545 vs. 300 Million

545 vs. 300 Million

By Charley 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? John Boehner.

He is the leader of the majority party.

He 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 cannot
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 and Afghanistan it’s because
they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan …

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!



Journalist Charley Reese (now retired) was part of the Orlando
Sentinel's staff for three decades between 1971-2001, during
which time he penned a thrice-weekly column which was
distributed to other newspapers nationwide by King Features Syndicate.

During the 1980s Reese wrote the first version of an editorial
opining that 545 people (i.e., the President of the United States,
plus all the members of Congress and the Supreme Court) "are
directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the
domestic problems that plague this country," and he has amended,
updated, and republished that piece several times since then.