BY CHARLEY REESECharley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything from sports to politics. From 1969-71, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races
in several states. He was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner.
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.
A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY
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 G.W. BUSH 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 Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto.
REPLACE THE SCOUNDRELS
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, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise 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.
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 exist 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.
AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%. My belief all along is that we have been played by the 2-party system for manipulative purposes, just like the classic "good-cop bad-cop" scenario coerces a vicutm to give up information that can be held against that same person. We are being worked!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, but wrong on one very important point... the number of guilty people is 544 not 545.
ReplyDeleteRon Paul, a eleven term Republican congressman from Texas, has NEVER voted for an unbalanced budget and he has NEVER voted for an unconstitutional law.
He has NEVER voted to authorize an undeclared (and therefore unconstitutional) war, and he has NEVER voted to appropriate money to fund such a war.
He has also NEVER voted to authorize ANY of the other budget draining, unconstitutional, no-win "wars" that have left our nation on the verge of bankruptcy; like the War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, etc. etc.
He did NOT give the House of Representative's constitutional authority over monetary policy to the Federal Reserve; in fact, he has dedicated much of his political career to restoring that most precious power to congress and the people of the United States.
And has all of this earned him the respect of his peers in congress and the so-called leaders of his own party?
Not in the least.
He is considered a joke, a pariah, a skunk at the picnic.
They laughingly refer to him as "Dr. No" because he so often finds himself on the losing end of legislative battles.
What else would you expect from the jerks and crooks in BOTH parties that have been running and ruining this country?
But what REALLY hurts is when the citizens of this country, including the author of this tirade, start to vent their rage against the political insiders, and make no distinction between them and Dr. Paul.
" We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!" is what they say.
To which I would reply:
How about showing that you have enough maturity to recognize a politician who HAS been doing the job he was elected to do.
Even if he is the ONLY one.... ESPECIALLY if he has been the only one, he deserves recognition and respect for that effort.
If we can't recognize and respect a man who has lived up to every political promise that he has ever made, remained consistent to his values, and truly honored his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies "foreign and domestic"; what makes anyone think that the American people have the wisdom or the will to finally "clean up this mess"?
They had their chance to elect this man the President of the United States in 2008, and didn't even give him his party's nomination. They let political pundits, reporters, GOP "leaders", and commentators ignore or ridicule him, excluding him from debates, labeling him as a "kook", and condemning his message without even trying to hear or understand it.
And who did they nominate instead?; a man who has made a career out of riding the fence, reaching "across the aisle" and teaming up with the worst of the beltway insiders.
The American, and more specifically the Republican, voters got EXACTLY what they deserved in this last election.
Maybe it is time to remove the beam from their own eyes, and then they will see clearly enough to "throw the bums out".
A good start might be to educate themselves about a statesman who has been fighting and losing this battle, ALONE, in Washington D.C. for decades.
Maybe he could use some company.
Maybe we need to figure out what and WHO we should be FOR instead of just throwing tantrums about what we are AGAINST.
When I see the membership of Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty triple in size, maybe then I will have hope for America.
Its time for patriotic Americans to put up or shut up; or we can all expect more, much more, of the same.