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, 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.

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 probl ems 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. (No longer true since 1984.)

There are no insolvable government probl ems .

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!