Government Accountability...

At what point do we hold our government accountable for the mess we are in?..

When your personal family budget falls short, and you have no more credit to draw from, is it your response to go find someone who makes more than you (i.e. - the rich), and take what you need or have someone do it on your behalf? If not, why not?

Or, do you cut back on your expenses, live within your means, and work your way out? If so, why do we not REQUIRE our government to do the same?

Why is during this financial mess, you do not hear the government talking about cutting back on their expenses, but spending only?

There is only so much the government can borrow, so when do we hold the government accountable for this unsustainable debt they are running up?

At what point do the citizens of our country hold themselves responsible for the decisions that are currently being made? The warm and flowery chants of “yes we can” and “change you can believe in” drowned out the reports of socialistic views, lack of track record in Congress, and numerous ties to very questionable people. The examples of wasteful government spending are plentiful. Everyone in DC thinks the pot will never run dry - so they can keep on spending.
Some of our citizens made this bed by voting the way they did. Now we must all lie in it.

And after all the uproar over AIG bonuses, you know what the Congress and Obama who approved it in the first place and then exclaimed “outrage” over it did?.. NOTHING!

Why? Could it be that it was because they knew that the Freddie and Fannie (who received BILLIONS MORE bailout money than AIG) were getting ready to disburse the SAME retention bonuses totaling $210 MILLION…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123876318076986497.html

Could it also be that it’s because two of the bggest recipients of politcal money (you know “lobbyist” money) from BOTH AIG and Freddie and Fannie were OBAMA and DODD (BOTH liberal Dem’s), you know the senator who inserted the language allowing the bonuses in the first place, and according to Dodd - at the behest of the Obama Adminstration, but the President who signed it, and then they both had the unmitigated gall to be “outraged” over it… You’ll note that they were so outraged that you know how much political money they received did they return?.. ZERO!

All of the sudden, the media is quiet about AIG, and not even mentioning the Freddie and Fannie bonuses (who were at the crux of the whole real estate meltdown)…

All of you who were outraged at AIG, where’s the outrage for Freddie and Fannie?..

At what point are all these people held accountable… or have we as a people given up, and just interested in what’s on TV or the internet next?..

…or worse yet, could it all be a distraction while they undermine America’s sovereignty and attack
“capitalism” at the G20?

So now, ON TOP of TARP, Stimulus, Omnibus, the coming Cap and Trade TAX (which will hit EVERYONE), and not even taking into account nationalized healthcare, look what we have got on the table ON TOP OF all this…

Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look
Levy Viewed as Way to Reduce Deficits, Fund Health Reform

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052602909_pf.html

And this is something that will hit EVERYONE…

I think we all need to step back and look at the MACHINE that’s been created in this Country.

I’m not talking Republican, Democrat, or Independant…I’m talking about just the MACHINE.

This machine runs on POWER and MONEY…It pays it’s politicians very well for what amounts to VERY LITTLE actual work. The MACHINE decided on how much it’s members wuld make. It even had a MID NIGHT VOTE to approve a raise!! The machine runs on RULES created by the very politicians that benefit from the Machine itself. I’ve always wondered why a person spends MILLIONS of dollars of THEIR OWN MONEY to obtain a job that pays $165,000/year. And these people DO spend their own money…Some of them raise it from contributors but many are independantly wealthy and simply reach into their own pockets. Again WHY would a MILLIONAIRE spend $2,000,000 to get elected to an office that pays less than 10% of that??

How do we fix this???

Originally the idea of Congress or any federal politicial position was one of a PART TIME job that paid little if anything to the office holder. That’s why it was called CIVIL SERVICE. It was almost a VOLUNTEER position. A few people from each State would do their “time” then they’d get back to their business or job and let others commit their time. It’s now almost a LIFETIME position for many!!

The scary part of this question is this…

If this goes the way most things play out in our country…It won’t get fixed until it literally COLLAPSES because there is NO WAY on earth these guy’s are walking away from this gravy train.

