Posted on 01/09/2003 5:47:20 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
Becoming a member of Congress is the experience of a lifetime. Your annual salary is $150,000 with automatic pay increases, plus travel expenses and per diem, an office budget for personnel and expenses of $2 million dollars a year and your personal automobile license plate reads, "Member of Congress." The perks and privileges are lavish including first class dining at bargain basement prices (subsidized by the public) and world class health club facilities publicly funded for members of Congress.
Once you get in office you have the ability to promote and enact legislation that provides millions of dollars for projects in one's district in education, construction and other government entities like economic development schemes which never have to legitimize their work or demonstrate their effectiveness. Accountability is only a word that never applies to you as a member of Congress. Spending public funds for private career enhancement is the name of the game. Deficit budgets, unsustainability of Medicare and Social Security are only issues for the future after you as a member of Congress have lived on a lavish pension and health plan that the average median income earner of $29,000 annually provides for you.
As a member of Congress you have the right and almost obligation to interpret the U.S. Constitution as a "living document", which means you can pass laws that constantly restrict the freedom of the people for the benefit of the government and selected groups at any time without any consequences. Examples are as common as government programs.
In the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights it clearly states that "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech" which is contradicted by the prospect of "hate speech" laws.
The Second Amendment states that "right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This law is infringed by countless gun laws restricting this freedom. Elected leaders are telling the people that the government is more responsible than the people, therefore, this right to bear arms needs to be restricted more and more.
The Fourth Amendment states that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause." Every time there are random police checks and searches stopping vehicles seeking consumers of alcoholic beverages, seat belt enforcement and other reasons there are violations of these rights. The so-called Patriot Laws and Homeland Security laws permit law enforcement to search your home, computer and personal financial records without a warrant and without your knowledge. It is all legal and these new laws limit and restrict the rights and freedoms of the people in contradiction to the U.S. Constitution. But it all appears to be legal because the Constitution is a living document akin to clay.
As a member of Congress you have the right to mold the U.S. Constitution like clay for the benefit of the government and the political elites composed of elected officials and those who support them often receive favorable legislation benefiting them.
As a member of Congress you have in your arsenal of power something called legalized bribery, a concept whose time has not only come but matured into law. Organizations that actively supported President Bill Clinton during impeachment proceedings were awarded multi-million dollar government grants for dubious projects in training and education. Unions as well as corporations have received millions of dollars for their benefit. Both monopoly political parties are running the United States for their own survival and well-being by abusing public funding.
As a member of one of the two Goliath political parties you can legally provide your supporters with millions of dollars in government grants and contracts. It's all legal and mutually beneficial. As a member of Congress you can reassure your re-election with these legal appropriations for your supporters. In fact, most legislation by Congress justifies more and more spending for supporters with each Goliath political party trying to outdo itself in its generosity to their constituents by using public funds. It's a win-win situation, except for the Constitution and the severe national debt for today's children. But who's complaining? Not the press, not the media and not many people.
As a member of Congress you have nothing to fear from the press for they will never expose the fact that your generosity as a member of Congress only means more and higher taxation for you and your posterity. As a member of Congress you can squeeze the public with more laws restricting freedom as well as taxation on businesses with impunity. Neither the mainstream press or the media will point out that all wealth emanates from the private sector economy, not the government. Curtailment of the private sector only diminishes the American economy reducing economic opportunities for all Americans.
As a member of Congress you can easily shirk your responsibility by providing the president of the United States with a blank check for starting a war without the Congress having to declare war. Being a member of Congress has never been easier. Also the children of members of Congress do not have to die or suffer in undeclared wars. As a member of Congress you can pass thousands of laws that cannot be enforced or obeyed unless more billions of dollars are expended. It is an endless cycle of spending money, while as a member of Congress you are constantly constricting the American people who appear to have become victims of a boa constrictor of their own creation.
As a member of Congress you are assured a re-election rate of 98%. As an elected official in one of the Goliath political parties you are untouchable and unreachable. All you have to do is continue to dispense money to selected and privileged groups to maintain power. You don't have to worry about the financial chaos that will ensue in the future because you will no longer be around. It's a fool-proof career. The perks, the money , the access to wealth and power is unrivalled in the United States. You are the American nobility without the need of aristocratic heritage.
As an elected member of Congress you always have the option to seek the presidency. Look at former president Bill Clinton. He boasted during the presidential election in 1992 that he was a public servant earning only a small salary. He is now a multi-millionaire with a publicly funded pension package including staff and office allowance costing millions of dollars annually. Public knowledge about the incompetence of the former president in such books as Breakdown: How America's Intelligence Failures Led To September 11 by Bill Gertz are seldom the focus of reporting by the mainstream press and media because Bill Clinton was in a way more their president than he was yours.
Who says politics is not without its rewards?
Who says crime doesn't pay?
Free Fire Zone
No wonder Congress is so eager to play world policeman. It's not their kids. 'Pod
Just ask Hillary Clinton.
Or Maxine Waters.
Or Barney Frank.
Or Condit.
Or the previous leaders of the House and Senate .
The result of carefully-planned district gerrymandering.
I watch these guys on TV, and would HATE to be surrounded by people and cameras 24/7.
Much as I hate supporting these vermin with my tax dollars, I'd rather pay than play in the sandbox on Capitol Hill.
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