The 545 people at fault.

I took this off another site, but I did find it interesting.

Subject: The 545

> Here is a political column that is very well written
> by Charley Reese.
> Reese is a syndicated columnist who writes for
> various conservative and
> libertarian publications.
> Regardless of your party affiliation or political
> leaning, this guy
> makes very good sense. We should replace our
> federal government with
> new folks.
>
> THE 545 PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR AMERICA 'S WOES
>
> 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.