POLITICS - Don't Re-elect ANYBODY

[Old Time Hunter]

In the vein of the season, thought this might have some relevance:

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 congress men, 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 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.



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 peopl e 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

[mohavesam]

My all-time favorite bumper sticker:

"RE-ELECT NO ONE"

My made-in-Mexico Dodge RAM P/U still wears it!

(Second all-time favorite):

"If you don't VOTE, you don't MATTER"

[J Miller]

I couldn't agree more.

This coming election ............. just vote: NO

Joe

[Grizz]

Old Time Hunter,

That post should be required reading in every school in the nation.

It should be posted at every polling place. It should be recited and repeated on every talk show at every opportunity.

The revolution that's waiting to happen:

THROW THE BUMS OUT AT EVERY ELECTION

[Old Ironsights]

True dat..

[PJA]

Years ago, there was a local talk show host who coined the phrase DRIP - Don't Return Incumbent Politicians. Works for me.
Pete

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

True but only half the equation.

We need term limits and loser pay tort reform before any of this will change.

Term limits to get the parasites out of office and loser pay tort reform to get them off the backs of small business.

Case in point, the cleaners that the lawyer sued for a million because they lose his pants. They won but it cost them their business.

That's just wrong.

[PJA]

Steve - We have term limits here in California, but all that does is make the professional politicians run for a different office when they are termed out. If they can't find anything, they are appointed to various boards and/or commissions which allows them to continue to feed from the public trough. Term limit laws need to contain provisions for NO public employment for a period of two to four years after being termed out. Hopefully they will have starved to death by then.
Pete

[Gun Runner]

My mother yrs ago told one of the people that knocked on her door looking for her vote, If you dint STEAL enough the first time. Why should I give you a second chance to steal more. He left in a hurry.

Gun Runner

[Andrew]

True dat..

+1

[Quick Karl]

The truth about politics is that most voters are morons.

Next time you vote for your welfare, social security, medicare, universal health care, or whatever other entitlement you think you deserve, look yourself in the mirror and spit on yourself.

If you are contemplating a vote for Obama or Hillary you should just do the country a favor and shoot yourself, not that McCain is any better.

[Noah Zark]

We need term limits and loser pay tort reform before any of this will change.

Term limits to get the parasites out of office and loser pay tort reform to get them off the backs of small business.

Steve:

If we the voters and constituents allow no incombent to become reelected, then there's de facto term limits. IMO, that's the point of Charlie Reese's essay -- we can't wait for elected officials to write effective term limit laws at the federal, state, and local levels. But we have the power to limit terms ourselves -- simply by voting for no incumbent. Term limits based in law and regulation wouldn't matter.

All it takes is organization the the gumption to register to vote and then exercise that right, every time.

On tort reform, you bet we need that. I'm +1000 with you there.

And we also need a national Primary Day. We have a national General Election Day, and a national Primary Day would help reduce the 1.5 year Primary Election campaign to maybe six months or so.

And eliminate "superdelegates" who can vote for whomever they want for the party nomination. What happened to representing the wishes of the voting public? I cast my primary vote for a given candidate and some party hack with a nice position of power can support the candade of HIS or HER choice, forget about me and the other voters? That's a bunch of pferdscheisse, and pardon my Hochdeutsch.

Noah

[Noah Zark]

The truth about politics is that most voters are morons.

I wondered about that last year in a local election.

A county official was retiring and threw his support in behind his assistant. The assistant is a habitual drunkard, fall-down sloppy drunk, every night of the week. The official and his alcoholic assistant smeared a challenger in the primary, claiming he was unqualified and hadn't worked in that department. The challenger took out ads showing proof that he indeed worked in that department, and was qualified for the elected position, proving the official and his assistant were lying in their own ads.

The voters nominated the alcoholic 2:1 in the primary, and then went on to elect him to office last November.

Noah

[JohnnyReb]

Steve - We have term limits here in California, but all that does is make the professional politicians run for a different office when they are termed out. If they can't find anything, they are appointed to various boards and/or commissions which allows them to continue to feed from the public trough. Term limit laws need to contain provisions for NO public employment for a period of two to four years after being termed out. Hopefully they will have starved to death by then.
Pete

PJA is correct. About 12 years ago the Governor of Georgia announced a a plan to reduce the size of State government by 10%. Entire departments were eliminated and some staffs were cut by the mandatory percentage..... It sounded like a great idea until we learned the details....
Seems that since the layoffs were mandatory and not pursuant to some dischargable offense, all the affected employees got full pension benefits at the time of termination regardless of term of employment. We had politicians placing family and friends in positions slated for termination. I personally know of one person who worked for State government for less than 3 months and received a full pension for involuntary and unmerited termination!

