The following article is written (in various iterations) by Charley Reese, a former columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. I verified it with Snopes, and a lot of other sources. It's real. This version is the one from 1995.
The 545 People Responsible for all of America's Woes
Written 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 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 an y 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.
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!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Kant is awesome.
For years, I have been claiming to love the ideas of Soren Kierkegaard. I read his stuff, but seemed to lose the most basic ideas in the philosophy. I first read the philosophers in college and found one in particular whom I identified with the most. However, it wasn't Kierkegaard. And now I realize that I made a mistake. The philosopher I fell in love with in college was one Immanuel Kant.
In honor of him, I give you the following quotes.
“Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.”
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
“Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another.”
“If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.”
“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.”
“It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge that begins with experience.”
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
“Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.”
“Do what is right, though the world may perish”
“So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.”
“The death of dogma is the birth of morality”
“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”
“Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason.”
“By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man”
“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.”
“The possession of power unavoidably spoils the free use of reason”
“Perpetual Peace is only found in the graveyard”
“To be is to do.”
“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.”
“Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.”
“All the interests of my reason, speculative as well as practical, combine in the three following questions: 1. What can I know? 2. What ought I to do? 3. What may I hope?”
“Man must be disciplined, for he is by nature raw and wild”
“Ingratitude is the essence of vileness.”
In honor of him, I give you the following quotes.
“Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.”
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
“Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another.”
“If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.”
“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.”
“It is beyond a doubt that all our knowledge that begins with experience.”
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
“Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.”
“Do what is right, though the world may perish”
“So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.”
“The death of dogma is the birth of morality”
“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”
“Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason.”
“By a lie a man throws away and, as it were, annihilates his dignity as a man”
“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.”
“The possession of power unavoidably spoils the free use of reason”
“Perpetual Peace is only found in the graveyard”
“To be is to do.”
“It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.”
“Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.”
“All the interests of my reason, speculative as well as practical, combine in the three following questions: 1. What can I know? 2. What ought I to do? 3. What may I hope?”
“Man must be disciplined, for he is by nature raw and wild”
“Ingratitude is the essence of vileness.”
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Unfriend
So, on the social networking addiction popularly known as Facebook, I have over 250 friends. Most are people I knew cursorily in college or high school, some that I've met only once but communicate with, and others that I know from my vast and varied travels.
Honestly, I can't keep track of that many people. Just like people that pass you in the hall, sometimes you don't notice if one is gone for a bit. Eventually you think about the person and you realize, "Hey, I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder how she's doing."
And then there are the people that you are more closely connected with. The ones whose absence immediately affects you. You may not notice for a day or two. But eventually you do, and then you wonder what happened.
As you may have guessed, Someone unfriended me this week. Usually when someone unfriends me, I notice the number of friends has gone down and I briefly look through my list, but can't figure out who it was. The rejection stings a little bit, but I figure whoever it was, we probably hadn't talked in a while, and it's not so great a loss.
But this Someone... I noticed almost immediately. I noticed because every day waking up and facing his rejection three months and twenty-three days ago is a weight on my heart. Like a long drag on a cigarette, each breath drags at my heart and burns a little more away. I noticed because after the drama of "The Phone Call" thirteen days ago, which resulted in a strongly-worded email from me, explaining how we are NOT friends and Someone has NO business asking me how I'm doing after essentially telling me that he didn't really care about me anymore.
Someone then didn't email me back apologizing for breaking my heart. Someone didn't call me again (after all, I asked him not to). Someone just unfriended me.
Now to be fair I have to say that I did pretty much restrict all his Facebook access to me after he was kind of a jerk to some of my friends on my wall. But I didn't unfriend him. I thought about it, but I didn't.
Now that he's pulled the plug and clicked that button, I feel more rejected than ever. And I need Jesus more than ever.
Honestly, I can't keep track of that many people. Just like people that pass you in the hall, sometimes you don't notice if one is gone for a bit. Eventually you think about the person and you realize, "Hey, I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder how she's doing."
And then there are the people that you are more closely connected with. The ones whose absence immediately affects you. You may not notice for a day or two. But eventually you do, and then you wonder what happened.
As you may have guessed, Someone unfriended me this week. Usually when someone unfriends me, I notice the number of friends has gone down and I briefly look through my list, but can't figure out who it was. The rejection stings a little bit, but I figure whoever it was, we probably hadn't talked in a while, and it's not so great a loss.
But this Someone... I noticed almost immediately. I noticed because every day waking up and facing his rejection three months and twenty-three days ago is a weight on my heart. Like a long drag on a cigarette, each breath drags at my heart and burns a little more away. I noticed because after the drama of "The Phone Call" thirteen days ago, which resulted in a strongly-worded email from me, explaining how we are NOT friends and Someone has NO business asking me how I'm doing after essentially telling me that he didn't really care about me anymore.
Someone then didn't email me back apologizing for breaking my heart. Someone didn't call me again (after all, I asked him not to). Someone just unfriended me.
Now to be fair I have to say that I did pretty much restrict all his Facebook access to me after he was kind of a jerk to some of my friends on my wall. But I didn't unfriend him. I thought about it, but I didn't.
Now that he's pulled the plug and clicked that button, I feel more rejected than ever. And I need Jesus more than ever.
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