g. the house itself, the driveway, and any other paved areas.

I am sure that other taxing jurisdictions came up with other, non-listed taxes. So, how many of the above taxes have you paid for over the years?

The bottom line is that we have been economically raped by the American political class over the years and received virtually nothing in return. And the sad thing is this will continue to happen until we vote career politicians out of office or impose term limits on them, politicians that always seem to get very rich while in office while the rest of us face almost slave levels of taxation.

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-My-Country-Loathe-Government/dp/1604942789/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=love+my+country%2C+loathe+my+government&qid=1607716020&sr=8-1

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com

http://www.cato.org

http://www.openthebooks.com

http://www.conventionofstates.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

 

 

How Much Worse Could It Be If Every Washington Incumbent Lost Next Week?

Over a number of posts late last month we discussed how much debt the Federal government and several state governments have incurred, debt holes that are likely to result in dire financial consequences in the very near future. Between unfunded Medicare and Social Security liabilities to a massive national debt to unfunded state government pension obligations, there is about $109 TRILLION that needs to be found to fund everything that the American political class has promised us or has spent, and likely wasted, for us.

The sad part of all this debt is that we have very little show for it. We have a $109 TRILLION debt hole but our roads and bridges are falling apart. We have a $109 TRILLION debt hole and e still under educate our kids. We have a $109 TRILLION debt hole and we are looking at Medicare and Social Security going bankrupt.

Those October posts can be accessed at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/dont-worry-be-happy-any-short-term.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-illinois-canary.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-connecticut.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-fiscal-disaster-of-california.html

How did we get into this dire situation? Rather than have me explain it, let me allow a journalist, Charlie Reese, who used to write for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, explain how the American political class has screwed us out of our future and our hard earned dollars:

*************************

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?( John Boehner. 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. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President's proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]

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 & 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. 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!

*****************************

Great piece and summary by Mr. Reese. However, I could argue that it is not our politicians’ fault. It really is our fault. We are so busy fighting among ourselves on short term, minor issues that we forget that the enemy is the political class, not our neighbors, friends and co-workers who may have a different opinion than us. We have allowed our politicians to stay in office despite their pathetic performance and lack of success.

And as we fought among ourselves, we have allowed the political class to impose a variety or taxes on our hard earned money:

• The inheritance tax.
• Accounts Receivable Tax
• Building Permit Tax
• CDL license Tax
• Cigarette Tax
• Corporate Income Tax
• Dog License Tax
• Excise Taxes
• Federal Income Tax
• Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
• Fishing License Tax
• Food License Tax
• Fuel Permit Tax
• Gasoline Tax 
• Gross Receipts Tax
• Hunting License Tax
• Inheritance Tax
• Inventory Tax
• IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
• Liquor Tax
• Luxury Taxes
• Marriage License Tax
• Medicare Tax
• Personal Property Tax
• Property Tax
• Real Estate Tax
• Service Charge Tax
• Social Security Tax
• Road Usage Tax
• Recreational Vehicle Tax
• Sales Tax
• School Tax
• State Income Tax
• State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
• Telephone Federal Excise Tax
• Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
• Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
• Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
• Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
• Telephone State and Local Tax
• Telephone Usage Charge Tax
• Utility Taxes
• Vehicle License Registration Tax
• Vehicle Sales Tax
• Watercraft Registration Tax
• Well Permit Tax
• Workers Compensation Tax

All these taxes paid, nothing to show for these taxes, and now we have a $109 TRILLION debt hole to dig out of. Maybe Charlie Reese was right, maybe it is the fault of those 500 or so people in Washington. Best to vote them out next week and start over, how much worse could it be if every incumbent running for office next week did not make it back to Washington?

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:

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.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Part 5, Freedom and Liberty Guest Speaker Week, Charlie Reese: 545 People

This is our fifth post this week that uses the wise words of other Americans to identify the insanity that the political class inflicts on Americans every day and the havoc and stress it places on our democracy and liberties. Today’s piece is a rather famous essay from a Mr. Charlie Reese.

It is my understanding that Mr. Reese had a long term career as a journalist with the Orlando Sentinel and he now writes online articles. As I mentioned previously when I first published his insightful thoughts, I have tried to contact Mr. Reese but have not been successful, I hope he does not mind that I repeat his thoughts again today.

***************************************

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, 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? Nancy Pelosi. 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 Army and 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!

**********************

Kudos Mr. Reese, he understands that all politicians are the same regardless of what political party they belong to. They need the status quo to continue for their benefit, not for the good of the country. Please consider Mr. Reese's advice: regardless of party, vote all incumbents out of office whenever possible.

