BY CHARLEY REESE

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then
campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are
against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the
politicians are against inflation and high taxes, 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 - 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.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

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 G.W. BUSH 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? She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they
want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE THE SCOUNDRELS

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, from an unfair tax code to
defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise 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 Marines are in
IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.

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 exist
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.


--
"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned
benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others." - Ayn
Rand