Capitol Hill Egos Dangerous to America

The egos residing at Capitol Hill, those same egos voted to hold office and act as representatives of Main Street USA, have proven to be dangerous to America.

The theater and dramatics surrounding the "historic" agreement to lift the debt ceiling have proven once again that for a person to be a part of the House, Senate or White House they must have a huge ego that does not concern itself with what is right for the people.

Their egos dictate to them that they must be right and others must be wrong and damn the consequences.

For a group of supposedly bright people to allow the "debt crisis" to roll to the 11th hour-plus, knowing full well for months that August 2, 2011, would come and go is all the proof needed to brand politicians as egotistical-to-the-extreme.

Witness, there is nothing at all historic about lifting the debt ceiling. That has been done time and again to ensure that future generations of politicians can spend freely, without regard to the damage created for future generations of Americans.

What is needed in Washington DC is not another huge ego, but a leader who leads by example. A person who can cut waste in his/her own sphere (i.e., cut foreign travel by members of Congress, cut their own salary, cut their office expenses dramatically, eliminate taxpayers footing the bill for members of Congress to visit home, etc.)

And during all the "savings" announced under the "historic" deal there has been absolutely no mention of doing away with earmarks. Cutting those pesky pieces of pork would save taxpayers between $300 and $400 billion in a decade and be an immediate expense reduction.

There is no doubt that Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison and the other Founding Fathers are disgusted at the actions (as well as inactions) by those elected officials who put themselves above the citizens of this great nation.

Capitol Hill has a short memory. Do they not remember that they are servants of the people?

Over For Now.

Main Street One

The Washington DC Finger Pointing Game Does Not Produce Viable Results

Finger-pointing, which the White House and Congress seem to enjoy, especially concerning spending or budget cuts, does not show Americans any form of responsibility or concern for Main Street USA.

It is a childish activity that does not result in any viable product. Ever.

The only end products of this adolescent behavior are minutes of airtime or inches of press and seeing themselves on prime time.

Politicians of all sizes, shapes and political affiliations are too much engaged in the blame game.

Few are willing to cut spending, especially in areas where the federal government should not be allocating dollars in the first place or to make cuts in their own backyard.

Not to mention the full elimination of earmarks. Each citizen should not have to contribute to an individual community walking path or the like that is attached to a piece of legislation to buy a vote.

Congress and the White House should lead by example.

Each member must begin making cuts in their own house. They have far too many benefits, expense accounts, overseas trips, staff and perks that are paid by taxpayers.

That is where representatives of the people should have started if they were truly serious about handling an economy that the Congressional Budget Office reports faces a $1.5 trillion budget deficit for 2011.

If the newly elected members of Congress (Nov 2010) really believed in cutting the size and shape of government they would have done so when they assumed office and slashed their own individual office budgets (pay freezes, hiring freezes, cuting perks, cutting travel expenses, eliminating waste, etc.).

That would be leading by example.

That would be the only valid time the president, a member of the Senate or House of Representatives could point fingers, telling their colleagues that they must do the same.

Those who occupy seats on Capitol Hill are not some sacred anointed masters. They are elected officials who are servants of the people, though it appears that none truly remember this, if they knew it in the first place.

Servants of the people.

Perhaps each and every one of them should intently and earnestly study the writings of our Founding Fathers and learn what it means to serve.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

Is NASA Viable? Is ANY Federal Program Viable?

Opponents of space travel argue about NASA’s cost over-runs, that it is economically unviable, dangerous to human life, etc.

Not to justify financial waste by any means, it must be pointed out that there is not a single area of any government-run program that does not waste taxpayer money, in one way or another.

While the $18 billion NASA budget is huge, as a number, it is 0.6% of the federal budget, showing anyone that government expenditures, with a budget of approximately $3 trillion, are enormous.

By way of comparison, the National Institutes of Health are funded with about $30 billion while US military and economic foreign aid is around $45 billion.

