SO WHEN DOES THE BULLSH*T STOP?

It’s Friday morning and I am on the treadmill at the gym.  The value of getting to the gym early is that I get to control what’s on the television. I am watching United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Republican) of Texas being interviewed and she is discussing that the nation’s biggest challenge is putting American back to work. I think that is a priority that every American can agree with.  Right now we have more Americans out work since the Great Depression. Every poll indicates that the American people want our political leaders to focus on job creation.  Some politicians talk about the national debt being a job killer; if more of our citizens were working and paying taxes, this would help to balance the budget. As the interview continues, Senator Hutchinson started to launch attacks on President Obama; they were subtle attacks that, unless you were really listening or a follower of politics, you probably didn’t get it.  My question is: did this accomplish anything?  Was it constructive to the political conversation of the country? Or was it just more red meat for the base of the Republican Party? This morning, after another trip to the gym, I got home, showered, dressed and sat down to eat my breakfast and watch the Sunday morning political shows. I watched “Close Up” a local production of Channel 9 out of Manchester. I was disturbed by the fact that my own United States Senator was discussing the debt ceiling vote in terms of political advantage! Does this woman understand that the full faith and credit of the United State is not a political issue?  It also concerns me that her whole priority seemed to be the business community, does this mean that Senator Ayotte’s only constituents that matter to her are the business community?  Now I realize that the business community will create jobs, but it has to be a balanced approach. What about the everyday citizens who can’t afford to hire someone to lobby on their behalf?  It didn’t seem that she had any concerns about the struggles of everyday ordinary citizens who happen to pay Senator Ayotte’s salary to represent their interests in the United States Senate. The whole priority seemed to be the business community who might also happen to be political contributors. So we move over to “Meet the Press.” After the United States bond rating was downgraded, Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio released a statement that blamed the President and Congressional Democrats. Again: was this helpful?  Did it make a positive contribution to the political conversation of our country? Did it move anything forward? Polls show that 82% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the current Congress. A strong majority of Americans want our political leaders to get to work and solve problems.

ARE THEY GETTING THE MESSAGE?

SACRIFICE

We finally have a debt-ceiling bill that will be voted on in both houses of Congress today or tomorrow.  So what was really the cost? Did it damage our standing in the world? Did emerging democracies look at the greatest nation on earth and think “Wow if they can’t get it right, what hope do we have?”  What about the American people who in my estimation had its government held hostage by the Tea Party, during what some people called negotiations.  I felt it was a hostage situation to a political ideology.  I realize that we have to change the way we do business.  We need to look at the entitlement process. The majority party is asking that the books of our country be balanced on the backs of people who can least afford to contribute:  the poor, the elderly and the disabled.  Half of the federal debt was caused by three things: the Bush tax cuts which have been unpaid for, two unnecessary wars, and Medicare part D. The Medicare program is a great program, it gives seniors in our country access to life saving prescription drugs, at an affordable cost, but we need to figure out a way to pay for it.

I remember filing my income tax return last year. When I got to my accountant it turned out that I owed the Internal Revenue Service money. At first I was disturbed, but then I realized I was paying my fair share.  Most Americans have no objection to paying their fair share. The only people who really object to paying taxes are people of affluence.

So where does the political class fit into this whole scenario? The politicians in Washington talk about cuts and sacrifice, so what are they willing to sacrifice?  It seems nothing at this point.  So what I am proposing is that all members of Congress should enact a 25% pay cut on their individual salaries, and Congressional pensions should be eliminated. All former members should also have their pensions cut by the same 25%.  Now I realize that this is not a high dollar amount; the savings are minuscule, in real dollar amounts that we need to save in order to balance the federal budget. But I feel the members of Congress should give the American people a symbolic gesture of sacrifice. After all, they are asking of us to sacrifice; shouldn’t they?