Government By The People, For The People

I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America as a child. We would all stand next to our desks and turn slightly to face the United States Flag. As a group, we would place our right hands flat over our left chests. Together, as one, we would recite the words that told our love for our fellow man, our country and our ideals.

To me that was OK. It was good and right. And I believed it all. I was publicly stating my loyalty to my country and to my fellow citizens. We lived in a "Republic", controlled by the People. Controlled by Us, the People. Or, at least as far as I knew. I believed as I was taught and raised.

Over and over I was taught that America is the land of the free.  We, The People, had Inalienable Rights.  We AGREED to have a government, a place to come together for the Union.  But we only agreed to a government run By The People, For The People.  We had learned to fear a central government...o_0 how far we have come...

I was raised to believe that Middle Class America was the Backbone of the Country.  We were able to live so well because of our strong sense of Individuality...Our Perseverance...Our Self-Reliance...Our ability to get things done. 

I was taught and raised many things and many ways. I was taught to respect my elders and to understand their wisdom. I was raised to be a productive member of society. The quest for knowledge is ingrained in me. I seek to understand, so I question.

There seems to be some disagreement about what is best for this country. Now, i'll be the first to say, I'm new to all this, so set me straight if you disagree. I've been reading about getting an extension on unemployment. And getting foreclosures under control.

Then I read that we extend unemployment, but we couldn't even extend it as long we extended the tax cuts. Seemed to me we all wanted to extend unemployment, but not many wanted to extend the tax cuts. Somewhere, somehow, someone is not getting the message.

Past experience has taught me when there is a disconnect between expectations and results the problem is generally a communication issue. Communication occurs between two or more individuals using a common understanding. But, what does it take to have a common understanding?

Understanding and the ability to communicate is enabled by a common outlook, a shared set of values, an agreement of life's hardships. However, our understanding of all these things is formed by what we have experienced as individuals throughout our lifetimes. Because of this we have evolved the ability to share meaning through our words.

Our ability to share meaning allows us to explain our point of view to others. It allows us to give words to the fact that our realities differ. Our reality is a filter of how we decipher our experiences in life. Through this filter, we form our opinions and biases.

Some one may think, "One dog bit me; I must fear all dogs".

Another person may have been saved by a dog, and thus think, "All dogs are good; I love all dogs".

Our individual realities are ruled by our individual perceptions. With language we have learned to tell of our feelings, our emotions. Empathy allows us to understand another person's feelings with out having those same feelings. Thus we communicate.

What makes us feel we have a common understanding with others? To answer this I thought of how we form friendships. Most people will form friendships with others they have a common understanding with. It is more comfortable to be friends with others like yourself.

So, I thought I would look at this as a socioeconomic communication issue. We, the People, want employment. We, the People, want to improve the infrastructure of this great land. We, the People, want a government that will get us these things.

But our government is busy with Bailing out Banks and Business, Cutting Taxes for the Rich, and Chipping away at Freedom during the fight with Terrorism.

I see a big disconnect between the government's agenda and the agenda of the honest Joe.  The disconnect seems to grow bigger each day.  When I see a problem, I feel a need to fix it.  But solutions are hard to find, if the cause of the problem is not known.  I tried to find a reason and then I tried to find a viable solution. 

Researching politics has led me to believe the phrase, "Follow the money".  The more I read, the more I wonder.  The more I wonder, the more I search for answers.  I was always the one in class who had that one more (annoying) question.  I just want to know!

I started researching individual politicians, rarely finding one that I could begin to believe still had integrity.  To date I think I have found 2, maybe 2.5, but there's many Congress-People and only one of me.  Not to mention the lobbyist...nope, wouldn't want to go there.

I think one solution to our problems is to level the playing field. Researching our governmental players shows me that there is a disproportionate amount of wealth in the government. I made the following graph to illustrate how wages have risen for Congress and how wages have risen for the average man.

About 18% of the American population make more than $120,000 a year. Congressional pay starts at $174,000 a year, putting them in the top five percent of wage-earners in the United States of America.  (How much does the Average American Make?)