The net effect was that YES....the State had 10% fewer workers.... we just paid them to STAY HOME!

[Quick Karl]

Steve - We have term limits here in California, but all that does is make the professional politicians run for a different office when they are termed out. If they can't find anything, they are appointed to various boards and/or commissions which allows them to continue to feed from the public trough. Term limit laws need to contain provisions for NO public employment for a period of two to four years after being termed out. Hopefully they will have starved to death by then.
Pete

PJA is correct. About 12 years ago the Governor of Georgia announced a a plan to reduce the size of State government by 10%. Entire departments were eliminated and some staffs were cut by the mandatory percentage..... It sounded like a great idea until we learned the details....
Seems that since the layoffs were mandatory and not pursuant to some dischargable offense, all the affected employees got full pension benefits at the time of termination regardless of term of employment. We had politicians placing family and friends in positions slated for termination. I personally know of one person who worked for State government for less than 3 months and received a full pension for involuntary and unmerited termination!

The net effect was that YES....the State had 10% fewer workers.... we just paid them to STAY HOME!

And I bet each and every one of those miserable scum-bags who hired on at the last minute, will tell you how much they hate government, illegal immigrants, high taxes, etc. etc.

People are morons, and politicians know that people are morons, and morons deserve the government they elect.

[piller]

Kakistocracy a noun meaning a government made of and run by the worst possible people for the job.

[Old Ironsights]

Kakistocracy a noun meaning a government made of and run by the worst possible people for the job.

And people think Constitutional Minarchy (as defined by the Founders before Hamilton got his Mercantilist Claws into the Finances) would somehow be worse...

[model55]

I've said before-I'm voting none of above.That goes for the President all the way down to my local union chapter-none of them would even inspire me if they were going for dog catcher.

[SJPrice]

Why is it okay to lump politicians into a group and not okay to lump other groups into a group. Referring to all politicians as worthless or worse is no different that referring to an ethnic group as lazy or freeloaders, or gangsters or drunks or etc. Politicians are people just like you and I. Quite frankly there are some of them who I wish would get re-elected over and over again. Presidents like Ronald Reagan, or Representatives like Paul Braun, R-GA who is working to get the gun ban in National Parks removed and who has lived up to his campaign promises to look out for out 2nd amendment rights. Not all politicians are bad and we do the good ones a true disservice by lumping them all together. As gun owners we should be embracing and supporting the good ones. We need their support and hard work. We do not need them to hear how the folks whose rights they are trying to protect are publicly insulting their ethics and efforts. I agree with the idea of not voting for the people who do not measure up. If we just all agree to do that then I think democracy has a chance.

[Quick Karl]

Why is it okay to lump politicians into a group and not okay to lump other groups into a group. Referring to all politicians as worthless or worse is no different that referring to an ethnic group as lazy or freeloaders, or gangsters or drunks or etc. Politicians are people just like you and I. Quite frankly there are some of them who I wish would get re-elected over and over again. Presidents like Ronald Reagan, or Representatives like Paul Braun, R-GA who is working to get the gun ban in National Parks removed and who has lived up to his campaign promises to look out for out 2nd amendment rights. Not all politicians are bad and we do the good ones a true disservice by lumping them all together. As gun owners we should be embracing and supporting the good ones. We need their support and hard work. We do not need them to hear how the folks whose rights they are trying to protect are publicly insulting their ethics and efforts. I agree with the idea of not voting for the people who do not measure up. If we just all agree to do that then I think democracy has a chance.

That almost made me vomit.

[Lobo]

Amen, Charlie!!

[CowboyTutt]

The truth about politics is that most voters are morons.

Next time you vote for your welfare, social security, medicare, universal health care, or whatever other entitlement you think you deserve, look yourself in the mirror and spit on yourself.

If you are contemplating a vote for Obama or Hillary you should just do the country a favor and shoot yourself, not that McCain is any better.

And I bet each and every one of those miserable scum-bags who hired on at the last minute, will tell you how much they hate government, illegal immigrants, high taxes, etc. etc.

People are morons, and politicians know that people are morons, and morons deserve the government they elect.

Guys, lets try to be respectfull to the common man, OK? He's not here to defend himself.

Lets try to be polite and gentleman in keeping with the old/new tone of the forum. I understand everyone's frustration, but the amount of recent negetivity on this board is really bringing it down.


-Tutt