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A Nation of Fools
By Peary Perry
Déjà
vu---1776…all over again……
If I recall my history correctly, it seems
to me that our country rebelled against the
English government due to their being taxed
without being represented. The English
government under King George III had gotten
into the habit of treating the citizens of
the colonies as bastard step children.
Basically their concept was … ‘out of sight,
out of mind.’
The people living in our thirteen colonies
took umbrage as this attitude and decided to
do something about it. We all (or all of us
should) know what happened as a result. As I
recall there seemed to be a pervasive
attitude that the citizens of the colonies
were considered second class citizens and
the members of the English ruling class were
superior and thus entitled to special
treatment.
Pardon me, but isn’t that what we are seeing
this very day?
I believe we have had at least three
legislative bills presented to the congress
totaling over 1,000 pages each. The
congressmen and women have admitted they
have not actually read these bills in their
entirety and thus not certain of what they
contain. Doesn’t this fall under the
doctrine of .. ‘ignorance is no excuse’
concept? If they haven’t read the bills,
much less discussed them or considered
viable options…then how can it be said they
are representing those of us out here in the
hinterlands? I think we know the answer to
that one, don’t we? They aren’t.
No, we have established a class of elites
living within the confines of the Beltway
who are routinely disregarding the wishes of
their constituency and applying their
personal preferences in making legislative
decisions which affect all of us, but for
which they are mainly exempt.
Excuse me, but don’t the words special
treatments or entitlements come to mind with
this kind of behavior? It seems to me that
if I were to pass a law such as is being
proposed with health care and I were exempt
from any of the provisions of the law if and
when it were passed, then I would be
receiving special treatment. Congress has
their own health care plan which we, as
citizens, are not eligible to participate
in. The Americans on social security will
not receive a cost of living adjustment
(COLA) this year. Does that stop the
congress from obtaining such a raise? No
indeed. The congress gets an automatic cost
of living adjustment each year, no votes, no
discussion, just business as usual.
Damn the torpedoes of the economy...full
steam ahead. For them, not for us. Let’s
pass a bill even if we don’t know what’s in
it…we must pass something in order to
justify our existence…hurry, hurry,
hurry...no time to say hello, goodbye…we’re
late, we’re late, we’re late. Alice In
Wonderland is becoming the order of the day.
As far as I’m concerned, the national motto
of the congress should be… do as I say, not
as I do.”
A lot of us have sat on the sidelines and
watched as the town hall meetings have
evolved from a group of citizens asking
their elected representatives for
information to being accused of being
subversives and having a ‘mob’ mentality. I
always thought we were supposed to ask
questions. I must have gotten that wrong.
What I see from a majority of these 535
voting members of our congress is a
pervasive sense of arrogance that causes
them to lose sight of what got them elected
in the first place. Their overall distain
for the voters is evident from their
cynicism and sarcastic comments. One prime
example was the comment made by Senator
Barbara to General McChrystal this summer.
When the four star general answered one of
her questions with a … ‘Yes, Ma’am’…which is
the proper military salutation for a female,
Senator Boxer called the general to task and
asked that he call her Senator. This is a
four star general who has given his entire
life to our country being called down like a
schoolboy from an elected official. I’m
sorry but I feel that General McChrystal is
a little more dedicated to our country and
deserves more respect than Senator Boxer.
In summation, we have recreated this class
of elites who now feel they are impervious
to anything the electorate is capable of
doing. They feel they are smarter than us
and don’t have to answer to us for any
reason whatsoever and get furious whenever
their decisions or opinions are questioned.
We can do better than this and deserve
better than this. They think we will bury
our heads in the sand and eventually get
tired of ranting and raving and it will be
business as usual.
Didn’t happen in 1776, shouldn’t happen in
2009.
Comments go to pperry@austin.rr.com
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