It is my understanding that many of our "leaders" make significantly more money from "lobbyists".  If I understand correctly, these lobbyists will give our leaders money so that they can write a bill in favor of their business.  Then the leader will try to sell the bill to the American people.  Amidst all this bill-selling (BS), there seem to be two or three people who seem to be trying.

The graph seems to show that, while Americans on average have enjoyed modest increases in income, Congress has enjoyed great increases in income. I feel that our representatives should be more concerned about how well their constituents are faring.

I think that Congress should make the Median Average Income to start. They would have the capacity to make up to twice that amount based on how well their constituents are doing. They would make less based on how many constituents were living under the poverty level.

Think of it as: S = M x ( M / Mc)

S is salary. M is Median Average Income. Mc is Median Average Income of Congressional District. If the median average income was $50,000, and the median average income of the district was $60,000, the salary would be:

S = 50,000 x (50,000/60,000) or 50,000 x 1.2 or 60,000.

This may help to break the cycle of career politicians. I cannot believe our Founding Fathers meant for us to have career politicians. I think they would have equated this to royalty.

Researching our individual Congresspeople, I see that there seems to be many wealthy people there. In 2003, out of 100 Senators, 40 were millionaires. I thought 40% sounded pretty lop-sided, so I looked up how many Americans were millionaires in 2003. I came up with 2% of all Americans were millionaires in 2003.

Why would 40% of the Senate be representing 2% of the people? I understand that just because they are rich doesn't mean they cannot represent all of us poor people...it's that I can't comprehend how they can understand our problems. How can they understand the horror and fear of being dispossessed from their homes...or waiting in the Social Services Office to see if your family will qualify for food stamps, and maybe thus have a Christmas dinner.

I graduated from High School and decided to join the workforce instead of going straight into college. I had almost no experience and absolutely no idea how I wanted to work my life away. Jobs were plentiful in my neck of New Jersey for a good employee. And I've always been a good employee.

I soon found out how easy it was to sell your soul to the credit card industry. I was drowning in debt and did the only rational thing I could think of. I canceled all my credit cards. By 1996 I no longer had a credit card. Many long years later, the debt is finally gone.

Paying it all off has ruined my credit rating. I chipped away at it as I could, but not fast enough for TRW. I was surprised to find out that I could have saved my credit rating if I had only filed for bankruptcy. Why silly me! I mistakenly thought my credit would be better if I actually paid my debt. Still, I do sleep at night.

But my story is no different than millions of other Americans. I often think I'm one of the lucky ones. I've clawed my way out of debt. Now, if I want something, I have to save for it. Until then, we live without.  It keeps life simple.

Congress, the President and Federal employees would need to have the same health-care plan as the rest of us. If it's good enough for the rest of the country, it should be good enough for them.

Our representatives of Congress, both House and Senate, will need to maintain their primary residence in the district they represent. Their children should go to public school in that district.

We will pay for them to fly coach to and fro Washington when they need to be there. But, I do believe they could do a little more "wired" work. In this day and age of virtual meeting, e-meetings, or what-ever, the capability exists to have a meeting including several people from several locations without ever leaving your home.

I feel we need to keep these people home. Home where they can meet the neighbors. Find out who's kids made the Honor Roll. Be friends with the man who just lost his job. Bring brownies to the block party.

We need representatives who represent us.  We do not need representatives who represent the highest bidder.  Last I knew we called that Wall Street.  I do not know why we still allow Congress to be catered to by lobbyists.  I watched this behavior be cut out of medicine when Congress outlawed the medical manufacturing reps giving perks to the docs to use their products. 

When will Congress decide that this behavior is unethical whether it's docs of Congress.  All the little "perks" the lobbyists give should be outlawed.  A rose under any other name is still a rose...and so is bribery.  But silly me, it couldn't be bribery...bribery of a governmental official, that's close to treason.  Both in the offering and the accepting.