Congress isn’t looking out for you

Why do I say that? Well, here’s the latest example. It’s a quote from Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY, during a press conference yesterday concerning the pending economic stimulus bill.

Chuck Schumer: “AND LET ME SAY THIS TO ALL OF THE CHATTERING CLASS THAT SO MUCH FOCUSES ON THOSE LITTLE, TINY, YES, PORKY AMENDMENTS, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE REALLY DON'T CARE.”

If you really want to know what a politician believes, listen to what they say off-script. Congressman Schumer was likely off-script when he said the above. So let’s just examine what he said.

To whom was he referring as “chattering”? Could it be anyone with an opinion that the Senate version of the economic stimulus bill (or the House version for that matter) is wrong? From Dictionary.com: “Chattering – 1. to talk rapidly in a foolish or purposeless way; jabber. 2. to utter a succession of quick, inarticulate, speechlike sounds, as monkeys or certain birds.” Well, I guess he wasn’t referring to his supporters. But I have a feeling that I’m in his “chattering” category. And representing the state of New York, he should know that even some of his own constituents have issues with pork in the bill. Regardless of whom he thinks is chattering, it is insulting to use that term to describe a class of Americans.

That brings up the next word: “class”. When did we stop just being Americans? From Dictionary.com: “8. the system of dividing society; caste. 9. social rank, esp. high rank.” Maybe I’m misconstruing what the Senator was thinking in using the word (note that I had to use the eighth and ninth meanings), but that’s the way I read it, especially in the context of “chattering”. Senator Schumer gives the impression that there’s him, those who agree with him, and everyone else. The everyone-else “class” is obviously beneath the Senator’s class.

“Little, tiny, porky amendments” – Senator Schumer is admitting that the bill contains what everyone but President Obama recognizes as pork. Pork is a euphemism for bills or portions of bills which only benefit one state, region or industry. We’re talking about billions of dollars. So perhaps for Senator Schumer’s “class”, tiny is any amount less than one billion dollars. This is class arrogance at its worst.

But perhaps the biggest issue I have with what the Senator said is that “American people really don’t care.” How much more out of touch with their constituents could a senator be? Maybe he should ask some of his constituents who are struggling to make their house payments, and who would love to have just a small portion of $1 billion, say around $100,000, to pay off a home loan. Or maybe he should ask some of his constituents who have just lost their jobs, and who would love to have $400 to feed their family for another month. To think that American’s don’t care about how congress spends the government-confiscated portion of our earnings (taxes) is the height of cluelessness.

I use this example, because it so clearly illustrates what is wrong with congress. And it’s not just a problem with the Democrats. Republicans spent irresponsibly for 6 years while they had a majority. As good as our constitution is, I think our founding fathers made a big mistake in not placing more limits on the power of congress. I’m not a constitutional authority, but I think the founders theorized that the electoral process would take care of potential abuses of congress. Bad apples would be removed by the electorate. But what they didn’t account for was the extreme power of lobbyists, the quid pro quo system which has pervaded lawmaking, and thus gives the ability to buy votes. I realize how difficult it would be to implement, but ideally congress should be prohibited from passing laws which intentionally benefit only certain states, certain regions or certain industries. And members of congress should be required to recuse themselves from any bill benefiting constituents who have contributed to the member’s campaigns, either directly or indirectly.

Another serious problem is the ease with which government can interfere with free enterprise. We see this now more than ever before with the trend toward large bailouts and the controls of privately or publically-held companies which necessarily follow – which brings us back to the economic stimulus bill. One of the main things I learned about parenting is not to reward bad behavior. But that’s exactly what congress is now doing. Companies should be allowed to fail if they’re mismanaged.

The stimulus bill proposes giving billions to the states to help them with their budget shortfalls. Again, this is rewarding bad behavior. States should be required to make the hard decisions to manage within a budget, in good times and bad.

I am very nervous about what is now happening to our country and its economy. Our children and grandchildren will have to pay for this excessive spending. I never want to be a prophet of gloom and doom, but I hope that if you’re reading this and aren’t already doing so that you’ll begin to tell your elected representatives what you think. Prove Senator Schumer wrong and that not only do American people care what congress does, you also let them know when you disagree. Let’s take our country back!

Here are links to your elected representatives. The senate and house websites have locators which make it easy to enter your state or zip code to find your representatives. All have easy, on-line forms for sending mail.

http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/