Bailouts, Politics, Pain, and Ethics

Well, now. Seems a few folks in the Capitol got a chance to chat with their constituents about their recent job performances. Oh, I know. People were calling their Representatives and Senators to implore them to vote against the multi-hundred gorbozillion dollar taxpayer bailout of the financial industry. But, you know what? I'll wager that a goodly number of you are just royally teed off about the way things in general have been going and if I were in Congress I would be worried about my job, too. Wait a minute. I already am worried about my job. And my savings. And my retirement. And my healthcare. And my.........well, let's just say that I have some choice words for all the big shots in Washington who spent all my tax dollars to bring me and most other Americans to this sad state of affairs.

Who do you people think you are? Really. Just who the hell do you think you are?

You're going to lecture the so-called welfare queens? Seriously? When's the last time most of you pulled your snouts from the taxpayer supplied trough? I'd love to have access to the selection of health care plans available to you congresspersons and senators and every other employee drawing a federal paycheck. I don't have that choice. The least expensive plan I can find for me and my wife costs me over four hundred dollars a month and that plan comes with a high deductible and exclusions due to the fact that I had a single tiny kidney stone last year. The kidney stone passed unevenfully. The financial and insurance repercussions will be with me and my wife for the rest of my life. My senators and representatives don't have to worry about such exclusions in their taxpayer-paid health plans. My senators and representatives don't have to worry about burdensome deductibles in their taxpayer-paid health plans. My representatives don't have to worry about paying the full premium for their taxpayer-paid health plan. The most my representatives and senators will have to pay monthly in 2009 for their health plan will be about 350 dollars.

Three hundred and fifty dollars. No exclusions. No or low deductibles. Good nationwide. We, the taxpayers foot the remaining 764.00 per month. And in case you're wondering why the premium is relatively low for a top-notch family plan, the answer is pretty simple......Eight million federal employees and family members are banded together as a single bargaining unit to get pretty darn good group insurance rates. Oh, by the way, my representatives and senators have passed and refuse to rescind legislation that would allow me to form or join any group large enough to get their group rates. All in the name of free market competition. Unless, of course, i join the federal gravy train.

And this is what has got me so teed off. The people we elect to represent us just don't seem to have to play by the same rules as the rest of us. If the health care plan that I have isn't good enough for them, then that is just too damn bad. No elected representative should have access to better taxpayer-paid health care than the average working Joe and Joanna here in these good old United States. For that matter, nobody who draws a check from taxpayer funds should have access to a better retirement plan and better health insurance plans than are generally available to the average hardworking Dick and Jane.

No elected or publicly paid official should have access to anything better than that available and affordable to you and me. Ethics committees? Do we really need them? Really? Let's see:

If you are an elected official who applies for a zoning variance, you should only get that zoning variance if I could go to the same official with a similar request and be granted that same variance. If I can't get it, then neither should you, whether you are mayor, councilperson, congressman or President. If you are granted a variance that would not be granted to an ordinary schmoe, you are the recipient of a special favor while you hold a public office. Do you really need someone else to tell you that your ethics suck? And the granting official, whose ethics also suck, should be prohibited from ever again receiving a taxpayer supplied paycheck, because that person has shown that he or she can not be trusted with the Public Trust.

What about the politician? Well, the politician has to answer to the voters. You and me. And before we start blaming just the politicians, remember this: if the voters keep voting for the politicians who game the system with a wink here and a nudge there because said politicians keep bringing home the pork, then the voters are willing accomplices and deserve the occasional massive financial calamity. The voters gamed the system. Me? Hell, I have yet to vote for a politician that actually made it into office. I lean toward Libertarianism. Trust me, there ain't nothing fiscally conservative about the Republicans or the Democrats. And there ain't a whole hell of a lot of moral backbone to either party, either. Seems to me they all wink here, nudge there, and everything is okay because the federal trough follows them home after every session in Washington.

Well, I got a little off track, didn't I? Not really. The financial crisis and the bailout all have a lot to do with the moral fiber and compass of this great nation. We've been tolerating the snake oil salesmen for too long.

When your politician tells you that the taxpayer won't really be hurt because the bad debt that they buy off of the banks' books may go up in value and actually make a profit, just remember this........isn't that the kind of thinking that got us here in the first place?