Dismantling this machine is all but impossible as the guardians of it have much to lose if it no longer exists. They will do anything and everything to keep it functioning in it’s present form. This applies to BOTH sides of the aisle.

I’m not saying I think this will happen or hope it will…just making an observation.

You bring up a good point…

I can’t live above my means…I mean I CAN…But either way, I will pay for it eventually. Just as our Country will eventually.

It’s a mess…no doubt about it…How do we fix it???

Realistically…I really don’t know…People re-elect the same Congressman year after year because they BRING BACK MONEY to their State. It’s how the MACHINE is designed to run. Until a certain State can BENEFIT from NOT taking money from the FEDS…They’ll all have their hands out. At the present time…NOT getting those federal dollars can lose people a LOT of votes.

Interesting subject.

Mark this date… I agreed with EVERYTHING FDjake just said in his last post… :shocked :shocked

There may be common ground after all… :beer

Knowing all the above, I can’t actually believe they are considering “stimulus 2.0”… :banghead

Government Accountability, funny headline.

I only see a few ways of resolving the issue at hand before a complete meltdown. Look at the history of other countries and you can see some very common things that happen prior to the final implosion. The rise of most of all of the notorious dictators came after great civil unrest due to deep levels of corruption that the people felt they could not change.

Hitler came on the stage as a man who would stamp out corruption, keep down Marxism and deal harshly with the Jews which the population felt were a contributing factor to the corruption. The people were beaten down and the present government was acting against the will of the people, time and time again.

Germany was in the midst of a Great Depression and people were desperate for someone to end the poverty that was created by the previous government, help with their uncertainty and end the political instability. Hitlar came in as a hero and killed the corrupt politicians. This is what threw him to such a high regard with the government oppressed people. He then went on, as we all know, to severely abuse this power.

Does any of this seem like in some ways we are on the same path?

Take a look at the rise of any of these dictators of the past and you will see commonalities in the political atmosphere.

I can actually tell you that 5 years ago I would have never even thought that I might actually need my gun for a militia as stated in the Constitution. I thought it was a great thing but nothing I will ever have to use. Also, the thought never even crossed my mind of joining a militia to take back the government.

Now on the other hand, if I was aware of a group who was going to do this in a peaceful manor at first, I would be one of the first to sign up. The thing is, just like fdjake said, none of the dirty bastards will be giving up this gravy train. They will sick our own military on us before doing so.

I am afraid, unfortunately, to get them to start acting again as Civil Servants rather than Politicians will require overthrow of the government.

The first peaceful steps that must be made are completely paid for by the people elections so all incentive to pay back a foreign country, political action committee or large corporation will diminish.

We then need to demand term limits to break the “good old boy system”. You know how it goes. The new guys get into office with intentions of doing some good and cleaning up the place. Instantly they are approached by the old timers and they tell them, “you need to vote with us on all of these issues”. We know the people of your state won’t like it but do it anyways. We have statistical information that if you clean up your act 3 months prior to elections the people will forgive you for everything you’ve done. NOW, if you don’t do as we all agree, you will get no pork barrel projects for your state, your constituents will be angry at you and you will be a 1 termer. So kick back and get on the gravy train. You will have paid for “business trips” all over the country with a 2 hour seminar and 3 days of fun and sun for you and the wife.

Next we need to push them to pass some really hard line laws against themselves regarding bribe money etc and enforce them. We all know the stories of Bill Clinton collecting campaign contributions from foreign governments and Chinese people who have been dead for 50 years. He even had contributions from some dogs. We also know that the Republicans could have come down hard on him and made heroes of themselves. But they didn’t. Why? They are all “on the take”. Why would you risk giving yourself up by turning another in, democrat or republican. Once and a while there is a sacrificial lamb but the issue always ends up disappearing.

Regarding the mainstream media. I don’t know what to do about them. They are the primary driving factor for this corruption and the sole reason that the politicians are able to pull this stuff off. If there was media outrage and they were relentless in attacking this corruption it would quickly end. That is why they are called the government media complex. They are both deeply in bed with each other. The government agenda is promoted through the main stream media.

