Throw The Bums Out

One of the miracles of human history was designing the social contract that was the creation of the United States. I know that sounds very xenophobic but the reality of the United States, literally, a creation of just about all of the peoples on earth, has been its ability to adapt to changing circumstances through the decades with sizable influxes of immigrants for well over 400 years. This doesn't make us any better but just very different from what was before. There are those of us today however, who wonder if it will go on. Will our inability to talk, to meet and compromise tear us apart?

In fact, anyone who is a history buff of the Civil War can recognize the same tensions that constantly threatened and finally tore our union apart. They couldn't find a way to compromise then either. While slavery certainly was a factor, the South, more than the other states believed the Constitution guaranteed them more rights than the Federal government which included leaving the union if they wished. A recent article on the Tea Party and the Republican holdouts points out the same tensions, in the same states, in rural counties who feel that the Federal government then as now, is forcing on them laws and regulations they don't and won't support.

Of course, it was always that way. The original colonies were anything but welcoming. If you weren't a Quaker or Puritan or Catholic, you were not welcome in one or many of the 13 colonies that grew on this new world. Maryland was Catholic, New England highly Puritan, Pennsylvania Quaker and so on. The settlers that came were running from something often persecution for one reason or another or landlords that kept them in a state of penury.

Every group that settled here in large numbers had discrimination to deal with. The Huguenots of France, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, the Catholics, The Irish during the potato famine, Germans in several successive waves, the Italians in the early 1900's, Asians and of course now Hispanics coming from over the border. To read the flyers, speeches and newspapers in the museum on Ellis Island is to realize that the arguments today are no different. Italians were going to put us under the thumb of the pope, the Irish were lazy though, like the Chinese, many worked and died building the railroads. Chinese men were not allowed to bring wives, marry whites and those that survived mostly were sent home.

There are many polls telling us what the public thinks of our elected officials. Besides not being able to talk to each other without their soap boxes, wave after wave of corruption trials only highlights that being in office can be the road to riches. Particularly chilling is the trial of the former mayor of Detroit who literally stole millions while the city descended into the largest bankruptcy of any city in the United States. Mile of after of this vast city is empty, barren or littered with abandoned factories, business and homes. Once home to 1.7 million citizens it barely reaches 700,000 today. It looks in fact like some third world country.

Is there a solution you ask? Of course there is. My solution is to throw them out. VOTE out of office every single elected official in the United States. It is not only the Federal Government that is dysfunctional but it reaches into every city, county and hamlet. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Elected officials are citizens who are elected to be our spokesman. They are to accurately represent how we as a collective body feel but also are given the opportunity to compromise and make the best deal they can under the circumstances. Or as George Orwell said in ANIMAL FARM, "All animals are created equal." However, what we have now is a political class that once elected seems to feel they now have the wisdom of God and know more than you do. Or as the sign on the barn says at the end of the book, "Some animals are more equal than others." Hogwash.

So, throw the bums out. I don't care how great your elected officials are, THEY are the problem. They get paid while 800,000 are furloughed, they get special retirement plans and healthcare, not the same Social Security or Medicare you and I get. Who decided that? Do we still have a king and lords? George Washington had the decency to retire after two terms of office. We have people in our Congress today that have never had another job except feeding from the government trough. The Founding Fathers never dreamed anyone would spend their entire careers in the womb of government.

Anyone observing politicians today has to wonder. Even the newspaper commented on one in my area who had to speak first and then hogged most of the allotted time; TV shows the finger-pointing each and every night. I wonder, do they see themselves? Do they realize what the people think of them? Both sides are equally at fault passing bills and resolutions they know will not see the light of day. A poll released over the weekend found that hemorrhoids had a higher rating that Congress. Even the used car salesman fared better. While Congress rarely has very high ratings, it found that voters are now starting to realize that even their representative needs to be replaced. Replaced and with limits in office.

In closing I repeat, VOTE THE BUMS OUT. The replacements will be rookies. They will not know the ropes. That could be a good thing. No more new laws for awhile since they seem to have a hard time enforcing the ones already on the books. One new good law would be, you didn't get the budget done on time? No pay. We did it in California and its amazing how they manage to get it done now. Hit 'em where it hurts. The pocketbook. They are holding us hostage, its time to fight back!

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