Occupy Congress
Some Americans are upset enough with our government to take action. Occupy Wall Street is one example. While their actions get media attention, nothing significant happens as a result of their demonstrations. While I applaud their desire to take action, I find their selection of targets misguided. I do not doubt for one second that Wall Street firms are aiding and abetting our government as they continue to rip off ordinary Americans for the benefit of an elite few. Political energy of any magnitude should not be wasted and that is precisely what the Occupy Wall Street crowd is doing – wasting political energy. Remember, there is no vote on Wall Street so why not Occupy Congress where we do have a vote?
The real criminals are in the U. S. government. They are those elected officials who sit in congress. Whatever Wall Street does requires the full knowledge and cooperation of those we have chosen to represent our interests. They have long since ceased to be servants of the people and now serve only themselves and those who help them stay in power. Even party differences are so irrelevant that there is essentially only one party in congress – the Incumbent Party.
The Incumbent Party raises its pay whenever it chooses. It has made itself immune from Social Security with its own obscenely generous retirement plan. It has made itself immune from Medicare with its own obscenely generous medical plan. Each plan to limit the size of government only makes it larger. Each simplification of the IRS code only makes it more complex. Each attempt to balance the budget only makes our deficit larger. Each attempt at campaign finance reform only makes it easier for the Incumbent Party to stay in power. It routinely makes laws that govern all Americans - except themselves.
Nowhere in the documents our founding fathers crafted will you find this kind of governance allowed. In fact, time after time our founding fathers made it abundantly clear that their intentions were just the opposite. Thomas Jefferson described their intentions toward those who were charged with ruling America by declaring they would, “… bind the rascals down with the chains of the constitution …” Like the dedicated criminals they are, the Incumbents have wriggled free from their chains and used those very chains to bind us down. Alas, too many Americans now struggle daily with every imaginable rule, regulation, and law – just to eke out an existence. Under the rule of the Incumbent Party, luxury has become the exclusive privilege of the politically powerful. That is why I say those in the Incumbent Party are the true criminals.
If Occupy Wall Street wants to change the status quo I suggest they redirect their efforts at the Incumbents with an Occupy Congress protest. While millions of Americans struggle for survival, congress remains largely untouched. Select one of these lifetime leeches for a recall election. Label him for what he is – a professional Incumbent. Charge him with a crime such as using government for his own personal profit and remove him from office. The Incumbents voted themselves $16,700 in raises from 1990 to 2003. That raised their salaries from $99,400 to $154,700. To use the power of public office to set up special conditions for themselves is no different from a public official who steals money from the public treasury. The Incumbents just benefit in a different way and for a longer period of time – but benefit they do.
When selecting a target, Occupy Wall Street would do well to consider the science of light. While a common light bulb can illuminate a problem area such as a flooded basement, a concentrated beam of light like a laser can actually destroy an airplane in flight. A laser beam concentrates its light energy on a very small target to achieve its objective. Political energy, when concentrated on a very small target, can also achieve its objective. Until and unless members of the Incumbent Party can be removed from office Americans will continue to suffer at the hands of those to whom the constitution means nothing. At least an Occupy Congress movement would target those who have the power but do nothing.
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