The re-election circus

The founding fathers never meant for our type of government to mutate into such a monolithically constructed monster as it has become.
To the left is a picture of my relative President John Adams.
The founders felt that the honor bestowed upon them to represent their fellow citizens was reward enough and that they served at the will and behest of those people. Many did not accept any monetary compensation at all and worked in other occupations to allow them to do so. George Washington, for example, even with his personal wealth very badly diminished, did not accept any compensation for his service as the general of the armed forces or as the President of the United States. Many others paid all their own expenses even when their homes were destroyed and their personal fortunes lost.

Benjamin Franklin, for one, felt that public services was never meant to be a perpetual activity but that many citizens would oblige themselves to serve as they could. He felt that if a person was in political office very long, our form of government would evolve into a form of monarchy where little kings or monarchs ruling segments of the country. He also felt that there should never be a spirit of completion between candidates for public office. If there were, he felt that the vanquished would work against those who had defeated them and only work to avenge the defeat rather than work to support those currently in office.

Consider this with what we have today with the two major parties divided and actually working not for the good of the country but to protect their party looking for some favorable position so as to win election the next time. Also consider that some have been in office for generations even considering that the areas of the country they represent have done poorly and these persons have done little for the people they represent but have enriched themselves greatly.

Consider that many of these political folks have never held high paying job outside government in their lives, but now after being in office for years have somehow amassed large fortunes. How can that be, considering that to be elected requires great amounts of money and the pay for those political positions is no way near close to the sum of what they should have been given as payment for their service?

Some have represented areas with high unemployment and poverty yet the citizens keep electing them year after year. For heaven sake some are in cities that have professional sports teams that have replaced the coaches many times yet their incompetent representatives remain. How tragic is this?

There are members of congress who have abused their office and betrayed the folks who have supported them. Many have been caught taking money or payments from organizations or companies for favorable votes for those payments. They have been discovered many times and still voters continue to vote them into office time and time again. Sometimes they are censured but are very seldom actually removed from office or voted out of office.

Remember this at every election. Do your best to get term limits in place. There are some good folks in congress, but we have got to get people of true American values with ethics back into running our country. As it is now the extremists in both parties are running the show and tragically bringing our beloved country down. Let’s do something about it at election time, both locally and nationally.

People in congress do not fear or respect us anymore. They fear the loss of funding and support from their parties for re-election much more than those of us who put them in office.

Join me in doing what you can to change this abysmal situation.