When looking at ways to cut federal spending one must look at what is most alarming in budgets: earmarks.

Yes, Capitol Hill (Democrats, Independent and Republican alike), we have your number!

This excess pork represents monies inserted into other, larger, bills, that benefit only the constituents of an elected representative with no public vote and little to no oversight. During 2006, earmarks containing $29 billion in spending were inserted into larger, almost always, unrelated bills.

One report stated that in 2005 the figure was $48 billion contained in some 16,000 earmarks.

However, when comparing NASA to other programs (but especially earmarks) one must also consider that the secondary benefits of the Shuttle program are, in many areas, extremely beneficial to society and mankind.

Although it may be argued that some or even all of the technology spinoffs would eventually have been developed in the private sector, it is noted in NASA’s Spinoff journal that technology developed and utilized in the Space Shuttle program appear in the following areas: health and medicine; transportation; public safety; consumer goods; environmental management; computer technology; and industrial productivity.

A few of these shuttle spinoffs are: an implantable heart resynchronization device, an improved form of LASIK eye surgery, environmentally friendly lubricants, advanced fireproof insulations for a variety of vehicles, video-enhancing software, infrared cameras for detecting fires, insulation for homes and clothing, biodegradable pesticides, food production, and bar coding for inventory control.

Regardless of one’s political leanings, it can easily be argued, and proven, that the Space Shuttle program, and NASA in general, do provide citizens with incredible quality of life benefits.

Not all government-run agencies can make that claim. And ear marks? Not even worth discussing.

Hopefully, the elected men and women in Washington DC will see fit to go beyond the voices and opinions of special interest groups and actually fund projects that do, indeed, have positive benefit for all.

And they need to cease and desist all earmarking of legislation.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

Real Budget Negotiations--or Just More Pork

As a budget compromise occurred on Capitol Hill late Friday night, just before the looming "government shutdown," one wonders what kind of deals were made between President Obama, Senate leader Reid and Speaker Boehner.

In other words, "Where's the pork?"

While claiming an overall $38.5 billion budget cut, "forged amid bluster and tough bargaining" (according to The Associated Press), there was a report that Boehner was able to keep something that was dear to him in tact, allowing students in Washington DC to use "federally funded vouchers" to attend private schools.

Federally funded vouchers?

That certainly means Main Street USA residents get to pick up the tab for DC students to attend a private school.

Where do elected representatives get the idea that this kind of expense using taxpayer dollars is appropriate?

It is just as bad as an item in the disastrous national healthcare reform bill where all Americans will be contributing their money to build walking parks in certain communities. That pork bought certain votes in order to pass the trillion dollar piece of legislation.

Is it possible that those persons who have been elected to serve in the best interests of their constituents have lost sight of those best interests? Allowing any special interest fluff to remain in a budget already filled to the brim with waste is criminal.

Earmarks have cost this country dearly. They should be illegal.

It certainly seems as if Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and any who hold a public office or position (elected or appointed), have forgotten exactly who signs their paycheck. It is, after all, coming directly out of the pocket of each and every taxpaying citizen in the country.

And, as a final note, Harry Reid called this budget work "historic." Historic would actually be when not one earmark gets tacked on to any piece of legislation coming from the Senate and House of Representatives.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

The Day After - Just A Thought

There was a lot of channel surfing during the mid-term election coverage last night in an attempt to stay on top of the results.

One particular comment caught my attention.

Unfortunately, I do not recall which Democrat was chastizing which Republican saying, basically, that the Republican candidate was "not for the people" as that person was dead-set against earmarks, defined right then and there as those funds that "bring money to states."

Two years ago candidate Obama promised Main Street USA he would not pass legislation with earmarks attached. Taxpayers very much liked that idea, but that particular promise was not kept.

To the thought...

How much money has been spent by Capitol Hill, even just during the last several years, on earmarks to buy votes for a larger piece of legislation?

If that amount of money, which surely is a rather large number, had not been attached to buy votes then would it not be safe to say that big government would not be quite as big?

