Every four years, we put a new tenant in the White House, hoping beyond hope that perhaps things will be different. But things are never different. If we are to have true change in Washington, we must also sweep Congress clean, purging the Capitol of the foul stench of pork and uselessness that's wafted through there for the last 40 years. Fortunately, this year, all 435 House seats and half of the Senate's 100 seats are up for grabs. If we start now, we can finish the job by 2010.
Repairing this nation requires complete honesty about the causes of our problems. Everything around us has completely degenerated over just the last couple of years. Our political system, our patriotism, our manufacturing, industrial and energy-producing capacity, our infrastructure and our economy. I simply no longer recognize the country I grew up in and cannot believe how dysfunctional our government has become. The ruling class has shed all appearances of serving the public and seems interested only in career advancement and personal enrichment.
Let's take a look at just a few of the U.S. government's most recent legislative failures:
Illegal Immigration
Unchecked illegal immigration has been plaguing this country for 40 years. In the mid-1980s, Congress legislated amnesty for millions of illegal aliens despite overwhelming public opposition. Many Senators and Representatives who were seated in 1986 are still serving today. Back then, we were told by Republicans and Democrats alike that a one-time amnesty would end the problem of illegal immigration by removing the incentives. It failed of course, succeeding in removing only the barriers and our will to enforce the law. All because Democrats like to exploit illegal aliens for votes, while Republicans like to exploit them for cheap labor.
In the last two years, increased enforcement in the form of workplace raids and the coup de grâce of our souring economy are the only measures to stanch the flow of human beings crossing our borders, but the damage is already done... The loophole allowing millions of anchor babies to be deposited here means that in about 30 - 40 years, native-born, English-speaking Americans will need affirmative action and Spanish immersion classes. If we aren't forced to learn Arabic or Chinese first.
Energy
Despite vast, untapped sources of energy, we have been held hostage to foreign sources for decades. During the 1980s, we endured an oil embargo that crippled the nation. Due to the stranglehold imposed by environmental zealots, we haven't added any substantial oil-refining or energy-producing capacity since the 1970s despite an exploding population. Most of the petroleum we pull out of U.S. soil either goes into our Strategic Reserve or to market. So we send billions of dollars overseas to Islamic and Latin American countries that hate us. Our energy problems lie squarely at the feet of Democrats who have systematically rejected every attempt to tap existing sources of domestic energy, causing severe western power shortages and higher nationwide prices on everything from motor fuel to plastics. And their energy policies are directly related to their next socialist priority:
Global Warming
The Gospel According to Al Gore has replaced God in the hearts of liberals everywhere. Guilt-monger, Occidental Petroleum shareholder and former Tennessee oilman Gore successfully convinced millions, including Congress, that man's emissions are warming --and therefore destroying-- the Earth. Forget that the conclusions of this movement's supporters were reached using discredited, incomplete junk science. Actual temperature readings indicate the Earth is 1.15 degrees cooler than last year across the globe. Originally, this hysteria was called "global warming". But because of the lack of scientific consensus and physical evidence that the Earth was actually warming, that term was diluted to "climate change". Despite growing disagreement and physical evidence to the contrary, socialists across the globe are intent on legislating a solution to this imaginary crisis by redistributing the wealth and technology that drives our next subject:
The Economy
It is patently ridiculous for any federal public official to argue that they feel our economic pain. Even federal civil-service employment pays entry-level salaries comparable to or above the private sector with generous benefits packages, stipends and regular increases. Congressional salaries start over $150,000.00 with leadership positions earning anywhere from $180,000.00 to well over $200,000.00. There are many members of Congress whose net worth exceeds one hundred million dollars. In 2006, the average retirement annuity for a member of congress was $35,000.00. Many members of Congress have held their seats since the 1980s. They could have taken that retirement long ago, but they stay. And stay... And many of them sponsor the kind of legislation that has led us to exactly where we are today. Speeding down the path of socialism; driven there by a bunch of thugs and prostitutes who will seemingly do just about anything for, or with our money.
By now, most Americans know the names of the companies at the center of our economic problems: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; AIG, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. But what most Americans don't know is that many members of Congress hold stock in these companies who were also the beneficiaries of nearly a trillion dollars. Some of the most popular congressional investments include Citigroup, AIG, Wachovia and Washington Mutual.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid; House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader respectively; hold stock in AIG, who frittered away thousands of dollars in aid on a lavish executive retreat, despite their financial woes. Chuck Schumer has stock in Fannie Mae, as does at least one of John McCain's children. Barack Obama holds stock in Goldman Sachs. [1] Both Chris Dodd and Barack Obama received sweetheart real estate deals, Obama got help on a home he purchased from indicted slumlord Tony Rezko and Dodd, got discounts on two refinance deals from Countrywide Funding as a "friend of Angelo".
When the pieces of the puzzle are put together, the true picture emerges. Members of Congress are no longer representing anything but their own interests. They used information gained while exercising their official duties that is not available to the average citizen. They invested heavily in these companies that failed under the weight of their own greed. And Congress bailed them out to protect their own investments, despite overwhelming public opposition. The sole purpose of this legislation was to avoid a stock market collapse by infusing credit markets with cash. Did it work?
The bailout was announced on Friday October 3rd. At Monday's opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 369 points.
On Tuesday the Federal Reserve threw in unrestricted business loans and the Dow lost another 500 points.
Wednesday, international leaders announced a global interest rate cut and the Dow sank another 189 points.
On Thursday, the government indicated it would start socializing the nation's banks and the battered index plummeted another 678 points proving that the U.S. taxpayer was right and your entire legislative branch of government was wrong. They acted unconstitutionally against the will of America to protect the interests of themselves and the lobbyists they are in bed with.
Our current problems were not the work of a single president, political party, ideology or event. We are not facing an economic crisis. It is a generational crisis among those who rejected the practicality and wisdom of their parents in favor of decadence and immorality. They have already taken significant steps to strip us of our wealth and freedoms. They are intent on socializing health care, the economy, the U.S. banking system and Lord only knows what else. If we, as Americans do not rid Congress of every one of these self-absorbed scoundrels, we have only ourselves to blame when we get to the end of that road, having finally completed the slow but steady march towards socialism that many of us saw coming.
1. The information about individual Congressional investments was obtained directly from each member's most recent financial disclosures.
