Monroe Chat

How many times do you feel like the person that wrote this letter?

I’m a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:
One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.
Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.
Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.
Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!
Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.
Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.
Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why what do you have against shareholders making a profit?
Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now. Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent?
Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Looking Out for Number One
By Bill Bonner
dailyreckoning.com
07/13/09 Waterford, Ireland

What is ailing California is ailing the entire United States of America – and much of the rest of the world, especially that part of the world that speaks English. Politicians have promised too much…without being willing to raise the money to pay for it all. Solution: spend less. Or tax more. Or a little of both.

Hey, Arnold should have asked us. It’s so simple.

But wait. California is a democracy. And the democracy is a flim-flam. As we’ve explained in these reckonings: there are two parts to it. One part is like professional wrestling – full of bullying, humbug and hollow gestures. One group wants to stop its neighbors from smoking. Another wants a flag with yellow trim. Still another wants revenge on a neighbor because it feels disrespected. There is no accounting…or predicting…what direction the mob will take.

The other part of democracy is more rational. The citizen wants to know not what he
can do for his government, but what he can get out of it.

This second part is a time bomb. Once citizens realize that they have the power to vote themselves the contents of someone else’s pocket, the system is doomed. They don’t let up until they’ve bankrupted it.

A man may vote for a candidate who promises a yellow flag. No harm done. But when he votes for the candidate who promises more “benefits” at someone else’s expense, he is on the road to Hell.

“Democrats in the House propose setting a 1% extra tax on couples earning more than $350,000,” reports the Financial Times this morning. The money is to be used to pay for other peoples’ health benefits.

If you earn less than $350,000, you feel that you are getting something for nothing. But that money – had it not been confiscated – wouldn’t have disappeared. It would have been put to work in one way or another – added to the nation’s capital formation, lent to the government, used to buy a new car or take a vacation. Instead, it is to be sucked out of the benefits of the willing economy and used to give people something they couldn’t afford or didn’t want to pay for themselves.

In order to get elected, politicians have to promise more and more of these ‘benefits.’ There is no backing up…no turning around. Even when the government is clearly headed to bankruptcy. If a politician hesitates, some other clown will just take his place. He may even be overcome – in a weak moment – with a desire to level with the voters. He may imagine himself going on TV and putting it to them straight:

“Look, we’d like to continue these programs; but we don’t have the money.”

Then, he comes to his senses: ‘I might as well say I’ve fallen in love with a woman from Argentina…or a man in a public bathroom; either way, I’m dead, politically.’

Now, Dear Reader, you may object. ‘The American political system draws forth the best and the brightest from the entire nation of 300 million,” you may say. “Surely these people are capable of doing the right thing for the good of future generations.”

They are surely capable of making rational decisions. But what is rational for them – ducking serious issues…nourishing the illusion that voters can get something for nothing — is fatal to the republic.

Of course, the same thing could be said for a business…as well as a country. Why did GM go broke? It was the largest company in the world. It could pick and choose the very best managers …the smartest businessmen…the greatest investors…the most far-sighted engineers… the most wonderful of the wonderful. Surely, these fellows could add and subtract, right? Surely one of them noticed:

“Hey…if we keep adding costs, we’re not going to be competitive any more. And if we’re not competitive, we’re not going to be able to sell cars at a profit. And then, we’re going to lose money and go broke.’

How come the best talent money could buy couldn’t change course at GM? How come all those smart people in the California legislature can’t balance the budget?
Well, that’s just the way it is. An institution matures…and the parasites take it over.

Retirees, executives with their golden parachutes, the halt, the lame, employees, managers, hangers on, lawyers, accountants, businessmen… everyone has an interest in keeping the hustle going. The executive wants his bonus…the retiree wants his pension…the lawyer wants his retainer… All can see that the old place ain’t what it used to be. They all know that the gravy train won’t go on forever…but that just makes them more eager to get it while the getting’s good. So they jiggle the numbers so each quarter doesn’t look so bad…jive the news so it sounds almost as if the institution had a future…and they juke up the whole system so that no one even mentions that they’re going broke.

GM “sets out on a fresh start,” says the Financial Times. “From this point on,” says its top man, “our efforts are dedicated to customers, cars…” and repaying the feds.

What were they dedicated to before they had to turn to the feds for money? Answer: to looking out for number one.

What are they dedicated to now: refer to the question above.

interesting article les. I would hope everyone on this board would read it and feel an urge to make a change.

For society to succeed we have to give and take. Most of us have the take part down pat.

So true but there are those that give of themselves all the time and others that just write about it and complain. I just wish people would help when not asked, be kind to a perfect stranger for no good reason other then you can, and volunteer in our community.

Very well said Tracy, it is easier for some to sit back and complain rather then raising a hand to help.

Tracy wrote:So true but there are those that give of themselves all the time and others that just write about it and complain. I just wish people would help when not asked, be kind to a perfect stranger for no good reason other then you can, and volunteer in our community.

BTW Les i was not pointing that statement to you but as a follow up on your statement.

Tracy wrote:

Tracy wrote:So true but there are those that give of themselves all the time and others that just write about it and complain. I just wish people would help when not asked, be kind to a perfect stranger for no good reason other then you can, and volunteer in our community.

BTW Les i was not pointing that statement to you but as a follow up on your statement.

Aw Shucks! Now what am I going to do with all this TP that I just got for your house?
No, I knew you weren't trying to be negative, but giving your idea of ways to have a positive impact.
I'm not so sure about phil, though. You know where he lives?

Les, my tree's are small so a half roll will work.