In order to pay for earmarks that the Senate and House tack on to bills the federal government requires more money in order to fund those pieces of pork. The same money that, if Main Streeters did not have to send vast sums to Washington DC to cover vote-buying, would be spent bolstering the economy.

Individuals would spend that money not sent to DC on consumable goods and for services that they might need or want. Companies, large and small, would spend it on expansion of their business, which, in turn, generally means more jobs. And a healthier economy.

When firms and people spend more money states receive greater revenues through all manner of taxes and fees.

Any politician who says that not backing earmarks means that a person is not "for the people" is spouting wasteful hot air and that particular elected representative should look for other means of employment.

Earmarks are NOT for the people.

Earmarks are a means for Congress to buy votes for legislation that, quite obviously, cannot stand on its own merits.

Earmarks are wasteful spending and a continued expansion of excessive government requiring more and more funds with which to operate.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

Mid-term Election 2010

If elected officials ever wondered why many taxpaying members of Main Street USA (i.e., voters) have become (or have been) disenchanted with politics they need only view their commercials that are on the air.

The American public get bombarded with 30 and 60 second high-impact tales smearing opponents with non-stop ads blasting the opposition and few that tell the real story behind a candidate.

Who is this person? In what do they believe? What are their goals? Why should they be elected (instead of why not to vote for the other party)? Will they sign in blood not to add earmarks to legislation just to get the actual bill passed? What are their real, workable ideas to stop wasteful government spending?

Truth be told, politics has become nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Once elected, few people seated on Capitol Hill really give a damn about what becomes of Main Street USA.

Yes, most politicans say the right words, create the proper sound bite, but each and every piece of legislation has earmarks and pork attached to buy votes.

Thus, the cycle is:

1. Politicians (and their backers) buy our votes to become our representative.

2. Politicans buy votes of other politicans with earmarks to pass legislation.

The substantial problem with point two above is that the money used to buy votes within the walls of Congress are taxpayer dollars...dollars that do not exist...dollars that simply create more and more debt.

All in order to buy a vote and where the purchased voter (i.e., senator or house member taking this bribe) may visit their people and show how they enriched the community with a new $100 million dollar hospital, or any of countless examples that earmarks provide.

Unfortunately, our elected reps at the national level have forgotten that the states created the federal government and gave that body a specific mission.

Those mission orders have been trampled and swept under the proverbial carpet.

The bigger question remains: can this mess be fixed?

It is probably not possible for anyone to answer that with certainty.

However, one thing is abundantly clear: the federal government must not be allowed unlimited and uncontrolled spending.

And, one way to curb that is completely eliminating earmarks and excessive pork on any piece of legislation. A bill should be enacted solely upon its merits, nothing more, nothing less.

Anything else masks whether or not something is actually good for the populace, good for the future generations who must attempt resolution of massive debt and obligation created in the here and now.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

Happy Birthday, America! Politicians, Wake Up!

Two-hundred, thirty-four years ago, our Founding Fathers together signed a document declaring that a people are free to determine their government and that, in fact, government is only allowed by the will of the people.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

One very key ingredient in the quest for freedom was to break away from an oppressive government in order to establish one which derives its power from the people.

To wit: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."

The word consent was fittingly and justly utilized by these astute men.

Though not a perfect foundation, as women were not afforded these same rights and all men (people) were not treated as equals as some were, rather, still enslaved.

However, their perception of government was remarkable.

These very learned men knew, through study of history, what a government must and must not do and should and should not do in order to survive.

And so, these 13 individual states united together to establish and form a democracy giving only certain powers to the federal government while keeping anything not specifically granted it to the states and to the people.

As the decades progressed, however, the federal government has grown to the point that individual liberty and the rights of states and citizens have been eroded and become limited. That is exactly what they did not want and, in fact, warned against.

America is still a truly great nation.

