Blame The 545

I've seen this on at least one other occasion, but it's still as powerful as when it was first published back in 1985, and again in both 1995 and 2008 (with some additions and changes).

“This” is an editorial written by Charley Reese and it rightly attributes all of this country's problems to the 545 people in Washington who are, at the heart of it, responsible for the ills we've suffered for decades (and particularly the past few years). Reese doesn't play the partisan card, blasting both Democrats and Republicans for the troubles they've caused.

The portion quoted below is from the 1995 version.

Politicians, as I have always said, are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Everything on the Republican contract ( Newt Gingrich's Contract With America – ed.) is a problem created by Congress.

Too much bureaucracy? Blame Congress. Too many rules? Blame Congress.

Out-of-control bureaucracy? Congress authorizes everything bureaucracies do. Americans dying in Third World ratholes on stupid UN missions? Congress allows it. The annual deficits? Congress votes for them. The $4 trillion debt (now $14 trillion -ed.)? Congress created it.

To put it into perspective just remember that 100 percent of the power of the federal government comes from the U.S Constitution. If it's not in the Constitution, it's not authorized.

Though a little dated, the points Reese brings up are just as valid today as they were 16 years ago.

As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.

The Clock Winds Down

As the clock ticks onwards towards midnight, Congress is still stalemated, with the possibility of a partial government shutdown looming.

The GOP wants to extend the continuing resolution that has funded government operations for the past 6 months for another week, but only if they can squeeze in $60 billion in spending cuts, which is about 1.6% of the total budget and 3.75% of this fiscal year's deficit.

But the Democrats want none of it. They want everything to continue as is. In fact, they have already stated the won't support cuts of any kind. That pompous ass Harry Reid has labeled the cuts as 'draconian', as if that piddling amount of money would be stealing the food out of the mouths of children and dumping the sick out of the hospitals and into the middle of the street. Harry Reid and his cohorts have pissed away over $4 trillion the government doesn't have over the past four years and he's complaining about cutting back spending by less than 2 percent?

I don't know about you, but my family and I have had to cut our budget by over 15% over the past 2 years, and while it hasn't been fun, we're surviving quite nicely, thank you. Is Harry and the rest of the Democrats saying it isn't possible to trim less than 2% from such a bloated budget? If so, then perhaps they should be fired.

Is it because he and the rest of the spendthrift Congresscritters in both parties have been in Washington far too long and have lost touch with reality? It's appearing that may indeed be the case.

When your elected representatives stop representing you and start representing a tax and spend-spend-spend ideology, it's time for them to be replaced with people who still remember what it's like out here in the real world.