HappilyRetired.Com

IF ONLY 545 PEOPLE Remember this in November
by Charlie Reese, a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

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, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, 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 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.

100 Senators, 435 Congressmen, one President, and 9 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 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 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, 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 inoffice, 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.

YOU DECIDE, BUT AT LEAST SEND IT TO EVERYONE IN YOUR
ADDRESS BOOK. MAYBE SOMEONE IN THERE WILL DO
SOMTHING ABOUT IT!

Remember if each person sends to a minimum of 10 people, and each
one repeats this action, this e-mail will be received by millions
very quickly. That’s the power the INTERNET has. But everyone who
receives this MUST SEND TO 10 MINIMUM (or more) in their address book!

Otherwise YOU are as much a part of the problem as the 545. Just
don’t complain about it as it continues. At least, print this out to re-read in
November.

Charlie Reese, a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.