Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Scrapping Congress

Scrapping Congress It has been a long time since I wrote a blog. Time gets away from you sometimes. Sometimes a busy man doesn’t have time for everything, despite what my mother always said. Still, I do miss writing blogs, and I do miss throwing my opinion around like it was of very important weight. Indeed, there are times when I think I am carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Most of the time, not so much. So what stirs me to write a blog today? I have been watching the politicians dance with and sling mud at each other at the same time. I have been watching this for days. Weeks. Months. I am getting tired of the bull, as I know 99 percent of Americans are. I long for the alternative that the British have – a vote of no-confidence. Throw them all out and force the President to form a new coalition. Congress is a joke. Worse, Congress is not a joke. And yet, that’s not why I write this blog. After the sequester budget cuts seem to be trickling down into our everyday lives, I am reminded of issues that seem totally unrelated to budget crises. I heard today that Yellowstone National Park is postponing the annual plowing of the West Yellowstone entrance for two weeks to save half a million dollars and cutting the summer help by 35. They’re doing their bit. At the same time our Secretary of State says emphatically that we will not supply weapons to the rebels in Syria. Totally unrelated news bytes, except that to my brain I feel a sudden admiration knowing the US government will trim services in a National Park and resist the temptation to turn a profit on weapons sales. There is a profound irony here. The deficit we face will be one trillion plus dollars. The tax increase from the last crisis vote will be about 650 billion. The net difference is a negative 350 billion. In a sense, that brings us back to the Ronald Reagan days, when the deficit increased annually by about 350 billion dollars. We are still in the hole here and we have 533 human beings holding the rest of us hostage. Most of those senators and representatives are wealthy or close to it. They all have the best health care available, for life. There is not one economist, housewife, scientist or real diplomat in the bunch. Like I said, I wish we could vote them all out. At the very least, it seems that a single representative, voted into office by a small small small percentage of the national voting public, can dictate national policy, or at least stonewall the wishes of the majority. This is the true meaning of Tyranny of the Minority. It certainly is not democracy.

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