There’s a lot of talk in Washington about yet another so-called “stimulus” package. If the next one is anything like the last one it will simply be a mechanism for taking money away from people who aren’t spending it the way politicians would like, and transferring it to people who will. Our soon-to-be ruler feels like adding some grandiose public works projects (raking leaves in a National Forest) to the list.
Let’s break away from these political stimulus ideas for a few minutes and study an absolutely brilliant idea from Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert. Now Louie hasn’t been around the halls of congress all that much (just three years) so he is not yet all that acclimated to the Washington lust for absolute power. If he were, he never would have come up with this idea.
You can read about the idea in the rest of the article, I won't spoil it for you. But more than anything, you can tell that Rep. Gohmert is a greenhorn. The reason i say this? He still formulates ideas that would actually benefit the people.
Some of the freshman law-makers are sincere about getting Washington reformed when they first get there, but they all soon learn the system and climate are not conducive for reform. We could change that, but we don't. We think about it. We talk about it. But when it comes to vote, we go to the polls and re-elect the same corrupt bastards, we bitch about time after time, day after day.
Gohmert's solution needs to be looked at, but as Neal and the rest of us know, it won't. This begs a couple of questions. What good is it to come up with innovative solutions, cutting edge ideas, and bold measures to better the nation as a whole, if we do nothing about it? Why even waste the time and energy?
How many times have we heard, how someone that gets elected to national office for the first time, "this man/woman this is a rising and promising young talent? Then, after the swearing in, they are all told to sit down, shut up, listen, and do what they are told?
Americans had better wake up. We had better soon realize that Rome fell with many of the same calamities as contributing factors, as we have right now. And do not be fooled, there is nothing written anywhere that says we won't.
This is not the kind of legacy I want to leave for my children and grandchildren. I don't know about all of you, but I want to leave them better off than a bunch of corrupt leaders milking every penny they can from the people, to do with it what they want with no accountability. I want them live in a world of real hope and promise, not just one dreamed up as a campaign slogan.
Is this a pipe dream, part of a fantasy that will never be fulfilled? Or is this an opportunity to make something real happen, something that can help fulfill and facilitate true citizenship?
Is it something that will will truly make them proud to be Americans and develop a profound respect for what we all worked for? Or will it embitter them and disillusion them, further turning them from hope to cynicism and defeatism?
The choice is ours.
4 comments:
We need to discuss taxation, but I rather think our priority should be spending, and then taxes.
We understand the importance of "party unity," and we can see how enforcing discipline among party members can easily turn corrupt. I think we call it playing the game. We may not have such corruption in politics if we had term limitations, but the SCOTUS already ruled on that. The Constitution assumes the best "limitations" are those imposed by voters; the erroneous assumption is that voters even think about such things, let alone vote intelligently.
It's depressing.
If government was held to the same standards as the typical responsible American household, i.e., a budget, we certainly wouldn't be in as much trouble as we are now.
And I agree - why do we keep electing the "same corrupt bastards" is beyond me...
//We need to discuss taxation, but I rather think our priority should be spending, and then taxes.//
I read somewhere some years ago, somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 was allocated for some study of the study of the mating habits of the Japanese Quail. I am all for environmental studies, but this smells like some Senator's nephew got a Ph.D. in zoology and couldn't find a job.
I bet this is more common than we think. If I am an elected official in DC and I care about getting this budget under control, this one of the areas in which I am looking to cut funding.
//why do we keep electing the "same corrupt bastards" is beyond me...//
He who gives out the most toys, gets to keep his job.
- LASunsett 2008.
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