Information about Building a Grass Roots Effort and why we need one

In another recent article by Columnist Charlie Reese, Reese bemoaned the ignorance of the nation's elected officials, tacitly taking aim at the President, but he also made no bones about denigrating Senators and Representatives. He described political races today as nothing more than highly financed, politically controlled advertising campaigns that more nearly resemble high school popularity contests than election of serious representatives of the people. From this writer's observations, Reese is right.

There is an increasingly desperate need to restore the eroding foundation of our government and social order to the vision of the Founding Fathers. The way to do it is to elect people who are well versed in the US Constitution and History and who will act accordingly. One recently elected politician boasted, "I want to be elected so that I can go to Washington to support the President." A quick lesson: That separate component of the bicameral Congress is not there for the purpose of supporting the President, but rather to represent one's District and act as a check and balance against the Executive and Judicial branches of government; and the Constitution provides the tools to do that.

Enter: the Party Machine; the one that determines ahead of time which candidate among a field of Party candidates is to be supported, effectively preempting the will of the people in favor of Reese's "high school popularity contest." Just look at the goings on in California, and amongst the Democratic Party's Presidential contenders. Has the Republican Party publicly endorsed anyone in California, or has the Democratic Party endorsed any particular Presidential Candidate? Not openly, but the reader can be confident that "behind the scenes" there is plenty of maneuvering on behalf of one of the candidates in each instance. Is it illegal? No. Should it be? No. But unless voters learn to pay attention, they will be the losers in the process.

It is axiomatic in politics that "we get what we deserve," and if America doesn't wake up to the fact that so called "conservatives" are doing all they can to "out liberal" the liberals, what the nation "deserves" will fulfill Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev's prediction: "your grandchildren will live under Communism-and like it." If liberals in government, academia, entertainment, the media and religion have their way, that day may be closer than most realize. A recently released Brookings Institution report, "Size Of Government Up Sharply Under Bush" illuminates the point. The US now has the largest budget in history and the largest deficit in history and puts the lie in the empty campaign phrase "less government, lower taxes (tax cuts notwithstanding), and more personal freedom."

Blurring the lines between the two major parties, about which none other than William Jefferson Clinton complained during the 2000 Presidential contest, has been so successful that no matter which is elected, the results are approximately the same, with illegal immigrants and welfare recipients accorded superior treatment to patriotic Veterans stymied in their legitimate quest for the care they were promised at the time of their enlistment in the Armed Forces. But, simple political calculus shows that there are more votes available from the former than the latter, so, it should not be surprising.

Some vilify President Bush for his abandonment of Veterans' issues, and from everything this writer has observed, heard or read, the President and those who have supported that abandonment, deserve the treatment. One respondent complained that fulfilling the promise to Veterans would cost billions of dollars and he was right. But it would be a first step toward restoring credibility in a government whose typical "vote buying" mode is to the lowest bidder with the greatest population.

If the Congress can support fighting a war and fund reconstruction of Iraq, appropriate billions for fighting AIDS in Africa, additional billions for fighting AIDS in America, billions for farmers, billions for corporate welfare, billions for local pork barrel projects, and trillions for failed Great Society "welfare slavery" programs, it can afford a few billion dollars to keep faith with its Veterans---without whom there would be no America.

The same US Representative noted above voted against discharge of HR 303 which, if enacted, would remove the 100% tax on disability payments to retired veterans, which incidentally the President has promised to veto, that Representative using the weak-minded excuse that the House Leadership promised that it would be included in the Department of Defense budget-but is it? Veterans need to wake up to such political shenanigans. Party politics is destroying the nation because of groveling, self-serving, politicians like the one just noted, who are more interested in seniority, committee chairmanships, PAC money and political careerism than in doing what is right! If that politicians behavior explains: "that's the way the game is played," it's time to change both politician and the rules of the game.

It's about time for politicians who have the intestinal fortitude to act independent of party bosses, it is time for those with patriotic vision to step forward and begin the process of restoring the nation to the Forefathers' vision of government by the people for the people. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

Semper Fidelis

Copyright © Sept. 4th, 2003, by Robert L. Pappas. With proper attribution, this essay may be quoted and redistributed. It may not be used in any way, in conjunction with any advertisement without the author's expressed written permission.

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