Why Should We Trust You?

This week a poll put out by the Pew Research Center reflects Americans are more fed up with Washington than in quite some time. It isn’t only one side according to the poll. Republicans really haven’t lifted themselves up on the whole in terms of numbers and Democrats have sunken like a submarine with it’s power turned off. We see it on the news everyday. Americans out railing against the government, some incidents of violence and even anti-government paramilitary affiliations of mainstream political organizations all popping up like weeds in an unattended garden. Nasty stuff.

What is a little surprising is the place being turned to is no different. The same old coin with the same two sides is still the one we are being voraciously sold on and the one many are buying as if the past has been magically erased. Those purportedly most worried about the deficit and economy are running back to the same people who increased the deficit the last time around, instituted government heath care reform, supported T.A.R.P. and left us with the worst economy since the great depression. Why? Is it simply because they have been doing a lot of “that’s not true” and “we didn’t do that” interviews?

So are we to just say ‘okay?’ If so what is the Tea Party? Is it a legitimate independent group of folks ready to bring back grass roots true to the constitution conservativism? Is it a group founded by Republican lobbyists (http://www.freedomworks.org/about/chairman-dick-armey) who are now simply trying to find a slick way of saying “now that we put you together and corralled you in, vote Republican?” (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/15/armey-warns-agains-third...) Nasty stuff.

Democrats are in a worse position than they have been in years, yet what are they doing to show they are hardworking America’s representatives in Washington? They are relaxing like a bunch of “Limousine Liberals” eating cheese and drinking wine on the taxpayer dime instead of getting out there and working for the votes. There is a special election in Pennsylvania on May 18, and are we hearing about Democrats running hard and proving they will work for everyday Americans? Or are we going to see them “Limousine Liberal” their way to another loss? Whatever side you’re on that ain’t earning your pay.

Government does have areas people want fixed and we are right at this point to be skeptical and distrustful. There is more than the unemployment rate and dual wars we should be upset about. We often hear about federal accounting blunders in the media and millions that have gone missing, or simply unaccounted for. So these certified accountants, who were just fine when they were hired, suddenly become so incompetent they can’t account for that much money? This doesn’t happen once but over and over with all manner of accountants from various branches of government who are usually then fired.

What we never hear about is the fact that there is a law actively in use that allows a certain branch of the government to liquidate assets taxpayers are told are going towards the programs we voted people into power to implement, then use them for other purposes. These other uses are unrelated to say housing and urban development, Medicare, job creation or stimulus funds. “The 1949 CIA Act gave a Congressional stamp of approval… as the following sections make clear:

… any other Government agency is authorized to transfer to or receive from the Agency such sums without regard to any provisions of law limiting or prohibiting transfers between appropriations [emphasis added]. Sums transferred to the Agency in accordance with this paragraph may be expended for the purposes and under the authority of sections 403a to 403s of this title without regard to limitations of appropriations from which transferred.” (http://www1.american.edu/salla/Articles/BB-CIA.htm)

This has been going on since 1949 and to this day on the official CIA Freedom of Information request form on their website confirmation of such is available. Under the exemptions section the form states “among other things, the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 authorizes the Agency to protect CIA budget information from disclosure and information relating to the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the CIA, including information relating to intelligence sources and methods.” (http://www.foia.cia.gov/txt/Annual_Report_2007.pdf)

We currently have a government which allows a manager of a small 3-4 person private security team in Iraq to literally get paid more than Gen.David Petraeus (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR200709...) Whose tax dollars are going to such an obvious waste of cash? To top it off such teams are contracted under the same company the former Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of until just before he ran for office in 2000. This same company got a no bid contract to handle almost everything contractor related in Iraq. Who benefits? Us?

Why should we trust the two main Washington parties which actually play the game of partisanship on the media stage, yet work together privately to maintain a monopoly on US politics? “In 1986, the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee actually ratified an agreement… ‘for the parties to take over presidential debates.’ Fifteen months later, (the two parties) incorporated the CPD, and that same day, the Democratic and Republican parties jointly issued a press release calling the CPD ‘a bipartisan, non-profit, tax-exempt organization formed to implement joint sponsorship of general election presidential and vice-presidential debates, starting in 1988, by the national Republican and Democratic committees between their respective nominees…’

“The CPD has sponsored all general election presidential debates since 1988, when it gladly implemented the Memorandum of Understanding that had been unequivocally rejected by the League of Women Voters (who previously ran the debates)… Under CPD sponsorship, secretly negotiated Memoranda of Understanding have dramatically increased in size and depth.” (http://www.opendebates.org/documents/REPORT2.pdf)

Perhaps if they make the whereabouts of all our money more transparent we can have more reason to trust. Perhaps if they stop squandering our money on things like high priced security guards we can start to trust. Perhaps if they let an independent organization like the League of Women Voters handle the debates and allow in third parties we can trust what they say. Right now there isn’t much display of anything beyond the same old thing being repackaged with slick sales people telling us “this time it’s different.” Nasty stuff.

To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.