However, it is a nation where the will of the people is not followed. It is one where special interest groups wield unusual power over decisions affecting every person living in Main Street USA. It is one where back room deals in the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill decide the most crucial of actions and where billions upon billions of dollars are added to legislation to capture votes.

If pork and earmarks are needed to garner the necessary number of votes in order to pass then must not the legislation be flawed?

The taxpaying citizens of these United States of America desire a "more perfect union," not a larger federal government where their voice is no longer heard.

In order to achieve this end our elected public servants (not public rulers as some have tried to become) would be wise to re-study the very documents that were written and are the foundation for this nation and to then act as statesmen, not as politicos whose main objective is to become re-elected.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

The Polls Continue To Speak

Following is a short summary of recent polls after passage of the Main Street USA Health Care Rights Bill (taken from reports published by the Christian Science Monitor) and, of course, some commentary.

Washington Post poll: Some 55 percent of Americans expect their own costs for healthcare to be higher because of the reforms, and 60 percent say the nation's overall health tab will rise.

Rasmussen Reports: 49 percent said they think the quality of care will be adversely affected.

Washington Post Poll: Nearly half of Americans say the law "creates too much government involvement in the nation's health care system."

USA Today/Gallup Poll: 65 percent said the law "will expand government's role in health care too much."

Rasmussen Reports: Americans favor repeal of the Health Care reform by a 54-to-42 margin.

So, on the whole, this action by Congress and the White House is not what is needed and wanted by Main Street USA.

However, it is interesting to note that Main Street USA seems to feel that erosion of our rights by the government is okay with them.

In a Newsweek Poll a strong 59 percent surveyed felt that they were "open to a mandate on individuals to buy coverage" (with government subsidies available) if they are currently uninsured. In a similar poll by CNN/Opinion Research, 45 percent favored this action.

A Mandate to Buy Coverage?

Certainly no one I know falls into the above category. Allowing our elected representatives on Capitol Hill the power to fine someone for not exercising a supposed right to have something, while they have everything they need served to them on a silver platter (courtesy of the taxpayer), is frightening. (Please read previous post, March 23, 2010, The Concept of Rights.)

Main Street One warned that allowing our government the authority to fine taxpayers via the IRS for not exercising what is being defined as our Health Care Right will surely open the door to fines being levied for not exercising other rights, perhaps even those guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

This is dangerous territory, America!

Attesting to how rhetoric can skew polls (for either side), a USA Today/Gallup showed 51 percent of Americans saying the law doesn't go far enough in regulating health insurers.

This may be true.

Unfortunately, the legislation is so cumbersome that it may take some time to see how far anything and everything reaches in this bill.

Needless to say, Democrats made the insurance company out to be the bad guy and succeeeded to a remarkable degree.

Many folks, however, feel that ambulance chasing attorneys (and their cousins in the field) earning millions upon millions upon millions by being allowed to extract outrageous amounts in punitive damages and, thus, increasing all forms of insurance, as some of the truly basic culprits.

Yet, those voting in the majority on this colossal package turn a deaf ear when Tort Reform is mentioned, brushing it aside as if it were merely a petty annoyance.

And those same members decided, as part of Health Care Reform, that the government should take over student loans and not allow banks and financial institutions to partake in this activity.

Excuse me. What on Earth do student loans have to do with Health Care?

Wake up Main Street USA.

The amount of pork and the number of earmarks on this one piece of legislation is probably unfathomable.

Why is it that people that WE elect think that they know what is best for all of us despite the fact that the majority of us did not want, do not want, our Health Care Right in the manner and in the form in which it was signed.

We do want and need reform.

We do not want and do not need THIS reform.

Especially at this cost, both in dollars and the further erosion of our civil liberties.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

Any Bets ? ? ?

While campaigning for the Oval Office, President Obama made this promise to all of Main Street USA:

"When there is a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it, so that you know what your government's doing."

Any bets on whether or not the massive pork and earmark-filled healthcare reform bill will even make it to the WH website, let alone be on it for five full days prior to his signature?

