545 people are responsible

My sister forwarded an email suggesting I might like to blog about it. It claims to be the final column Charley Reese wrote for the Orlando Sentinel.

The first part says such things as “Completely Neutral,” and “Great read,” and “Worth the time,” and “Be sure to read all the way to the end.” Those parts seem to be from someone forwarding the email who added breathless encouragement to get the receiver to read and act. These phrases make me wary.

So after reading it I went directly to Snopes, the site devoted to debunking stuff floating around the internet. I searched for Charley Reese and found and article about this email. It said:

Yes, the core of it was written by Charley Reese. Yes, he wrote for the Orlando Sentinel.

No, it was not his last column. The first version was written in the early 1980s. It was revised and run again in 1985 and 1995 and likely several other times. It was updated in 2008 for such things as the current Speaker of the House. There was a different last column in August 2008 when Reese retired. He died in 2013.

Yes, various people have attached additional material to the beginning and end. So, not all of the email I received was written by Reese.

Here are a few excerpts from the 1985 version (the one Snopes quotes):

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why if all politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don’t have Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy. Congress does. …

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices — 545 human beings out of 235 million — are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

The population of America was 235 million in 1985. It is 323 million now. There are still only 100 senators, 435 representatives, 9 justices, and one president.

Don’t you see the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
…
Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. They and they alone should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses — provided they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

The last paragraph I quoted is, I’m pretty sure, the end of Reese’s article. It is good to be reminded that when GOP lawmakers (the ones controlling things at the moment) wail there is nothing they can do this is the game they are playing.

I suspect the rest of the email my sister sent is by other people, pushing their own agendas. There are two such agendas to mention.

The first is plea to throw the bums out, the whole lot of them! Yeah, there are a great number of Congresscritters I would want to get rid of. But I definitely want to keep a few, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Sen. Al Franken.

As for Michigan’s senators, Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both Democrats, if I threw them out – voted against them – who would I get instead? There aren’t many Democrats wanting to run against such established figures. So, to throw out Stabenow I should vote for a Republican? Nope.

The second idea piggybacking on Reese’s writings is the idea that all taxes are bad. The email lists all the taxes that have been implemented in the last 100 years. There are, indeed, a lot of them.

But taxes pay for things that benefit my life and are important to me. Taxes pay for things we as a society hold in common. Good schools so the next generation is well educated. Good roads and other infrastructure. An internet where all may speak. City, county, state, and national parks – areas set aside for natural beauty, recreation, or perhaps simply allowed to be wild. Emergency management. Regulations and enforcers to keep our water clean, air pure, food safe, and bankers from fleecing us. A health system for my old age (wish it was broader than that). A retirement system so I and others can retire and not be impoverished. Workers cared for when injured on the job. A basic social safety net (which, alas, has some pretty big holes right now). The list is long.

I don’t mind paying taxes. I get a lot of benefit from them. However, I do mind when I don’t receive benefit from my tax and the society as a whole doesn’t either. I mind when the tax system is rigged to draw money out of the poor to hand it to those already rich (which the upcoming Congressional “tax reform” is all about). I’m pretty sure that’s what annoys most taxpayers who take their annoyance out on taxes instead of misused taxes.