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 pre sident, 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 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 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 width='100%' 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.