A very interesting column. This article is COMPLETELY NEUTRAL. Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel. He was a journalist for 49 years. He has retired and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.
Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.
This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day.
It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!
545 vs. 300,000,000 People
By Charlie Reese
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.
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; 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!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it... is up to you.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Pissed, this is great and I'll be stealing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. I made a copy too! Common sense. great!
ReplyDelete545 plus the Army, Navy and Air force ... the Marines ..... countless police at the state local and federal levels, half the country who actually believe these assholes are doing the right things. Plus the fact that most Americans are either too fat, too stupid, to preoccupied with their own big and small screen entertainment or a mix of all those.
ReplyDeleteIn short, unless you want to send someone into DC with a nuclear bomb or a rapidly working death virus of some sort ... Nothing is going to change but your underwear ... except that there will be marshall law for years ... followed by a totalitarian regime.
We have had our moment in history and we blew it. We were bought off with our own tax dollars. That is the true essence of democracy.
With the exception of the 9 Supreme Court Justices, those other 536 are VOTED into office by the voters within the 3,000,000 ordinary citizens.
ReplyDeleteSo the final "fault, blame, failings, etc" falls back on the voters