I'm Mad

All the talk of the need for additional tax revenue, and the screams of bloody murder at the idea of reducing spending, are symptomatic of a government that is not acting in our best interest.  They aren’t even using common sense.  In fact, there is nowhere in the world, but in a government setting in which one could get away with what they’re doing.  The latest local “crisis” is the supposed need to increase our fuel costs to fix roads in our state. 

I believe the question that begs to be asked of our elected officials is:  What happened to the monies that were supposed to be used for road maintenance?  Why aren’t you budgeting for this?  The cost of maintaining roads hasn’t increased to the degree that more revenue is necessary.  Our state is not so different from other states, why then can some of them return unused monies to their constituents?  The answer is these three things:  budgeting, budgeting, and budgeting.  You might have to speak slowly to our state officials and spell it out, as this is obviously a foreign concept to them.  It also involves work.

If their answer is wages and benefits are eating the funds up, then again I must ask: Why are you using funds for roads for paying employees?  And where else in the world can you decide to spend less making product to pay more wages?  This isn’t the land of Oz, and the union and government employees won’t melt if this year’s contract is less money than last.  We in the private sector have been doing what we do with less and less for the last 5+ years.  In part, so our government and its employees can keep the lifestyle they’ve grown accustomed to, and then some.

I am sick and tired of the attitudes our elected officials are taking with us.  They seem even more emboldened to act dishonorably after the election of late.  I am even more disappointed that people don’t seem to care how much their own money is wasted and will line up to give even more to the bottomless pit we call our government.  I’m no prophet, but I can say with relative certainty that if we continue to remain apathetic to the way we are treated by the media in our country, and by our government that refuses to work for us, soon we will be oppressed like never before in these United States.  History testifies to it, as this isn’t the first time a government has gone in a tyrannical direction.  Actually, the USA is the exception to the rule, and one of the last truly free countries left in the world.

What’s the answer?  I used to think voting, but I believe our system of election has sadly been corrupted to the point it is untrustworthy.  At this point, I believe bringing the deeds of our elected officials to the light of day and not let them set the narrative for what they are doing is a good start.  Throwing out the Republican and Democrat party lines from one’s thought process is another, as it keeps the masses divided sufficiently so the ruling class can do as they want under the guise of whatever cover story they tell to their devotees.  Don’t let peripheral or social issues take our eyes off the goal of making our leaders act in our behalf.  Don’t be afraid to dialog about it, after all it IS important.  If someone says they hate politics, answer “me too, but I don’t like what our government is doing to my kids future”.  What’s more important than our children’s wellbeing?  At this point there lives will be drastically different than ours, not for the better, unless we do something about it. 

Anymore, when I see a news snippet of a politician talking about the need for revenue or the horrific results of reducing even the rate of increase that they spend money, I immediately see a picture of Peter Finch delivering his “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore” lines from the movie “Network”, in the same way adults sound to the cartoon characters in Charlie Brown.  I can see their lips move, but I only hear “I’m mad as hell…”