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We, as a
people, seem to have forgotten what
those we elect to federal office are
supposed to do. They are supposed to act
in the best interest of the country.
What they have been doing for far too
long is acting in their own best
interests. It might be in our best
interest to clean house in Washington
and start fresh.
The
founding fathers would surely have been
less vague in their job descriptions had
they not been so idealistic. They
visualized elected officialdom as men
such as themselves who would serve a
term or two in office, then go back to
their previous professions or trades.
They didn’t take into account the fact
that some men would want to get their
slop at the taxpayer’s trough for the
rest of their lives and get rich in the
process.
One mistake the framers of the
Constitution made was including the term
“general welfare” into Section 8 of
Article One. The actual wording is: “The
Congress shall have power to lay and
collect taxes, duties, imposts and
excises, to pay the debts and provide
for the common defense and general
welfare of the United States; but
all duties, imposts and excises shall be
uniform throughout the United States;…”
The term, “general welfare,” has been
taken out of context and used to justify
government meddling in all sorts of
things for which it was never intended.
The term actually says “general welfare
of the United States,” not welfare
checks for idlers in exchange for votes
in November, or getting good deals and
campaign contributions from various
corporations in exchange for favorable
votes on legislation written to benefit
these corporate entities.
Thomas
Jefferson explained the general welfare
clause as “The
laying of taxes is the power, and the
general welfare the purpose for which
the power is to be exercised. They
[Congress] are not to lay taxes ad
libitum for any purpose they please; but
only to pay the debts or provide for the
welfare of the Union. In like manner,
they are not to do anything they please
to provide for the general welfare, but
only to lay taxes for that purpose.”
The idea
of bestowing freebies, paid for not by
the politician but by the taxpayer, in
exchange votes, is a practice as old as
politics, but has been in popular use in
this country primarily since the
Roosevelt administration—Social Security
is a good example, which has proved
quite popular. LBJ continued the
practice with Medicare, which is also
popular. Our current president intends
to carry it to another level with what
he calls Health Care Reform.
While the
recipients of this government largesse
are for the most part pleased with the
arrangement, provided someone else
finances it. Up until recently, the
public was not told that these sorts of
giveaways come at a cost and at some
point the money runs out. The public is
likewise not aware perhaps, that the
motive of these programs is not actually
for the general welfare of either the
United States or for its citizens, but
rather for the particular welfare of the
politicians pushing these schemes.
Prior to
the advent of cable television networks
such as Fox News and the Internet, the
population was only given what
information that the three main TV
networks and the large liberal
newspapers thought the public should
know.
As more
and more people become aware of what
“business as usual” in congress actually
means, a number of loosely structured
citizen movements have been created for
the purpose of standing up to the
federal government and reining in its
expansion of government power and
control. The Tea Party movement is a
good example of one of these
organizations, FreedomWorks, though more
structured, is another.
It’s
important the people should be informed
of the things that are going on in
Washington and who among the elected
officials are involved. Knowledge is
strength and the worst thing we can do
is to ignore the current situation.
While, as individuals, our power is
limited to a single vote, but voting as
a bloc, our voice becomes heard. Just
like changing the sheets on the bed is
necessary from time to time, the same
necessity applies to congress.
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