Within the first two months of his presidency, of 11 major bills that the president signed, only six of them (55%) made it online for review prior to his signing them and none of them (0%) were posted a full five days.

And it has not gotten any better.

With the number of votes that had to be purchased to push this legislation through the House it is this taxpayer's opinion that most of us will not see the full bill for quite some time.

As has been stated, the Congressional Special Interest Group (the buying of Senate and House votes through legislation earmarks especially for them) is much more dangerous than any single SIG in existence.

This bill proves it.

The government will now be responsible for over 50% of our gross domestic product.

Certain civil rights, such as the right to choose if one wants healthcare coverage or not, are gone.

That all members of Main Street USA must pay for walking parks in some town in a state many have never even visited is not what this country should be doing.

Ad infinitum.

At a time when unemployment is over 10% nationwide, when state officials are unable to raise enough funds to cover bare necessities of what government should be doing, when city municipalities are not able to honor bonds issued and where our own federal government has been "borrowing" from the social security trust fund (to the tune of over three trillion dollars), our elected representatives should be focused on making effective financial cuts, not spending yet another trillion dollars we do not have.

Our Founding Fathers may have had it right placing "In God We Trust" everywhere.

Because politicians continue to prove they cannot be trusted.

Over For Now.

Main Street One

House Speaker Speaks Up, Defies Polls

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, on ABC television's "This Week," stated, without any doubt, that if President Obama decides to use the reconciliation method of political maneuvering she will deliver the votes without the support of any Republicans.

Make no mistake, polls also show reform is needed and wanted.

However, poll after poll bring into the open that the majority of Americans do not approve of either of the bills that passed the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The strong-arm tactic that will apparently be used on these earmarked pieces of legislation that will affect 17% of the U.S. economy is not representative of what Americans need or want.

Why won't our elected representatives listen?

It has been voiced by some Democrats that objections regarding the healthcare reform bills are due to mis-information delivered by Republicans.

There probably does exist some of that.

However, Democrats are guilty of the same activity.

Consider that the bills are supposedly going to provide coverage for some 30 million Americans who do not currently have any form of healthcare insurance.

Yet, one third of that total, ten million people, have elected not to carry insurance, despite the fact that they can afford it. These people are exercising their own free will and making their own decisions about what they need and want.

Not if this legislation passes.

They will be forced into obtaining and paying for insurance, or be fined.

This type of political activity, economic ramifications aside, erodes our Bill of Rights.

This type of political activity drastically increases the role of government in the lives of all Americans.

It used to be that when the People speak those who have been elected to follow the will of the People respond to that will.

Evidently, no longer.

As Pelosi stated on ABC TV, "We're here to do the job for the American people -- to get them results that gives them not only health security, but economic security, because the health issue is an economic issue for America's families."

If she truly believed those words, then the Speaker would respond to, and support, the People, Main Street USA. She would champion their cause and scrap the thousands of pages of pork-filled legislation that currently exist and start anew with something meaningful and truly helpful.

Instead of ducking their responsibility on Tort Reform by passing it off to the individual states (which, as previously discussed, would become a national matter in the U.S. Supreme Court), the House and Senate should pass legislation immediately in this area.

Taxpayers do not need to pay for frivolous lawsuits that clog the Court system and, in the end, raise insurance rates each and every time they succeed. That is a double-whammy to the pocketbook of Main Street USA.

One last note.

Most of the articles that appear regarding passage of healthcare reform state that "Obama has the votes to pass reform" the way it is currently written.

Since when did the White House become more important than the collective voice, opinion and will of Main Street USA?

Yes, President Obama, we do need healthcare reform.

But not in the current state as presented.

Eliminate Medicare and Medicaid fraud-NOW.

Stop frivolous lawsuits with Tort Reform-AT ONCE.

Then, and only then, should we move forward with legislation that is significant and does not trample on the Rights of Americans to choose what they need and want.

Over For Now.

Main Street One