545 People

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  • EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.

    Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.


    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. 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? 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 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.


      October 9, 2008 11:44 PM BST
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  • 1195
    I understand Mr. Reese is no longer writing for the Orlando, Fla. paper or other publications due to health problems. What Mr. Reese proposes is nice but not part of our real world.
    We have two major political parties and they control, to a great extent, how a senator or representative votes. As to whom writes the bills which eventually become law, the writers are usually staff member and interest groups. The elected person usually has some input but they don't sit down a write a bill. The special interest groups are not all bad or all good. Recently the veterans received more benefits with the passage of a 'law." If it wasn't for support groups - special interest groups - this bill would never have passed through Congress and been signed by the President.
    The article proposes that Federal official should be removed - nice try - I refer you to Recall of Legislators and the Removal of Members of Congress from Office Congressional Research Service, The Library of Congress, Order Code RL30016. Its 13 pages long. In a nutshell (as my teachers used to say) there is no constitutional provision for removing any elected federal official by the citizenry. Congress can purge itself and the President can be removed but not by the public - not withstanding elections.
    According to the write up in Wikipedia, Mr. Reese was a strong supporter of the Nation Rifle Assn. Not that I have anything against the NRA but it's my belief that we have come a long way from the time the New Englanders needed to keep a loaded rifle over the fire place in case of Indian attack. That's who put the Second Amendment into the Constitution.
    So, if we really want to change things we need a Constitutional Convention, which has been proposed many times but never happens.
    As Porky Pig used to say "Th..Tha...That's all folks."
    hugs
    Gracie
    <p>If it isn't fun - don't do it.</p>
      October 10, 2008 8:23 PM BST
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  • I believe Mr. Reese was only saying that it is the politicians who live in there own little world and it is time for us to let them know we are tired of it by getting rid of the bunch and starting fresh. As for special interests I agree you cannot lump everyone in the bad category, of course there are good causes. And for the second amendment, the right to bear arms, I think you need to do a little research into the notes of those who wrote that into our constitution. It was placed there not only for individuals to protect themselves from indians, but rather for individuals to protect themselves from a government run amuck.
    Hugs always,
    Marsha
      October 10, 2008 8:46 PM BST
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  • 1195
    Marsha Ann
    Seems like we're in agreement.
    Stay safe
    hugs
    Gracie
    <p>If it isn't fun - don't do it.</p>
      October 13, 2008 8:51 PM BST
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  • Mary,

    It was not so many years ago that I had to keep a loaded gun ready at home and in my neighborhood to defend my life....and some of those I was defending against were los indios. However, lets not forget that Native Americans had to be armed to protect themselves against the New World Invaders far more often. But the point of this thread is that we can give a clear message by firing the idiots who do what we do not like. A lot of people voted Democratic the last few years to send that message. It probably has not been received. It's our responsibility to keep firing people who do not do, in office, what they promised in their campaigns. If we don't then WE are responsible because We The People have that power to exercise and our responsibility is to do it.
    "A live lived in fear is a life half-lived." - Native American proverb. "Inside every man is a woman who was drowned in testosterone before birth". - Wendy Jeanette Larsen "It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you're not." - Andre Gide (French writer)
      April 2, 2009 4:42 AM BST
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