Choosing our Congressional representatives is a risky proposition. The candidate's elections are funded by the Wall Street Bankers and mega Corporations. The mainstream media portrays the candidates in a very favorable light and their true identity is hidden from the public view. When a farmer puts a dress on his pig it changes the pig's appearance, but the fact is that the pig is still a pig. Politicians masquerade as public servants, but they are mostly motivated by greed and the lust for power.
A question for those who oppose Term Limits for our politicians; How do you feel about not paying them a salary? How long do you think they would remain in office under those circumstances? I fear Benjamin Franklin's concerns regarding a "salaried bureaucracy" have become our reality.
The following are among my favorite (or most feared) excerpts:
"Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice the love of power and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but, when united in view of the same object, they have, in many minds, the most violent effects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it."
Yet another warning that seems to have come to be ( after all, how many times does Congress quietly reward themselves with a "pay raise" that you and I learn about only well after the fact?) :
"Besides these evils, sir, tho we may set out in the beginning with moderate salaries, we shall find that such will not be of long continuance. Reasons will never be wanting for proposed augmentations; and there will always be a party for giving more to the rulers, that the rulers may be able, in return, to give more to them. Hence, as all history informs us, there has been in every state and kingdom a constant kind of warfare between the governing and the governed; the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the other to pay less. And this has alone occasioned great convulsions, actual civil wars, ending either in dethroning of the princes or enslaving of the people."
One final excerpt - this one speaks to the "Content of Character" likely to be found in those attracted to fill the post of 'salaried bureaucrat':
"And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters? It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your government and be your rulers. And these, too, will be mistaken in the expected happiness of their situation, for their vanquished competitors, of the same spirit, and from the same motives, will perpetually be endeavoring to distress their administration, thwart their measures, and render them odious to the people."
With this in mind, do we continue to wonder why our politicians (irregardless of political party) always seem to lie to us? To not be who we imagined them to be at the point we decided to vote for them? Can we be justified in expressing shock, when we have been warned for literally centuries? When we know, within our own personal experience, of politicians who fit to a 'T' the type Ben Franklin describes?
People who lack the qualities we would demand of even a casual acquaintance, who will not hesitate to abuse the post of power for personal profit, to claim their "class" among society? I can assure you quite frankly that I more nearly trust any stranger than any political leader in these modern times.
You and I must work together to find a way to restrict the power & influence of these unprincipled people. No one individual should be able to attain to such a lifetime of power - no matter how many special interest "goodies" they bring home for "constituents".
Either limit the amount of time they spend in leadership - or remove the promise of a lifetime of undeserved profit linked to such positions. Either one or the other, but we cannot allow them to continue to have both or else we will have surrendered ourselves to this virtual 'ruling class monarchy.
The men and women elected to serve the people have way too much power. Instead of being our servants, they have become an oligarchy of corrupt, career politicians. There are several reasons for the problems we face in America today:
- Congressional House Districts are too large!
- Congressional Representatives make too much money for too little time on the job!
- Representatives have cushy lives with special privileges and are never held accountable!
- Our "courts" are no longer Courts of Record, Courts of equal justice.
- We have lost our right to a corporate system of equity, in an admiralty/maritime (false) jurisdiction, in Administrative tribunals designed only to make money, not to stand for justice.
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