Politicians Are Destroying America

Opinion ~

By Tim Cox | December 22, 2010 | GOOOH.com

How did we get here? Our debt is approaching $14 trillion dollars. Our education system fails 30% of our children year after year. We have borders that leak like a sieve. Our tax system is so convoluted and complicated that anyone other than a politician is severely fined, has property confiscated or is jailed for miscalculating what is owed. The list of grievances is endless.

Our nation was built upon a Constitution and a representative government, yet look how far we have strayed. Representative Phil Hare of IL, when asked about the constitutionality of health care legislation, was quoted as saying, “I don’t worry about the Constitution.” Representative Clyburn of SC admits that “most of what we do” isn’t authorized by the Constitution and that Congress should NOT be limited by it. They act like kings.

Soon-to-be-anointed House Speaker John Boehner was once caught handing out checks to colleagues from tobacco company Brown & Williamson to influence votes. He admitted it was wrong but there was no punishment. Nobody believes the practice has stopped; it simply goes on behind closed doors these days. Representative Charles Rangel was found guilty on eleven counts by his congressional colleagues, but there was no prison time and no fines. He was not even removed from office. Most would consider his punishment of congressional censure less than a slap on the wrist. These politicians have no interest in the law! The abuse is rampant.

The most recent Gallup poll announced the lowest Congressional approval rating ever. A mere 13% approve of the job Congress is doing. The real question should be, “Who are the 13% that approve?” Yet the same people get elected again and again. For the last thirty years, incumbents have been re-elected 96% of the time. The system is rigged.

Just over a month ago we witnessed the greatest incumbent loss rate in our times: 12% of incumbents were defeated, three times the historical rate. Some considered the statement enormous, but apparently not the politicians. Members of both parties are already ignoring the message that was delivered. A lame-duck congress is using parliamentary maneuvers and legislative tricks to try to ram through preferred legislation over the clear will of the electorate. The same Republicans who failed to govern from 2000 to 2006 have been promoted to leadership positions. Little has changed.

When an outrageous budget was pushed forward at the last minute, even members of the newly empowered Republican Party attached thousands of earmarks. Most Republican House members, Dr. Ron Paul a very notable exception, showed a modicum of restraint by agreeing to ban earmarks for one year, but was it not obvious that their actions were merely a political ploy? House Republicans did not sponsor earmarks, but almost every Republican Senator did. Is it anything but a shell game when the Senator then spends the money in the district of a House member? Do they believe we are so ignorant we will not notice? Are they correct? Politicians are shameless.

Note that the Republicans did not propose banning earmarks altogether as the nation wants. They have no intention of actually addressing the core problem. Instead, they made it look as if they were protesting, when, in fact, they were applying a temporary Band-Aid with the expectation that the public’s attention would be directed elsewhere at this time next year. The vast majority of politicians of both parties have little care in doing what is right or needed; they care about power, their party and their career. Politicians are self-serving.

Newly elected Republican Francisco Canseco of San Antonio hasn’t even been seated and he’s already acting like a Washington politician, hosting a $1,000 a plate fundraiser to pay off his $1.1 million campaign debt. How can any person borrow that much money on a job that will pay $175,000 a year? The math doesn’t work. Where did the money come from? What promises are being made in exchange for the funds? Politicians are for sale.

Two Democrats in South Texas have already switched parties, barely a month after they were elected. Did they tell those voting for them they would switch once elected? Are they representing their district and the people who voted for them, or just doing what is best for their political career? Campaign promises are far too often calculated lies aimed to win votes. Politicians are not truthful.

Americans are paying more attention than ever to the games being played and the lies being told, and it is only a matter of time before the Republicans demonstrate they, too, are more interested in power and their own careers than serving the people. They will overspend and avoid making tough decisions as they always have, but this will be the last time. There is a growing movement in America to fire the politicians. Groups are organizing everywhere to force them out in 2012. It is time for you to get involved!

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Tim Cox is the founder of GOOOH.com, a non-partisan organization working to replace the career politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives. GOOOH (pronounced “go”) intends to run 435 citizen representatives in the 2012 primaries. Patriots across America are encouraged to visit their Web site and get involved.