Will Congress be there when we need them?

So let’s see, the housing market is going to hell. The tax base for that market is also going to take a dive. State governments are going to be in trouble. Revenues counted on are not going to be there as projected.

Let’s move to the Federal Government. Everything is moving off shore. The tax base has to be less than last year and the projection was for a better year this year. Transfer payments for Social Security, Medicare and Medical are increasing. There is that giant sucking sound coming from Mexico (A Ross Perot metaphor) is there a solution in sight?

Think about it from a Congressman’s point of view. 40% of his constituents are Republican, 40 % are Democrat and 20 % are lunatic fringe elements. (I classify lunatic fringe as people that vote left or right on one issue only, i.e. gun control, abortion etc). Divide all of these figures in half and you have the actual voters. So we have about 20% Republican, 20%, Democrat and about 10% hanging from the ceiling.

Let’s figure that you got elected to Congress. You want to get re-elected, who do you cater to? Answer: the 10% hanging from the ceiling; gays, lesbians, abortionist, pro life, gun fanatics, anti war demonstrators. What don’t you touch? Answer, the “Silver Foxes (AKA retirement central)” and any item that is still working. Why? If you mess with something, say a retirement program and things go wrong you will be blamed. Even though Social Security is in a bad way and the Medicare payments are escalating, there is no call to fix it. You cannot be a Knight in shinning armor unless there is a Dragon. So why fix it if it isn’t broke?

In effect, your Congressman isn’t going to do a damn thing. Inaction will keep him or her re-elected. To face the problems, realistically would be a grand vendetta, but in reality it would be political suicide.

So what do we have to look forward to? Answer, a country that might be fed up with Democracy. It happened to the German Republic in the 1930’s, voting got them nowhere. They threw the bums (Legislative body) out the hard way.

There is a humorous twist for buffs that think history repeats itself. Germany was the essence of democracy in the early 20th century. Adolf Hitler, Austrian born became the leader of Germany. Today we have Arnold Schwarzenegger, born in Austria, governor of California, and there is a move to amend the Constitution so he can run for President. I don’t by any means mean to compare Arnold to Adolf, but the similarities jump out at you. The coincidence was too tempting to pass up, but it does make you wonder, what if------

hmmmm