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 Iraq and 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!

Charley Reese's column for the Orlando Sentinel...

He has been a journalist for 49 years.

He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.