BY NORM ROURKE
You can always tell when it’s campaign time. Every candidate has a “plan” that will put America on the track to economic recovery, create more jobs, reduce government spending and solve all our problems.
How many times have we heard this? How many “plans” have we anxiously awaited to be revealed? How many times have we been told these “plans” will be spelled out as soon as the candidate is elected or re-elected?
Why aren’t these wonderful “plans” offered while the candidate is in office? After all, most of them are career politicians who have been warming seats in Congress and the Senate and even the White House for a few years; surely they’ve had opportunities to develop these “plans.” Meanwhile the economy has tanked, unemployment is reaching record highs, government spending [waste] is rampant and more and more government agencies, departments, commissions and other useless stuff are being added.
So where are the great “plans” to correct some of this?
It’s all part of what is known as political campaign chicanery; smoke and mirrors, the old shell game, first you see it, and then you don’t. It’s a grand Ponzi scheme perpetrated by masters of illusion and fakery.
It’s called politics as usual.
In less refined company it’s also called BS, lying, conning and some other things that can’t be printed.
Politicians are masters of the con. Every two or four years, depending on their office, they embark upon the greatest con game ever run on the American people. And in every election year millions of American voters are suckered in just as they were last election. Then after every election American voters bellyache about the worthless fools in Washington who are clueless about the folks back home.
Why do voters return these same con artists to office?
So who’s to blame? Certainly the politicians get their share. But voters who wouldn’t think of voting for someone whose name isn’t familiar to them or for another party share in the blame.
Until voters demand more of those they elect and ask the hard questions at town hall meetings, nothing will change. We should not fear putting the candidate politician on the spot. After all they allegedly represent us and are asking us to keep them employed. We pay their salaries and contribute to their lucrative benefit and retirement portfolios. We also pay for much of their so-called expenses related to the job.
Politicians work for us. We need not be afraid of them. We need not treat them as royalty not to be approached by commoners. We need only to be respectful when they earn our respect. So far, that’s not been the case.
Unfortunately in the past many years, politicians have shown their disrespect of the American people. They have run roughshod over people struggling to hold on to jobs, their homes, and their families. Politicians don’t deal with foreclosures. Politicians don’t stay awake at night wondering where they can find a job. Politicians don’t scrimp, squeeze and sweat over which bills to pay or even if they can pay the bills.
But they have a “plan.”
Indeed they do. Their plan is to continue turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of America and its people begging for leadership. Their plan is to ignore the needs of Americans waking up every day to an uncertain future.
When is it going to stop?
It will stop when Americans get tired of being used as pawns by politicians whose only concern is being re-elected so they can continue living off the rest of us.
Throw the bums out!
– The author lives in Beggs, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
