This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Charlie Reese | 545 vs. 300,000,000 People
Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. -- Chris
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; 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.
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. This might be funny if it weren't so true. Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
Taxes to pass
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me
to my doom...'
When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
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
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the heck happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN
»
- rcwhalen's blog
- 45747 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
two thirds in the house and 60 plus in the senate who think like Ron Paul! should be a good start
Right now, there aren't 10 who think like Ron Paul. Dream on.
Gotta have a media telling us we need these things or else. There is no constituency for sound money--only the massive financial collapses to tell us we should have done that. Welcomebth the death throes of bailot nation.
Loving it. I would like to add that every one of the representatives are in violation of their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and should be indicted.
Then hang them. Either before or after a trial. I am flexible.
Then hang them. Either before or after a trial. I am flexible.
Yes Charlie, if only we could end lobbying. Better fire up that lobbying campaign to end lobbying.
I think you missed the point. It makes no difference what any outside influences are. It's up to the members of Congress to do the right thing. But unfortunately, many do not seem to agree on what "right" means.
So...assume some congresscritter does the "right thing". Are they re-elected? If not, does their glorious deed remain done, or does the next guy the lobbyists help into office unwind it?
Campaign finance reform is the cornerstone of righting what is wrong with America.
No, I got it, just trolling, thanks for jumping in the net. If you want to argue facts you would realize that several of the taxes have actually been around for centuries. Especially taxes on firearms, anything with caffine (like tea and tobacco), and alcohol. This is a very old "copy and paste" job. hardly worth any serious effort. Gee, politicians are corruptable and have been for centuries. This is a trading site, give me some useful information I can trade on.
How 'bout trading intransigence for some flexibility. Man does not live by bread alone I hear.
Damn well said !
100%
I really miss Charlie Reese.
Why we need more Ron Pauls.
(Or, Hail Eris!)
The uses of dissent
Rhetorically speaking, at least, our society has long prized dissent. In 1587, the Pope consecrated the advocatus diaboli, the devil’s advocate, to ensure potential saints were properly scrutinized before canonization. Modern civilization’s founding documents—England’s 1689 Bill of Rights, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the U.S. Constitution—enshrined the right to free speech to allow for dissenting opinions. And in On Liberty, history’s most profound argument on behalf of dissent, British philosopher John Stuart Mill warned dissenters that social and peer pressure could be more oppressive than any tyrant, leaving “fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life and enslaving the soul itself.”
However it wasn’t until a landmark study conducted at the University of Virginia in the 1970s that dissent ceased being an ephemeral ideal and started becoming a tangible commodity that might be exploited. Researchers were analyzing the dynamics of jury deliberations, and after viewing hundreds of hours of videotape, they noticed a curious trend. When there was friction and fighting among jurors, the jury engaged in a better decision-making process than when it arrived smoothly at a unanimous verdict.
As a rule, the dissent resulted in more information heard at the trial being taken into consideration and a greater variety of perspectives voiced by jurors. There was, however, one small problem. The person who instigated this discord, the principle dissenter, tended to be ridiculed and ostracized by other jurors. The abuse was so blatant that when mock juries were held, the student assigned to play the dissenter actually requested “combat pay” because the role was so harrowing.
“Dissent makes the group as a whole smarter and leads to more divergent thinking, but the people who stand up with those sorts of opinions often get beaten up for it,” says Charlan Nemeth, the lead psychologist on those studies. “The results made a lot of us sit up and ask, ‘What exactly is going on here?’”
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/71/in-praise-of-dissent/all
Deserves a +1. Very convincing argument for the effectiveness of dissent.
Fallacy of False Premise
Society abhors and attacks dissent...
Using the Vatican... the king of all dissent crushers on planet Earth... as evidence to validate a society valuing dissent is laughable...
Ask the millions murdered by inquisition and crusade for dissenting...
Try telling some one the truth about their home prices falling or their pension imploding and see how much society prizes dissent...
This is a country of the Federal Government, by the Federal Government and for the Federal Government.
It was never intended to be this way.
OT, but interesting: CME announces open for business as usual tomorrow.
Fed has a playbook based on the Swedish Experience...
http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/PolicyDis/pdp21.pdf
Didn't have a Fed 100 years ago either.
The piece was penned back in 1995; http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/reese.asp And things have only gotten worse.
And the foundational reasons behind it also gave rise to abortion, the nanny state, and a slew of other "progressive" ideals....
AMDG
Knight
soros owns snopes. better be careful about these truth viability search engines....
Not with you on the 1st, but am on the second. On the latter, http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese-arch.html; see "The Gang of 545". FD, "lewrockwell.com" is a "King Features Syndicate", and King is a unit of the Hearst Corporation.
Btw, Mr. Eastwood would never have carried an AK....
{picture of original editorial here http://www.apfn.org/APFN/woes.htm ... And you can use the Tim Hawkins' YouTube clip to explain to children - and those who can not handle the honesty found on ZH - the who Uncle Sam really is and what he does.}
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Major coffee spewage!