Justin Amash updates everyone on everything he votes along with the explanation and reasoning on via his Facebook account. Even if you don’t support him or his cause or government on the whole, you have to appreciate the level of transparency and honesty. 

Gives me a little bit of hope. 

Justin Amash, hero. 

nerdylibertarian:

One of the reasons I like Amash…calls people out on their shit.

He’s supposed to be “the next Ron Paul” but I think he’s a tiny bit louder. Which might end up being a great thing. 

(via byulibertarian)

‎545 vs. 300,000,000 People - By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraqand Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan …

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees…

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

___

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

Well said, Charlie. Well said. 

It’s sort of a given that the rich would be the one’s largely encompassing Congress. Why are we shocked that the elected have gobs of money when we all know it takes  gobs of money to get elected. 

Having billionaires and millionaires isn’t necessarily the issue that plagues our country. While these members of Congress might be more inclined to look out for the needs of themselves and their own inner circles, they usually are balanced by the fear of losing the trust of those below them, the very same people that elect them. 

The issue isn’t the wealth of those in power. The issue is the wealth of those empowering those in power. Those that donate to their charities and to their campaigns. The lobbyists and the SPACs and the non-profits that accumulate and hoard large sums of cash for the sole purpose of funding and swaying entire elections to benefit their Fortune 500 companies. To line the custom tailored silk pockets of themselves and their financial planners, accountants, lawyers and advisers. To find every way to cheap the system out of every last nickle and dime. The very same system that helped them build their empires. 

Don’t fear the money in Congress. That money is useless. It sits in their bank accounts, monitored and talked about by the public, yet causes no harm. Be fearful of the money that fund the money. The money that delivers us our “candidates”, wins them our votes, and keeps them in office until they decide that we are sick of them. 

Don’t show me a chart of what Congress is worth. Show me a chart of what their backers, supporters and campaign contributors are worth. It’s the money behind the money I worry about because therein lies the real problem. 

@Suga_Shane

via soupsoup:

Why people hate Congress, in one chart

based on data from Wealth, Income, and Power

Update: The Fix has removed the chart, saying it was misleading “(This post initially used a chart that included data that we and others misunderstood. It did not reflect the wealth of Congress, but instead the wealth of the country, described according to numbers of seats in Congress. The Fix regrets the error.)” Hat tip to Jessica Binsch for the update.