Kick Out the System - Not the Congressmen
Richard Salbato July 25, 2012
We
sent a lot of good men and woman to congress in the 2010 elections but it seems
they have not gotten anything done. What most people do not know because they
do not pay attention to how congress works is that they have worked hard to do
what they promised. I am going to explain why this
happened but before I do - it would be good to read the fiction
story that follows because it explains how government works in a cute way.
The
Night Watchman
Once
upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.
Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.” So they created a night
watchman position and hired a person for the job.
Then
Congress said “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?” So they
created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write
the instructions, and one person to do time studies.
Then
Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks
correctly?” So they created a Quality Control department and hired
two people. One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.
Then
Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they created two
positions and then hired a time keeper and a payroll officer.
Then
Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?” So they
created an
Then
Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year and we are
$918,000 over budget, we must cut back.” So they laid-off the night watchman.
Example
…
NOW
slowly, let it sink in … Does anybody remember the reason given for the
establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter
Anybody?
Anything? No? Didn't think so!
Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter …
Bottom
line is, we've spent several hundred billion dollars
in support of an agency ... the reason for which not many persons who reads
this can remember!
Ready??
It was very simple... and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.
The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977, TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE
ON FOREIGN OIL. Hey, pretty efficient, huh???
AND NOW IT'S 2012 -- 35 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS
"NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000
FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT
HAS DONE!
(THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?”) 33
years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil
consumption is foreign imports. Ah, yes – the good old Federal bureaucracy.
NOW, WE HAVE TURNED OVER THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY
TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT? The same Government that managed to bankrupt
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and every program and department they
ever created.
Hello!! FOR ANY PERSONS THAT CARE
Signed....The Night Watchman
Systems
1. Authorizing Government Expenditures:
According to the Constitution only the House has the
right to produce a budget of how it spends money. Then it sends this to the
President and his department spends the money according to the Houses mandate. It’s
a good system if done correctly but it is done without the effort it needs. Of
the over 90 agencies of government like the department of energy, no one knows
how they spend their money. If congress authorizes five billion to that agency,
the government gives them a check for five billion and they spend it anyway
they want without accountability to anyone. No one has any idea how these
agencies spend their money and that is why 40% of government money is wasted.
Congress should approve every pay check and purchase
before it is made.
2. The Senate Rules
Over the years the Senate has evolved into a system where
one man can keep any bill from even being voted on. This is not democracy but
Senatorial Dictatorship and is not even constitutional. The other thing is that
he and he alone can decide amendments to the bills or not. The other stupidity
of the system is that for a senator to vote he must be on the senate floor. I remember
on a very important vote one sick Senator had to be flown in to
Let me show how stupid this is by using business.
When the market crashed in 2008 businesses cut back expenses by laying off
people, streamlining their systems, buying more efficient computer systems,
reducing travel by having computer conferences and sales meeting, and bringing
in robotic systems. By 2010 volume went way down but profits went up and all
these businesses are still making money even with very low volume.
At the same
time as Government income went way down the government expenses went way up.Ideas to Save
3. The Presidential Powers
If you study the four branches of government in the
constitution, you will see that the Presidential department has the least
amount of real power except in emergency military action. However, Obama thinks he is a King, and has
done hundreds of things without going through the congress
or any legal authority. Congress would deny him the money to do these things
like paying the Czars but because of the way money is spent they do not even
know where he takes to money to pay them.
4. The wasted time in the House
The house opens at 9:00 AM and the first thing they
do is have speeches from members for 4 hours and while
these speeches are going on no one is in the house at all. This is a complete waste of time. When a bill
is introduced in the house each side is given several hours for more speeches.
Then the bill goes in for amendments and sometimes a 5 page bill becomes a 100
page bill. Then they vote on this 100 page bill that almost in one has read.
This new bill which may be about a farm bill now has attachments that have
nothing to do with farms. It may be a bill that you really want badly but you
can only vote for it with these ridiculous attachments. I will show a simple
solution to this problem after a few more stupid things congress does.
5. House represents the people
When the house was envisioned in the Constitution
the ideas was that the people would know face to face the congressman, about
one congressman per 10,000 people. Today the average congressman represents two
or three million and few have ever met them face to face. Of course we now have
330,000 ,000
people and the house would not hold that many congressmen. Why then do
we have to send congressmen to
Consider what I
said above about businesses that have made money in spite of very slow
business. With modern computer systems a congressman can vote in his home
office, say in
6. Pork Barrel Attachments
The biggest problem in
However, it is easy to solve this problem and also
all other attachments that have nothing to do with the original bills. I hate
the word “Comprehensive” because that simply means if you want this you have to
accept that.
The answer to
this problem is not the Line Item Veto, but the Line Item Vote.
Get rid of them
all because in every case they have made things worse every year. I have forty
others I would get rid of or reduce.
Ideas to Save America 7. Education
Other
Ideas:
Most
Important Day of my Life - 11-2-2012
Ideas to
Save America: 2. Social Security
Ideas to Save
America: 3. Medicare
Ideas to Save
America: 4. Double GDP
Ideas to Save America 8. Legal Systems
9.National ID Card - Get Over It
10. Fair Tax, Flat Tax
or Sales Tax?
11.
Do
Not Pass Obama's Financial Reform Bill