FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DYSFUNCTIONAL
Our federal government is as dysfunctional as most toxic families today. The president represents the parent, overstepping its authority, bossing around the children and robbing them of their independence. The Republicans represent the male side of the family, strong and pro military, no patience with the old and infirm. The Democrats represent the female side, weak bleeding hearts afraid to stand up for what’s right, always trying to bail out the underdog, robbing him/her of their independence. It’s no wonder the government can’t get anything productive done. This cliff hanging business finally shows their true incompetence.
The two parties have taken their labels as their identities and refuse to change, evolve or grow up. The nation is disgusted with their childish bickering. No matter what they decide, the country is going over the cliff into financial oblivion. Neither party has the country’s welfare in mind, only segments of it. Why do the Democrats keep bringing up the military budget while the Republicans bring up Social Security? Why isn’t the rest of the government on the table? Why isn’t the total cost of running our government discussed? I could take a red pencil to most of those departments and balance the budget in short order.
The entire cost of our government is beyond our ability to pay for it. And we don’t need most of it. It only gets in our way. We need to demand an entire shrinkage of the federal government. I would start with Obamacare, which is one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed. It ruins insurance coverage while setting up a bureaucracy unseen in this country, but similar to those in Hitler’s Germany. The cost is prohibitive. Unless repealed, it alone will push us over the cliff, never to see freedom in the marketplace again. It is tyrannical.
Of course the Republicans voted for it, but now don’t want to pay for it with higher taxes on the “rich.” Obamacare was set up to be funded from taxes on the middle and rich classes. Oops! Didn’t the Republicans read the bill before supporting it?
Getting back to our dysfunctional government, there are many institutional problems that need to be fixed. Our government as it operates today is incapable of fixing it. Here is what I suggest:
The presidency has too much power, pushing legislation detrimental to the country. It needs to lose its executive orders privilege. Power must revert back to Congress, which must assume its rightful responsibility of passing fair laws with justice to all. Congress must stop looking to the president as their leader. Congress must lead with the entire country in mind and honoring the Constitution. Making deals with big pharmaceuticals, oil companies, milk industry, farm subsidies, military/industrial complex, etc., etc. will not do. That’s one of the biggest downfalls of this country. Congress must stand for something other than special interest groups.
Congress needs to declare its independence from its parent, the president. Congress must put on the blindfold of justice and seek fair legislation, not seeking aid for one group over an other.
I could go on and on, but until the public demands responsible elected officials nothing will change. If the electorate knew the scores in Congress as well as it knows the sports scores, we would have an informed electorate receiving the justice it expects from the government it’s paying for.
As with every toxic family, someone must pull away from the group and stand independently, willing to take responsibility for its actions. The president sure won’t. Who will it be? Or maybe we must traverse the fiscal cliff to hit rock bottom before the country wakes up.
This is what I wrote about in 1974 in “Why Gold?” The answers to all these problems are in the book. That’s why I revised it in 2010. I hope you’ll educate yourself to not only save yourself and family from tyranny, but to keep the United States a free country.
