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? 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.
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!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
card802 says:
A classic, but all the wrong people will even take the time to read it, and understand.
The people who need to read it never will, America is firmly intrenched in the ignorance and apathy phase.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
There, is, no, hope.
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17th January 2013 at 9:01 am
TC says:
And yet we continue to send 90%+ of these flaming assholes back to Washinton election after election. Further proof that America as envisioned by its founders is now beyond salvage.
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17th January 2013 at 9:19 am
Stucky says:
The Tiny Dot video explains the scum535 nicely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b70TUbdfs
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17th January 2013 at 9:20 am
ThePessimisticChemist says:
I have that as my one and only “Note” on facebook and reference it pretty often. Generally speaking I get told “stop bitching and do something about it if you care so much.”
Which I do. I write my Congresscritters, vote against all taxes and incumbents, and try to educate people as much as humanly possible.
The only thing I could do next is actually run for office, but I’m not rich or well connected enough to ever succeed outside this town.
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17th January 2013 at 9:28 am
JIMSKI says:
The only thing I could do next is actually run for office, but I’m not rich or well connected enough or a psycopathic fuckwad to ever succeed outside this town.
There fixed it for ya TPC
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17th January 2013 at 10:07 am
AWD says:
We have representative government that doesn’t represent us.
They say what we want to hear so they can get elected. Then they give away money to more than 100 million people, farmers, foreigners, tax breaks and porkulus for corporations that bribe them. The are the biggest whores ever. They are criminals,
It’s our job to start over. Reset.
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17th January 2013 at 10:26 am
rune says:
The only thing I could do next is actually run for office, but I’m not motivated enough or a psycopathic fuckwad to ever succeed.
There fixed it for ya JIMSKI
TPC is currently busy analysing Frost’s Road Not Taken
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17th January 2013 at 10:42 am
AWD says:
Infringe is an American television series created by the Democratic Party. It premiered January 20th, 2009. The series follows Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Congressional Democrats, and members of the mainstream media’s “Infringe Division” as they circumvent the US Constitution.
In the Gun-Grabber episodes the team uses scientific mythology to support the claim that stricter gun laws lower gun violence, and saving just one life is worth surrendering your rights and freedoms.
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17th January 2013 at 10:56 am
AWD says:
They infringe on the Constitution. They infringe on the Bill of Rights. They infringe on our earnings, taking 50% of what we earn. They infringe on the sovereign rights of other countries. They infringe on the law of man, the laws of economics. They infringe on fiscal sanity by creating more debt than ever seen in man’s history. They infringe on our liberty, our rights, our privacy and our homes. They must be stopped!
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17th January 2013 at 11:00 am
KaD says:
Nothing is going to get better until CONgress and Senate are entirely cleaned out of everyone who’s currently serving-the few decent ones can make no progress against the mountain of corruption. Sometimes I think picking people at random out of phone books and putting them in office, or using the jury pools, would have a better outcome.
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17th January 2013 at 12:13 pm
rune says:
KaD – It bears repeating: Sometimes I think picking people at random out of phone books and putting them in office, or using the jury pools, would have a better outcome.
could i use the same excuses i use to get out of jury duty?
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17th January 2013 at 12:18 pm
BUCKHED says:
Our Forefathers knew that it would be hard to maintain a Republic . They gave us the tools to do so…alas we gave the tools away when we LET the folks in CONgress write the laws that did away our rights .
Franklin answered when asked what they had given us ” A Republic if you can keep it ” ! I’m sorry Ben, the Republic is gone, only refreshing the Tree of Liberty could possibly return it .
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17th January 2013 at 12:39 pm
BUCKHED says:
I’d make the following a law, retroactive if I were in power to do so….ANY person who has EVER served in CONgress etc or has worked for the Federal Government will not be allowed to work for ANY COMPANY doing business with the Federal Government. Let the firings begin…NOW !
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17th January 2013 at 12:42 pm
Administrator says:
Republicans rollover like a mangy cur as soon as Obama rolls up the newspaper to wack them on the nose.
Republicans eyeing short-term debt-limit increase, Ryan says
January 17, 2013, 1:33 PM
.House Republicans are considering raising the U.S. debt limit for a short period of time, Rep. Paul Ryan said Thursday at a GOP retreat in Virginia.
Ryan, who was Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012, said the House GOP is “discussing the virtue of a possible short-term debt limit extension.”
–Robert Schroeder
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17th January 2013 at 1:42 pm
Micro-Be says:
TPC –
If you began speaking locally now, positioned yourself to win a small city or county seat, and hold consistently to your message, you could probably break into the House within 10 years or so. Be very aggressive with the local youth and visit the places where the old-times congregate, speak with them often, become their friend. It’ll work! If you have the energy, please do it.
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17th January 2013 at 1:58 pm
Eddie says:
TPC
Do not run for office. Run FROM office.
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17th January 2013 at 2:21 pm
Ron says:
I would like to know how and when did congress get this no term limit thing. Some of these brain dead criminals are complaining about crap they voted for twenty years ago.The i was for it before i was against it stuff.There should be an age cap also.My elderly father said these old brain dead farts need to leave.Fresh blood and ideas.
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17th January 2013 at 3:37 pm
The Suicidal Idiocy of the American Voter | Daily Pundit says:
[...] 545 vs. 300,000,000 People [...]
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17th January 2013 at 4:30 pm
Anonymous says:
its time to come out from behind our keyboards and computer screens folks
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17th January 2013 at 11:14 am
TPC says:
@Eddie – “Do not run for office. Run FROM office.”
Fairly sound advice for someone who is sane.
Luckily I am not burdened with sanity, and thus can dream that some day we may actually work this shit out.
My wife and I’s networking has continued unabated, not only in our “small” town but in KC as well.
Hopefully by the end of the year we will be moving on up.
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17th January 2013 at 11:46 am