As 2014 comes to a close, and leaving behind much chaos and calamity, we are
about to enter a New Year and new hope? I don't think so. 2015 will
be a year of UNEXPECTED
and UNCONTROLLABLE events.
Right before our eyes, we see a super-division of the world, a separation
into major groups -- the developed and the developing world. The rich and the
poor. The developed world and the elite rich, usurps and wastes
three-quarters of the world's food and 83 per cent of the resources. The Third
World, as it is called, has to make do with the rest. As a result, 38 million
people are, at this moment, starving to death in a world with a huge surplus of
food. We have a 10 per cent per capita surplus of food in the world, so
no one need starve.
From almost every point of view the situation facing people everywhere,
here in the Unites States and the world, grows daily more painful. The economic
chaos resulting from years of unlicensed greed and heartless competition lays
waste the honest toil and aspiration of countless millions. On the whole,
people of money go blithely on, their treasure intact, while men and women in
every country face joblessness, poverty and fear. More accurate readings of
climatic changes show people how close this planet is to irreversible calamity,
and alarm bells sound loudly on many political fronts, raising to new levels
the factor of stress.
How much more of this tension can humanity bear?
For how long will people in the United States and the world accept, mildly,
their fate? Desperate people do desperate deeds and already in their minds, if
not yet in their actions, many contemplate revolution.
Over the last two decades, there has been a buildup
of a deep frustration within the vast majority of people. There is anger, and a
feeling of betrayal. Everyone agrees that the United States of America, is the
greatest country in the world, but the feeling is that our elected public
officials are slowly bringing the United States to her knees. Complaints are
everywhere heard. From our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the
friends of private and public faith, and of public and personal liberty, that
our government is too unstable, and the public good is disregarded in the
conflict of rival parties, and of personal gains. Measures are too often
decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor
party, but by the superior force of an interested, and overbearing majority.
It is sad, but yet very disturbing to know, that
most of the time our government is dictated by the major and powerful
corporations. It seems that the CEOs and board members that reside on Wall
Street are more influential and powerful than Congress. Actually the members of
Congress are nothing but puppets, and the puppet masters control them from Wall
Street.
Not so long ago, members of
Congress were real people, with real jobs, in real communities throughout the
country. They played an integral part in the civic, economic, and social
affairs of their constituencies. They went to Washington temporarily, and then
they came back home. For all practical purposes, today’s members of
Congress consider Washington their home. When they do decide to go back to
their communities, back to their constituents, they act like tourists in their
own district. We must restore Congress back to a citizen legislature, and not
just a bunch of bureaucrats.
It costs over one billion
dollars a year to run Congress itself. Members of Congress make an average of
$175,000.00 a year as federal employees. The Congressmen/women make many times
more than their constituents, and they have the nerve to ask for pay raises
because they commute, and have overnight excursions? But the problem is not
just a matter of Government expense or Congressional pay, but a matter of
function, and faithful representation.
People from all parts of the
country, black, white, male, female, young, old, republican, democrat, feel
that Congress has lost touch with the real world, and as to what role it should
play. Sometimes one wonders, because the opposite of “pro is con”, so does this
mean that Congress is opposite of progress? The Congressional role is to
represent the people on major policy decisions, to translate the public will
into public law on matters of national and international importance. Congress
as an institution should go to the people a great deal more often. There is no
law that states that every Congressional meeting must be in Washington. A few
hearings or meetings should be scheduled in other parts of the country.
There would be plenty of
positive benefits for taking the Congressional show on the road. Our
Congressmen, our elected officials, will get a firsthand understanding of
dioxin, or a shutdown steel mill can do to his or her community. Holding
meetings and hearings outside Washington could also increase their grass roots
character, and encourage greater and broader citizen participation.
A member of Congress does not
have to be in Washington every day in order to be a conscientious and skillful
legislator, and he or she can’t be in Washington every day and remain truly a
representative to the people back home.
What does this
all mean? Simple. Our public officials must take care of the United States, and
its citizens. A strong economy will create strong families, and that creates a
high level of human nature.
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