545 PEOPLE   vs  300,000,000 PEOPLE  
  
 By  Charlie Reese  
 

Politicians  are the only people in the world who create  problems  
 and  then campaign against them.
Have you ever  wondered,  
 if  both the Democrats and the Republicans are against  deficits,  
 WHY do  we have deficits?
Have you ever  wondered,  
 if  all the politicians are against inflation and high  taxes,  
 WHY   do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and  I don't propose a federal budget.  The  president does.
You and I don't have the  Constitutional authority  to vote on appropriations. The  House of Representatives  does.
You  and I don't write the tax code,  Congress  does.
You and I don't set fiscal  policy,  Congress  does.
You and I don't control monetary  policy, the  Federal  Reserve Bank does.
One hundred Senators,  435 Congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme  Court Justices  
 .....  545 human  beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally,  morally, are individually responsible  for the domestic problems that plague this  country.
I  excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board  because that problem was created by the Congress.   In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional  duty to provide a sound currency to a federally  chartered, but private, central  bank.  
I  excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for  a sound reason. They  have no legal authority.  They have no ability  to coerce a Senator, a Congressman, or a President  to do one cotton-picking thing.  I don't care  if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in  cash. The politician has the power to accept or  reject it.  No matter what the lobbyist  promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to  determine how he votes.
Those 545 human  beings spend much of their energy convincing you  that what they did is not their fault. They  cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a  normal human being is an excessive  amount of gall.   No normal human  being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up  and criticized the President for creating deficits.   The president can only propose a budget.   He cannot force the Congress to accept  it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme  law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the  House of Representatives for originating and  approving appropriations and taxes.  Who is the  Speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi.  She is the  leader of the majority party..  She and fellow  House members, not the president, can approve any  budget they want.  If the president vetoes it,  they can pass it over his veto, if they agree  to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a  nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who  stand convicted -- by present facts -- of  incompetence and irresponsibility.  I can't  think of a single domestic problem that is not  traceable directly to those 545 people.  When  you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people  exercise the power of the federal government, then  it must follow that what exists is what they want to  exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's  because  they  want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red,  it's because  they  want it in the red.
If  the Army & Marines are in IRAQ ,  it's because they  want them in IRAQ.
If  they do not receive social security but are on an  elite retirement plan not available to the people,  it's because they  want it that way.
There are no insoluble  government problems.
Do not let these 545  people shift the blame to bureaucrats,  whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to  lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject;  to regulators, to whom they give the power to  regulate and from whom they can take this  power.  
Above  all, do not let them con you into the belief that  there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the  economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent  them from doing what they take an oath to  do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are  responsible.
They,  and they alone, have the power.
They, and they  alone, should be held accountable by the people who  are their bosses.  
Provided  the voters have the gumption to manage their own  employees.
We should vote all of them out of  office and clean up their mess!  

Charlie  Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel  Newspaper.