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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, we have
deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians
are against inflation and high taxes, 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.
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 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, knowing that 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.
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