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, 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 SPAN>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 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 f

or originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House?

Nancy Pelosi.

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

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,

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.

WOW

TTFN