Now, we all know that the Politicians are not going to do the things listed above but it is a necessary step prior to physically overthrowing the government. We must demand what we want and nicely ask for the “Change” prior to forcing it which will likely be inevitable.

Am I looking at this from the wrong perspective? Am I getting too worked up about this and should I just deal with it and shut my mouth like a good citizen should? I don’t think so. I am an American and freedom courses through my veins. I was not put on this planet by God to be controlled by any man, especially a small group of “special” people.

God Bless America!!!

As long as everyone in DC is coated with Teflon, nothing will change. Anyone hear the recordings of Roland Burris’ phone calls released today? Yeah, nothing out of line there. :bs
Seems like all you need to do to get a high profile job in DC is avoid paying your taxes and claim ignorance about them. I filed my return properly this year (as I have for every other year I’ve been an adult). I don’t know what’s so hard to understand about that concept.

If this goes the way most things play out in our country......It won't get fixed until it literally COLLAPSES because there is NO WAY on earth these guy's are walking away from this gravy train.

That’s exactly right and exactly what’s going to happen.

I can actually tell you that 5 years ago I would have never even thought that I might actually need my gun for a militia as stated in the Constitution. I thought it was a great thing but nothing I will ever have to use. Also, the thought never even crossed my mind of joining a militia to take back the government.

Now on the other hand, if I was aware of a group who was going to do this in a peaceful manor at first, I would be one of the first to sign up. The thing is, just like fdjake said, none of the dirty bastards will be giving up this gravy train. They will sick our own military on us before doing so.

I don’t think you’ll need your gun. Once the economy collapses, people will march (riot) in the streets until change occurs. Look at the collapse of the Soviet Union and the events at Tiananmen Square. That is how change occurs. However, I do agree with you that the “change” could be the rise of a dictator or some other undesireable event.

The only certainty is that the economy is going to collapse.

Mike

It’s so ridiculous that a mass of people would follow a very versitile slogan"change".If you really want to see the reason,talk to some people around you.I was meeting with a contractor yesterday and the economy came up,his simple suggestion was to print more money and they’re trying to fix it.I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard these type of answers.Which explain why this dictator got elected.I enlighted a friend to get informed on whats goin on.The next day he calls to educate me"obama is cutting $17bill from spending".I said you do realize that’s less than 1% of his spending this far,also a big part of that’"cut"is in defense @ a time when the rest of the world is splurging in defense.Then I thought,this is the problem with govt controling the media also,which is growing worse by the day.We’re in very troubled times in this great country when other nations are telling us not to go the direction we are,they did and it was a mistake.Sad that others outside this nation are more informed on truth than the well produced puppet show we are allowed to see.

War Supplemental Put on Hold

So here is the Dem reasoning… reduce funds to the troops, but give the IMF 108 BILLION Dollars for bailing out FOREIGN governments with NO RESTRICTIONS meaning the money can go to our ENEMIES including Hamas??? So we BORROW and lend to fund those who would do us harm??? :banghead :banghead

“The Democrat leadership has reduced the amount of the supplemental for the troops and tacked on $108 billion in bailout funding for foreign governments through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). There is a large contingent of far left Democrats who always vote against funding our troops. Given the billions now included for the IMF global bailout, the Republicans are refusing to support the bill.”

To boot, they will have to BORROW this $108 BILLION from CHINA, who has not made the same comittment…

“Borrowing money from China for a global bailout of the IMF makes no sense, particularly when China itself has not made the same commitment. … The possibility that tax dollars reserved for our military could fall into the hands of terrorists or their supporters is an affront to our troops. The truth is that Democrats currently don’t have the support needed to pass this bill, which is why it has been delayed.”

Let’s just keep letting the Dem’s BORROW and SPEND, BORROW and SPEND… no matter the consequences…

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=32163

In the meantime… Pelosi refuses to be accountable for her assertion that the CIA lied to Congress, which would be a crime… just leaving the impression out there that they did, when two separate DEMOCRAT CIA directors, Tenent and Panetta, directly contradict her IN WRITING… :rolleyes