Throw the Bums Out

Throw them all out.

It's time for a revolution.  Nothing violent.  But, it's time to get rid of them.  All of them.

Congress's approval rating is now down somewhere around 10%.  Yeah, President Bush is somewhere around 22%.  But, look at it.  Our Legislative Branch and Executive Branch both have DISMAL approval ratings.  Bush is on the way out, but the current Congress is a new one, only less then 2 years old, and they have done NOTHING.  The Democrats made a lot of promises to take control of Congress, but they have not followed through with those promises.  The Republicans are not any better.  Both parties have done nothing but fill their pockets with pork for their own districts.

I'm tired of hearing the Democrats blame Bush's economic policies for the current mess.  WRONG.  However, the Republicans cannot lay full blame on the Democrats though either.  Both parties are at fault here.  ALL are to blame.  This economic crisis has roots going back to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act passed during the Carter Administration, and revised in 1995 during the Clinton Administration.  But guess who was in control of Congress in '95?  Yup, Republicans.

But yet, instead of working together to fashion a true bail-out, they blame each other to score political points, and do agree to add "sweetners" to the bail out bill so that it will pass.  "Sweetners".  What a crock of shit.  Bribes.  That's all they are.  Here are some examples of these "Sweetners": 

* Sec. 105. Energy credit for geothermal heat pump systems.
* Sec. 111. Expansion and modification of advanced coal project investment credit.
* Sec. 113. Temporary increase in coal excise tax; funding of Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.
* Sec. 115. Tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration.
* Sec. 205. Credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles.
* Sec. 405. Increase and extension of Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund tax.
* Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa.
* Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility.
* Sec. 501. $8,500 income threshold used to calculate refundable portion of child tax credit.
* Sec. 503 Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.

There also tax credits for solar and wind power, and a very expensive requirement that health insurance companies cover mental health the same way they cover physical health.

How do any of these "Sweetners" directly help the current crisis?  They don't.  They won't.  They are bribes to get votes so Congress can write itself what amounts to a blank check of tax payer dollars.

Rasmussen just recently held a telephone survey in which 59% of voters would throw the entire Congress out and start all over.

Count me in.

It's time for a revolution.  Only, it won't happen, because America is too apathetic.  Despite almost 60% of people wanting to replace Congress, it is likely that 90% of Congress will be re-elected due to a system designed to heavily benefit the incumbents.

When the Constitution was written, the nation’s founders expected that there would be a 50% turnover in the House of Representatives every election cycle. That was the experience they witnessed in state legislatures at the time (and most of the state legislatures offered just one-year terms). For well over 100 years after the Constitution was adopted, the turnover averaged in the 50% range as expected.

In the twentieth century, turnover began to decline. As power and prestige flowed to Washington during the New Deal era, fewer and fewer Members of Congress wanted to leave. In 1968, Congressional turnover fell to single digits for the first time ever and it has remained very low ever since.

It needs to change.

And the only way change is possible, is if you VOTE.