Food for Thought (Political)

[Kevin A]

Something I received in an e-mail

Worthy of your time and attention regardless of your Party Affiliation

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, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, 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 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 Army & 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.


What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you, though you appear to have several choices.

1. You can send this to everyone in your address book, and hope they do something about it.

2. You can agree to vote against everyone that is currently in office, knowingthat the process will take several years.

3. You can decide to run for office yourself and agree to do the job properly.

4. Lastly, you can sit back and do nothing, or re-elect the current bunch.

[Miriam C.]

Just once ya gotta wonder what would happen if no one voted. No citizen or non-citizen. If the polls were open and everyone stayed home.

[madjack]

8) Just once ya gotta wonder what would happen if no one voted. No citizen or non-citizen. If the polls were open and everyone stayed home.

I wonder what happen if EVERYONE VOTED...with poll turnouts often less than 50% that means the person elected only got around 25% of the eligible voters...with numbers that low, not only is it easier for a small block of voters to put their candidate in office but the pols look and realize they only havvta put a snow job on low percentage of eligible voters to actually get elected....
madjack

[satch]

Only in America

[stbuch]

People die for the right to vote in some countries and indeed, people have died for that same right in THIS country. And yet, on election day some will still prefer the couch...


VOTE!

Sherrie

[Miriam C.]

8) Just once ya gotta wonder what would happen if no one voted. No citizen or non-citizen. If the polls were open and everyone stayed home.

I wonder what happen if EVERYONE VOTED...with poll turnouts often less than 50% that means the person elected only got around 25% of the eligible voters...with numbers that low, not only is it easier for a small block of voters to put their candidate in office but the pols look and realize they only havvta put a snow job on low percentage of eligible voters to actually get elected....
madjack

Well then we would know for sure how many extra votes we have huh. Oh what a mess.

JESTING

By all means everyone get out and vote. In or out they do need to know we are paying attention.

[Joseph]

People who don't vote are either stupid, lazy, clueless, or some combination thereof.

[sarcasm]Just the people I want to encourage to vote![/sarcasm]

Joseph

[satch]

Most people that I know, that don't vote( I'm not one of them), don't vote because they feel it's a waste of time, or it does'nt matter. I've seen here, locally, props pass, but get held up in the courts for years, by then everyone forgets about them.

[doug hodder]

Hey Rick....for those of us in Calif...check out prop 1 (high speed rail) I'm thinking...that the nearly 10B, would be better used to take care of the roads that we have to daily commute on. I don't think there are a lot of citizens concerned about people getting from LA to SF at 200 MPH, additional links will be built IF the money becomes available! I-5 on the same corridor could stand an upgrade in case anyone hasn't driven that in the right hand lane! That's the economic lifeline for this state. 200MPH trains don't haul freight! Prop 2 will kill the poultry and dairy industry and drive up food costs more...it'll all come out of Mexico....oh well stories about Salmonella and other food borne ailments always make for good news, but PETA will be happy! Doug

[Russ in California]

How good, though, is a vote from an uniformed electorate? I'm not saying don't vote, too many have died for our right and responsibility to vote but if you don't know what you're voting how's that supposed to help.
Any by the way, you know the first amendment gives politicians the right to lie on TV. I tend to disregard anything either party says on their TV adds. JMTC.

[satch]

Hey Rick....for those of us in Calif...check out prop 1 (high speed rail) I'm thinking...that the nearly 10B, would be better used to take care of the roads that we have to daily commute on. I don't think there are a lot of citizens concerned about people getting from LA to SF at 200 MPH, additional links will be built IF the money becomes available! I-5 on the same corridor could stand an upgrade in case anyone hasn't driven that in the right hand lane! That's the economic lifeline for this state. 200MPH trains don't haul freight! Prop 2 will kill the poultry and dairy industry and drive up food costs more...it'll all come out of Mexico....oh well stories about Salmonella and other food borne ailments always make for good news, but PETA will be happy! Doug

Total agreement Bro, Have you seen the 99/50 area lately? What a joke. They keep wanting to take out bond measures to pay for everything, but how is this going to get paid off? Hell, the state just passed a budget, and with in weeks they are already crying no money.

[doug hodder]

how is this going to get paid off?

Taxes!!! Doug

For those of you that don't live in this state, it is supposed to be the 6th largest economy in the world. However, the infrastructure of it is collapsing. The rest of the country should be outraged, since we get so much money from the national coffers to keep it afloat. And they wizz it away on stupid programs and or "studies" Here, we can pass something, and the court of appeals will say, nope...it's gonna go this way. Talk about voter disenfranchising! I think that's why so many people decide "why bother to vote" Doug

[Bristol Delica]

Hi

I know it won't make you feel any better, but it's the same the world over. In the last general election in the UK only 52% of the electorate voted and the party that won got in on less than 25% of the electorate!

In the UK both parties spend half their time about what are effectively issues that are only important to their supporting newspapers, we effectively have government by tabloid!

I am a liberal, one of my closest friends is a conservative. We agree on almost all the main social and fiscal issues and are happy to agree to to disagree on most of the other things. Why can't politicians act as mature reasoning people and bury their differences and concentrate on a consensus of things that would make life better/easier for ordinary people rather than satisfying their lobbies/media pals/pressure groups and financial supporters then may be we will have a real democracy!

IanJ

[rbeemer]

If you don't vote, don't complain

You have given up your right to complain because you chose to ignore your constitutional responsibility by not voting.

[louis Lachance]

Why vote? You only encourage the bastards!!!