545 people are responsible for our country's woes...

as are those who keep voting the same ones into congress over and over.


By Charlie Reese from the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

545 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? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She 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 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 Army &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!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.







[edit on 17-5-2010 by I_am_Spartacus]

reply to post by I_am_Spartacus


Those people are responsible and should ALL be fired.
Plus the lobbyists', (which should be illegal).


[facepalm]
I hate to break it to anyone who listens, but the plan is so far into fruition...
...it might be hard to stop. If it can be stopped.

Think about how much money we (as taxpayers) put into D.C. and all its criminal organizations for centuries.
TPTB know what they are doing.

reply to post by I_am_Spartacus


Could we get a link to this?

As technology steadily marches along, I can't help but wonder why exactly we need these corrupt criminals anymore. I would think if we actually believed in the notion of democracy we'd be able to place more power in the hands of the citizens. What I mean by this is instead of having these evil #s masquarding as servants of the people, why couldn't we just hold votes online? No more sliding in secret initiatives into bills or the true will of the people being trampled for government and corporate profit. Say every quarter in the year citizens would be asked to log onto a government server with their social security number to vote on each individual issue. Of course that will never happen, however it's a nice thought.

This article was written originally in 1983 and then dusted off in an email campaign in 2008, where Tip O neil was replaced by Pelosi and the bit about Iraq was added.

Great letter, as true today as it was then.

Great article, but i do disagree with this part.

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.

It cost 500 million dollars to run for president during the last election and it will be even more next election. You can't just write off special intrests and lobbyists influence when you're talking about this kind of money to just get elected. The samething goes on at lower levels elections just to a lesser extent.

[edit on 17-5-2010 by curious_soul]