I am sure that I am not the only one who is sick of what is going on in Washington D.C. My fellow writer Devvy Kidd likes to call it the District of Criminals.
Can you think of any place in America where more thievery takes place than in the seat of our government along the banks of the Potomac River?
Most of what goes on there would never be accepted as a means of doing business in any other area of America. When the lawless make the laws, criminality reigns. Let's face it, Big Government has become mafia-like in its functionality.
The criminal families known as Republicans and Democrats do not really fight over philosophy, although they try to convince us that they are different, their fight is over control. Whichever party is in control is the one that gets to drive the locomotive.
Republicans hate Democratic drivers and Democrats hate Republican drivers, but they both are in love with the train. Their fight is over which crime-family gets to drive the train.
Trillions of dollars flow through their fingers and the fight is over which “Don” gets to divvy out the goodies. Both parties love government...it is their family business...and they fight hard to makes sure the cash flows in the direction of their families.
Government is the business of the Bushes. It is the business of the Clintons. It is the business of the Cuomos and the Kennedys and the McCains and the Pelosis and the Reids. Although their family members aren't “elected” officials, the money “trickles-down” to all those who are connected with the family business.
We think we can change America by changing those who are running the business. That is our folly...thinking that our elected officials serve us. As President Obama once famously said, “Words, just words.” We can call the crooks “Representative” or “Senator” pretending that they are working for us, but the reality is that they are merely the newest “bank tellers” of the monetary handouts.
Meet the new boss...same as the old boss. For the most part, that is what elections give us.
The Scriptures say it this way In Isaiah 1:6-8.
“From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and purifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”
Washington is a putrefying sore. It is oozing decadence, deceit, debauchery, and destruction. Nancy Pelosi exhorted us that it was time to drain the swamp.
I would like to offer a solution for busting up the bag of pus. Washington needs lanced in much the same way an oozing boil needs drained. Until we remove the poison from the sore, the whole body will continue to be infected.
Proverbs tells us that “bad company ruins good morals” or as my father used to tell me “fences are designed to keep honest people honest.” It is almost impossible to go to Washington and remain honest.
Let's start a movement to bring our elected officials home.
Have you ever had a conversation with your elected Washington officials? I wonder how many people in America have ever personally met or spoken to their Congressman or Senator. I wonder how many have ever actually seen them live and in person. I have met my Congressman Pat Tiberi and I have been in the same room with both of Ohio's Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, but I bet I am the exception rather than the rule. Most Americans feel proud if they even get a form letter from one of the Washington political class.
Where would the average Joe go if he actually wanted to meet with his elected officials? Each Congressman “represents” over 700,000 people. Ohio's two Senators are sworn to protect the Constitutional rights of over 11 million folk. What are the odds of ever seeing any of them eyeball to eyeball?
How can they represent us if they are so far from us? Let's bring our elected officials home.
Worse yet, we put all of our elected officials in one town which makes it easy for the lobbyists to buzz from office to office in order to feather the nests of those who are sworn to represent US. Forcing the honeybees to visit each individual representative in his home district would break up the swarm of hornets. It would dilute the ability to “pay to play”.
This is 2014, it is not 1814. Our means of communicating with one another have exploded. Today it is possible to instantaneously connect with another person on the other side of the world. Why does government continue to act like we live in a pony-express world?
Just what the hell do those guys do while they are in Washington anyway? Why don't we keep them home where we can keep a close eye on them? How can they “serve” us when they live a thousand miles away? Let's bring them all home.
My Mom always told us to be home by midnight. “Nothing good ever happens after midnight.” She would tell us. To paraphrase Mom, “what good ever happens in Washington?”
Our elected Federal officials should be required to spend at least 90% of their time in their local district rather than in the Washington swamp. Instead of spending their time meeting with lobbyists or raising money from back-scratchers, their time would be better spent in the home district meeting and greeting those they represent.
This may come as a shock to you, but Congressman and Senators have no business being influenced by lobbyists or party bosses. They have sworn an oath to represent the people in their district, not the positions or the whims of their political parties. Why can lobbyists meet with your Senator but you can't?
I suggested this when I ran for Congress here in Ohio in 2010. I couldn't then, nor can I now, see what good can possibly come from sending “Mr. Smith” to Washington and expecting him to remain honest and faithful to the folks back home.
Can't they communicate with their fellow Congressman the way the rest of us do? Don't they know how to use email and Go-To-Meeting? Have they not discovered that Skype makes it possible for face-to-face communication without ever leaving their office? Why would I want my Congressman discussing “marriage” with a representative of the Log Cabin Republicans in some swank bar in DC when a local pastor has no such opportunity to make his case at the local diner?
And think of the money we would save if we demanded that our “public servants” downsized and brought their staff home to the district that they represent. Let the staff pay local taxes to the local community and the state that they represent. That will help get some of the money and influence out of Washington.
Then, let's repeal the 17th Amendment. Most folks have no idea what that Amendment did to local control of government.
Up until 1913, when it was ratified, our Senators were elected by the State Legislatures. After the passage of the amendment, Senators began to be elected by the direct popular vote of the people. This change made the Senators more independent from the “will of the people.”
You may ask the same thing that Hillary asked regarding Benghazi, “What difference, at this point, does it make?” A BIG difference.
A Senator, elected by a vote of the State Legislature, provided accountability for an unruly or rogue Senator. Let's say for instance that a Senator was in favor of the Affordable Care Act and voted for it in direct conflict with the vote of the State Legislature. They would then have the ability to call their Senator home and replace him with someone who would uphold the will of the people in their state rather than some Democratic party boss in DC. Instead of having to wait six years to mount a campaign to defeat a Senator, removal of the scoundrel could be done more expediently.
This process makes the Senator more accountable to the people, rather than the special interests and the money “Dons” that currently control the votes.
Washington no longer works for the American people. The Government works for the benefit of the “government class”...the family business of government...rather than the people who they are sworn to represent.
Let's bust up that bag of pus. Let's bring our representatives home.
Do you think like a Christian or a humanist? Did the Founders really separate Church and State? Is Judicial tyranny ruining America? Check out these great teachings by the Coach
© 2014 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved
Coach Dave Daubenmire, founder and President of Pass The Salt Ministries www.ptsalt.com and Minutemen United www.minutemenunited.org, is host of the high octane Pass The Salt radio show heard in Columbus, Ohio. In 1999 Coach Daubenmire was sued by the ACLU for praying with his teams while coaching high school in Ohio. He now spends his energy fighting for Christian principles in the public domain. E-Mail: [email protected]
About Dave Daubenmire
Coach Dave Daubenmire, founder and President of Pass The Salt Ministries www.ptsalt.com and Minutemen United www.minutemenunited.org, is host of the high octane Pass The Salt radio show heard in Columbus, Ohio. In 1999 Coach Daubenmire was sued by the ACLU for praying with his teams while coaching high school in Ohio. He now spends his energy fighting for Christian principles in the public domain.
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