Isn't It Rich

"He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world." Benjamin Franklin

Sunday, March 30, 2008

The 545 People Responsible For All of America's Woes

This piece is making the rounds and I received it today from a friend of mine. It supposedly is an opinion piece written by Charley Reese when he was still a columnist at the Orlando Sentinel (he retired in 2001.) I was unable to find this on his archives page or check it out on Snopes. I don't really doubt that Reese wrote this; it sounds just like him, but I wasn't able to find it at any official looking site (no offense to the site whereupon I found this.) Still, this is a compelling piece written when Tip O'Neill was Speaker of the House and Reagan was president. It couldn't be more true today and I reprint it in its entirety as it was sent to me:


THE 545 PEOPLE
RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL
OF AMERICA'S WOES


BY CHARLEY 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 president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 235 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 but 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 legislation's responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Don't you see how the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? 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 Tip O'Neill, who stood up and criticized Ronald Reagan 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 appropriations and taxes.

O'Neill is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and his fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetos it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise 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 Lebanon, it's because they want them in Lebanon.

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 it.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist 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 they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

(This article was taken from the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper)
This is a great piece to keep in mind when Big Govt blames Big Oil for high energy prices, or anyone else in the "once free market" for things gone awry. Pretty much, we can blame the lame politicians on everything going crazy.

But then, who are the lame-brains voting them into office? Yikes, that one's gonna make a mark!

Thanks for this piece, Charley Reese, wherever you are!

|

<< Home

Flags

Previous Posts

  • Let Your Light Shine Tonight
  • Does the Bible condone slavery?
  • Polls: Democrats Love McCain
  • Uncle Jay Recaps Last Week
  • Question of the Day
  • The Hideous tactics of the Left
  • What Happens When the Media is Corrupt?
  • Who's Up for a Chinese Olympic Boycott?
  • It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy
  • Uncle Jay Explains The News
Be sure to visit Born To Win's Weekend Bible Study; a scintilating look into the very Word of God...never boring!

Bible Verse Du Jour

News and Info

  • u s constitution
  • the whitehouse
  • official u.s. time
  • this day in history
  • library of congress
  • state of texas
  • nasa
  • fema
  • accuweather
  • smithsonian institution
  • the british museum
  • getty museum
  • huntington library
  • reagan library
  • museum of science and industry
  • guggenheim museum
  • vatican museums
  • word of the day
  • bartleby-great books online
  • drudge
  • breitbart
  • breitbart's biggovernment
  • breitbart-tv
  • breitbart's big hollywood
  • pajamas media
  • lucianne
  • ann coulter
  • worldnetdaily
  • the hill
  • investor's business daily
  • realclearpolitics
  • freerepublic
  • agape press
  • breitbart
  • breitbart/tv
  • the news right now
  • the politico
  • bill gertz
  • crisscross news
  • lexisnexis news
  • happy news.com
  • ananova
  • fox news
  • cnn
  • sky news
  • bbc news
  • c-span
  • american petroleum institute
  • american enterprise
  • human events
  • national review
  • weekly standard
  • reason
  • iconoclast
  • american spectator
  • commentary
  • d magazine
  • texas monthly
  • frontpagemag
  • discoverthenetwork (a guide to the political left)
  • city journal
  • american thinker
  • intellectual conservative
  • tech central station
  • scientific american
  • livescience
  • fast company
  • 9/11 families for a secure america
  • townhall
  • jewish world review
  • jerusalem post
  • haaretz
  • ynet news
  • newsmax
  • opinion journal
  • google news
  • cnsnews
  • conservatives4palin
  • insight
  • chronwatch
  • time
  • us news and world report
  • mensnewsdaily
  • radio daily news
  • talkradio daily news
  • eagle forum
  • homemakers for america
  • department of defense
  • center for science & culture
  • sovereignty international
  • center for consumer freedom
  • media research
  • claremont institute
  • foundation for the defense of democracies
  • cato institute
  • heritage foundation
  • free congress foundation
  • hoover institution
  • judicial watch
  • national center for public policy research
  • national legal and policy center
  • rutherford institute
  • home school legal defense association
  • foundation for individual rights in education
  • landmark legal foundation
  • accuracy in media
  • ludwig von mises institute
  • stratfor
  • united nations
  • u.s. central command
  • wikipedia
  • liveleak
  • youtube
  • Blogs of Note

  • lileks
  • instapundit
  • sprittibee
  • the common room
  • right wing news
  • flopping aces
  • wizbang
  • justoneminute
  • the smoking gun
  • vox popoli
  • boing boing
  • the american conservative
  • stop the aclu
  • melanie phillips
  • stand in the trenches
  • ann althouse
  • daniel pipes
  • cox & forkum
  • imao
  • pajamas media
  • musing minds
  • the daly report
  • ace of spades hq
  • joanne jacobs
  • alain's newsletter
  • newsbusters
  • what really happened
  • news with views
  • worthy news
  • aubreyj.org
  • transterrestrial musings
  • smarter than celery
  • jacklewis.net
  • freedom folks
  • scotus blog
  • Gastronomical

  • emeril's
  • paula deen
  • this mama cooks
  • food network
  • kiplog's foodblog
  • all recipes
  • chelsea market
  • Talkers

  • rush
  • hannity
  • mark levin show
  • dennis prager
  • michael reagan
  • mike gallagher
  • bill bennett
  • kim komando
  • glenn beck
  • david gold
  • kevin mccarthy
  • brian wilson
  • Talk Radio Downstreams

  • ksky (salem radio network)
  • wbap
  • wabc
  • kfi
  • krla
  • kfyi
  • ksfo
  • Online Buds

  • donald neff american artist
  • voiceover usa
  • Inspirational

  • born to win
  • ronald l. dart
  • biblestudy.org
  • lenny cacchio
  • Worthy Causes

  • salvation army
  • world vision
  • prolife across america
  • happy hill farm
  • freedom alliance scholarships
  • spirit of america
  • let's say thanks
  • smile train
  • Miscellaneous

  • lovetoknow top 10

  •  

    Thanks for stopping by and for visiting my sponsors. Hurry back!
    All pages copyright Richard Glasgow 2004-2019 All rights reserved