American Aristocracy

American Aristocracy

“All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree”

                                                                                         Thomas Jefferson

Congressional approval ratings are embarrassingly low. They are so bad it hurts to acknowledge them. Their rating is so low I doubt if any of them even voted favorably for own quorums. President Bush’s rating was consistently about three times higher than that of Congress. To get whipped that bad by George W., takes some doing.

There is a reason. The people have lost confidence in their ability to work cohesively for our Nation. The cultural war between Liberals and Conservatives has morphed into an unending struggle for political power. Although the two sides never cease to call for “Bi-Partisanship”, vote after vote after vote gets counted right down the party lines – with almost no variation! When it comes to dealing with the problems of the people they cannot seem to work together. Endless finger pointing and name calling across both sides of the aisle mark most issues. Ideas from either side are immediately opposed and devalued, alternative plans extolled and finally the decision will be to allocate money and form a committee to study the problem. In the meantime, things get worse and nothing gets done. 

 For the moment, perhaps the real arguments should not be about increasing or cutting taxes or whether government should be large or small – it should be focused on whether or not we have government representation that we can trust to serve the best interest of the people. Are the leaders we keep electing there to serve the people or themselves?

 The biggest scam in American history has been the development of our political aristocracy – most notably our elected representatives in Washington, D.C… These ‘perfumed princes and princesses’ of government are ensconced atop of our society feeding from the public trough unaffected by the economic peaks and valleys their constituents have to cope with daily.

 When the price of gasoline skyrocketed recently most of the Country had to scramble to adjust or in some cases, just survive. But the boys and girls in Washington never felt the tiniest squeeze because they don’t have to worry about such things. When the price of a gallon of gas got up to almost five dollars it didn’t cramp their style a bit – why?

 Because our Federal Politicians, regardless of party affiliation, get their fuel bills paid for by the taxpayers. In fact, all of their transportation costs are paid by, you guessed it, the taxpayers. All of their printing and mailing is paid for (consider the advantage this gives incumbents in an election!). Their food and entertainment is paid for. They have no office overhead like private businesses – their rent, office supplies, utilities, gifts, and even their staffs are paid by the taxpayers. But that isn’t enough for our ruling class. They have even voted themselves a per Diem on top of their salaries. That is a nice little daily cash bonus in case they have to do a little extra entertaining. If not, they get to pocket it anyway!

 So while the rest of our Country is in a severe recession fighting to stave off another full-on depression, they eat out every night in expensive restaurants and ride around in limos talking on cell phones paid for by working Americans with real jobs. They are so busy enjoying themselves that most of the tasks the rest of us have to deal with daily are managed for them by their Aides. It is not uncommon for top Aides to command six figure salaries – and some members of the legislative branch have over a hundred Aides on the public payroll.  They have Aides on top of Aides paid for by you to do their bidding. Think about what your life would be like if all the tedious, mundane and unpleasant tasks were handled for you by an entourage of assistants paid for by someone else.

You have heard them time after time warn us about the danger of our Social Security system collapsing. They wag their fingers and tell us Social Security is nearly bankrupt and may not be around for the next generation. A few claim its demise may come as soon as the next decade. Some blame it on the “Baby Boomers”. But do not be fooled by all of their hand wringing. Their pretense of concern for us is just a smoke screen to hide their shenanigans.

 They have been pretty diligent at taking SSI out of everybody’s paychecks for well over half a century yet they claim the fund is almost bankrupt. How did that happen? Are you ready? They borrowed it! This is absolutely true. Our political aristocracy actually borrowed your retirement (future) to fund their current pet projects and buy votes. Of course they claim it

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