How much worse could it be with new people sitting in Washington? The current crop of politicians have not solved any problems for forty years and will probably go another forty years with nothing being accomplished if we do not vote the incumbents out now.

In fact, “how much worse could it get,” is the theme of a new grass roots effort we are just getting underway, an effort that would impose term limits on all Federal politicians so that they would be “one and done” when it came to political terms in office at the Federal level. We will be discussing this new effort in detail tomorrow but you can get a head start on it by visiting the associated website, signing our petition to get the effort underway, and volunteer whatever time, skills, and effort you can lend us to make it a reality:

www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

Because, as Mr. Reese points out, who else is going to clean up the mess that is America today unless it is us? It is now obvious that the long term politicians sitting in Washington are incapable of cleaning up the mess they created.

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:

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.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w 
 

Who Is Really To Blame For America's Problems - 545 Vs. 300,000,000

A primary tenet of our book, "Love Our Country, Loathe My Government," is that the political class has undergone two negative transformations over the past few decades. First, our politicians have mostly abandoned all pretense of doing what is right for the country, replacing that noble goal with the selfish goals of enriching, entrenching, and ensconcing themselves in the false reality that is Washington.

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/

The Secret Government Within - Any U.S. Senator

Late last year we ran an article/tirade by Charlie Reese that talked about the 545 people that run the country (Congress and the President) and what a poor job they are doing. He lamented the fact that since these 545 ran everything, they were responsible for not eliminating the budget deficit, reducing taxes, running an inefficient and ineffective government, etc. He was so mad that just 545 people could dictate and ruin the lives of over 300 million Americans.

Turns out that Mr. Reese was wrong in one respect. It does not take 545 people in DC to not do anything effective or efficient, one U.S. Senator can stop any initiative they want. James Warren wrote an article in the May 3, 2010 issue of Business Week entitled: "Why The Senate Is Sitting on 309 Bills." According to Mr. Warren, the secret Senate "hold" function "allows any Senator to halt floor consideration of any matter." One Senator can hold up any bill and Mr. Warren believes that many of the 309 bills pending before the Senate are in a pending mode because of holds. In fact, a Senator does not even have to write anything up or provide justification, he or she can either call in a hold or have an aide call in a hold to the the Senator's political party's secretary. The horrible thing about this process, besides the fact that an unelected aide has this power, is that the identity of the Senator who instituted the hold is kept secret except to the party's leader. It is not made available to the public or the other political party.

In 2007 a law was passed to make sure that the identity of the person placing the hold was made public six days after the hold was put in place. However, this provides a loophole because on the fifth day, the Senator that put the original hold on a bill will release the hold but will have arranged for another Senator to place another hold. This process of switching back and forth can keep the hold in effect indefinitely without ever revealing any names. How sleazy and childish can you get? According to a quote in the article by a Rutgers University historian, Ross Baker: "The Senate is now one of the few places in the world where adults can have tantrums, where the power of the individual to cause mischief is pretty much unlimited." And these are our so-called leaders. They are nothing more than spoiled five year olds demanding attention and their way.

So what are some holds that are likely in place and what are they delaying? Consider the following bills that have been passed by the House already but are pending and churning in the Senate:

• The House voted 409 to 11 to provide more training for airline pilots and limit the number of flight hours allowed for pilots.
• The House voted 385 to 11 to provide some funding to the Coast Guard.
• The House voted 397 to 25 to provide funding for the Transportation Security Administration.
• The House 406 to 10 to provide funding to help generate jobs via small business.
• The House voted via voice vote to provide funding for homeless military veterans.

Whether or not you think these are good uses of the taxpayer dollars, it is apparent by these voting records that these bills all had bipartisan support, so at least in the House, this was not a Democrat vs. Republican thing. This process is an ego trip for 100 Senators.

Thus, our assertion up front that Mr. Reese was somewhat wrong, it is not 500 or so people that can screw up the country and government, it can be only one ego driven Senator that can derail potentially beneficial government actions. The obvious answer is to provide complete disclosure of who and why one person is holding up something that hundreds of others, in the House, have deemed appropriate to do. This secrecy is not conducive to open government and freedom in this country. Anything done in secret by any government agent threatens liberty everywhere. Do I think these egomaniacs will vote for full disclosure by themselves? No, that is why dumping all incumbents in November and replacing them with effective, humble public servants without huge egos is mandatory for change going forward. Stop the secrecy now.



Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at 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.