http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2011/04/10/opinion/doc4da14dae73d6a227750872.txtNeal White
Editor
“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
— Walt Kelly
It is difficult not to be frustrated with both the actions and inactions of our government officials. It seems that regardless of which political party is in power, little seems to change.
I don’t know if Albert Einstein had politics in mind when he defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, but it sure fits the way things are going in both Washington, D.C., and Austin.
The problem is, we keep electing these yahoos into office. In too many cases, over and over again.
Only a brave few are willing to tell us the truth. It’s not prudent to their re-election campaign, nor the lobbyists who fund those campaigns or the special interest groups who they owe special favors in return for the special favors they were granted in advance, to be called in at a point down the road.
Are we really that gullible to believe all the tripe that is dished out on the campaign trail?
Case in point, during last year’s Texas gubernatorial campaign, incumbent Rick Perry was often quoted telling everyone there was no financial crisis in Texas and things were so good, the state actually had a budget surplus.
After the election, it turns out Gov. Perry’s math wasn’t so good and now we have a $23 billion shortfall to fund our state government for the next two years.
Perry tells us he is willing to share in our pain. In his Feb. 8 address, Perry stated: “My office is an agency as well, and we cut $34.6 million in this cycle, which equates to almost 11 percent of our budget. As all Texans tighten their belts, we need to do more than just shave off a dollar here and there.”
If you just took the sound bite at face value, you would think the governor was being most magnanimous — unless you did the math. An 11 percent cut of $34.6 million means his office has a biennial budget of $314.5 million.
Really? I know the governor has an important job, but isn’t it a little obscene for a single elected official to have an annual budget of more than $157 million a year? Instead of shaving off a dollar here and there, Perry’s remarks would have sounded more sincere if he would have offered to shave more than a dollar.
In a perfectly honest world, it would have been refreshing had Perry made more substantial cuts to his office, followed by the statement he had more than enough money to fund his projects from the lobbyists and special interests groups who profit from his “Texas is open for business” movement.
Instead of telling us what we want to hear in order to get elected, why not just tell us the truth?
What’s wrong with telling us we’re spending more money than we’re taking in because our bureaucracies have gotten too large — including the fact our governor gets an annual allowance of more than $157 million. By the way, in what alternate universe is it OK to spend $10,000 a month on a rental house for the governor when the majority of Texans are living hand-to-mouth trying to keep their homes out of foreclosure?
It is one thing to ask our schools to tighten their belts, but having to lay off teachers would be a much easier pill to swallow if our governor wasn’t living the high life while we’re forced to hand out the pink slips.
But it’s OK, we’re not going to spend any of our state’s Rainy Day Fund.
If this isn’t a rainy day, what is?
And if we’re not spending the set aside cache of taxpayer surplus to help reduce the current budget shortfall, then why is the state taking more of our money than it needs? If that’s the case, I want my money back.
The situation is even worse in Washington.
Faced with a multi-trillion dollar deficit, our elected leaders were prepared to shut down government because the Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree on how much deficit spending to cut. And while a compromise was reached at the 11th hour, members of our military, among other government employees, would have gone without paychecks until the impasse was resolved.
But don’t worry, our elected representatives in Congress and the president would have still been paid, so it’s OK.
And we keep on buying this?
Enough is enough.
How gullible are we?
We’re spending billions of dollars to send our men and women into harm’s way to countries that don’t want us there. Yet the politicians justify their actions by telling us our sacrifice is needed to bring democracy to an unstable region.
And we buy that?
If our military engagements — which are actually supposed to be limited to declarations of war from Congress — were purely for restoring peace and democracy to unstabilized parts of the world, we would have been in Africa decades ago.
No region in the world needs more help — both military and humanitarian — than does the continent of Africa.
Yet we continue to turn a blind eye as thousands die every day from famine, disease and bloodthirsty tyrants.
Why?
Because they don’t have any resources we can exploit.
Just once I want to hear a congressman, senator or even our president say the real reason our troops are in the Middle East is because of oil. And the reason the region is in turmoil is because the people have finally had enough of the tyrants we put in power so we could continue to control that oil.
Just once, tell us the truth.
Tell us the real reason no one in Washington has figured out a way to meet our nation’s energy demands without heavy reliance on foreign oil. It isn’t because we lack a creative solution, it’s because it is more profitable for the giant oil corporations who funnel money into our elected officials’ campaign chests year after year after year.
If it were truly a matter of national security, there is a military solution to the problem. It’s not pretty and not pleasant, but any combat veteran will tell you there is nothing pretty or pleasant about war.
Instead of telling us we are making progress after a decade of war against an enemy that’s not bound by geographic borders, tell us the real reason we need to be afraid.
Could it be that having a boogeyman to fuel our fears makes it so much easier to pass legislation that robs us of our basic rights and freedoms as Americans, with each new law giving our government more control of what we can do, what we can say and how we are supposed to live?
It would also be refreshing if they openly acknowledged that Halliburton and a few other government contractors are making a fortune at the expense of the taxpayers. And in the interest of full disclosure, let’s not forget about their campaign contributions, kickbacks and favors.
Do our government officials really thing we’re that stupid?
Just tell us the truth.
We can take it.
But then again, all they have to lose by telling the truth is an informed electorate.
We should be so lucky.
Instead, the few who do vote keep on electing people who do the same thing over and over again and we keep getting the same results.
Perhaps cartoonist Walt Kelly was right when he penned, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Neal White is the Editor of Waxahachie Newspapers Inc. Contact Neal at neal.white@wninews.com or 469-517-1457.
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