545

Today’s topic will be our government. So why is the title 545? We'll get to that. It is obvious to anyone living in America that our government is broken in more ways than can be counted. There are many things one can point to, our tax code, our crumbling infrastructure, what seems to be unending unemployment, and our legal system rarely seems just anymore. Worse yet, as a country we are swimming in debt, but cannot seem to find a way to reduce spending while refusing to pay debts we have already incurred. Our government continues to be gridlocked on almost every issue, each side pointing to the other to lay blame. The general public seems to be apathetic about these problems and the ability of anyone coming into office that might have answers; Real answers.

So who’s to blame for this mess; Republicans, Democrats, The Independents, or all of the above? The answer is none of them. We the American people are at fault. We elected these men and women to protect the interests of all of us and even when they fail miserably, we re-elect them. Why?

It comes down to choices and the only ones we have are already tied to an agenda. We have a two and a half party system; the Republicans on the right and the Democrats on the left. The few Independents available, trying to find the middle, lack funding, and candidates to challenge the big two. Campaign financing laws have become a joke, with special interest groups spending millions to get their candidate elected. Do any of us think this support comes with no strings attached?

I don't have all the answers as to how we fix the system, but I have a few suggestions.  

Eliminate the Electoral College. With today’s technology it is no longer needed. As long as it exists it is always possible that the election can be won through the Electoral College, even when the popular vote would give a different result. The popular vote would be us, we the people. That is the vote that should count.

Establish term limits. This should have been done a long time ago. Our founding fathers imposed these limits on themselves. Their vision was not a country run by career politicians.

Establish recall procedures that do not require an act of God. They are our employees; if they are not doing the job, we need to be able to fire them and replace them, like in the real world.

Adjust the salaries and benefits of our representatives to the median American household income, and those salaries and benefits end with their term just like the rest of us when we lose our jobs. Adjustments should also be made to their expense accounts which many times exceed the salary they are already drawing.

Foreign aid needs to be cut drastically. We continue to send our tax dollars to countries that hate us and everything we stand for. Why? What benefit have we gained from this practice? We have been at war for almost 15 years. We destroy the country to free their people at a cost in dollars that can be measured, and a cost in American lives that cannot, only to spend millions more to rebuild that country, and they still hate us. As long as Americans are homeless, hungry, and out of work, our money should be spent here to help Americans. Humanitarian aid where required should continue only when that aid is guaranteed to reach those it was intended for.

Adjust military spending to reflect the world we live in. We continue to build a military that is designed on cold war enemies and being the policeman for the world. Let’s turn in that badge and let other countries do what we had to do. Let them earn their own freedom; we of all the people on the Earth should realize that freedom must be earned. The freedom of Americans has been earned by the blood of their countrymen. When we won our independence it was not handed to us, nor were the supplies we needed furnished to us. We borrowed money to support our cause and repaid those loans. Name a country we have freed from dictatorship that has reimbursed us for the cost. Anybody?

Our membership in the United Nations seems neither cost effective nor beneficial to our country. Its recent decisions are comical and we the American people are the only teeth they have to enforce these decisions. This organization seems even less successful than its predecessor, The League of Nations, and I didn't think that was possible.

We need to stop trying to make things equal for all where it damages our competitiveness  Make no mistake, I do not mean the equality between race, creed, sexual orientation, or color that we have worked so hard to achieve. I speak of the generations we are raising now. Our schools teach children the same curriculum regardless of ability. The problem is that instead of lifting those that might be a little behind up, we insist on slowing others down. It carries over into sports; there are no losers, everyone gets a trophy. How does this prepare them for the real world? This is the equality that is killing our competitive edge.

We the people need to stop buying products made in countries that are not our allies. We need to focus on buying products made in America by Americans. Many of the jobs we have lost have moved overseas because labor costs are so much less. Large corporations need to stop focusing on billion dollar profits and bring their jobs back to Americans. It means a little less profit for them, but would quickly help the economy recover, which can only have a positive effect on all. We the people can force this issue; buy American or not at all. Call it an expansion of the Buy Local Program.

The bottom line is, it always has been and continues to be we the people’s decision. This is our country and we should elect people who support the view that our people will always come first.  When we have repaired our infrastructure, when we have the finest schools, when our people are no longer hungry and living in the streets, then and only then should we be rebuilding other countries.

When the next election rolls around we need to end this grid lock. We need to elect people who put country before party, those that are willing to compromise to begin to fix the problems we face. If this type of candidate cannot be found within the existing parties, we can only hope a strong third party will emerge. In the past this would have been almost impossible to achieve. The money to compete was just not available. The internet has the ability to change this. A grass roots party with the correct platform could keep costs at a minimum while reaching more people than any media campaign in history. The only question is do we have the type of courageous people left to mount this type of campaign?

This is America, sure we do!

Now why is the title 545? A man named Charlie Reese died in May. Charlie was a writer for the Orlando Sentinel; his column was syndicated and read world-wide. He explained this better than I could ever hope to. Here is Charlie’s article. I wish every American could read it, maybe then we would be willing to change those things that need changing.

545 vs. 300,000,000 People

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered 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 equates to 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? (John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He 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. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President's proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time.]

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot 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 and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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 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!