[sailaway21]

Complaining about politicians is the almost the oldest human activity. The politicians are the one of the most efficient operations in the federal government! Their goal is to get re-elected and, by any measure, they are very successful at it. Oh, you maybe thought their goal was to serve the nation? Well, maybe it is, but re-election often supercedes altruistic goals. And to the extent that re-election trumps altruism, we are getting exactly what we deserve in our politicians. For every zany idea, for every pork barrel project, for every subsidy or entitlement, there is a constituency. "Constituency" is a $5 word that means a bunch of votes in November. The individual voter hates Congress but loves their Congressman. The individual voter's motto is, "after me, you first". Walt Kelly's Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us".

SemiJim makes some excellent points in his explanation of the political differences between the two major partys. The reason I am a conservative is that I tend to vote against anybody who is in favor of the government doing anything. Sounds a bit simple and trite, yes? Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I'm quite sure that the mohair subsidy and the Rural Electrification Commision were somewhat good ideas at the time of passage by Congress, does anyone wonder why they're still around? Jim is entirely correct in stating that legislators are quite good at putting new laws on the books, less so at removing old, un-needed, and harmful ones.

VOTE FOR THE DO-NOTHING CANIDATE! HE'LL DELIVER WHAT HE PROMISES!

Those types of politicians don't get re-elected. During the recent wildfires in California did you see any congressional representatives or senators refuse to fly home because they would be contributing to carbon emissions causing global warming and the Fire Departments were doing all the work with no need for help from some politician who can't consistently burn meat on a grill? Vote for the guy who says, there's nothing we can do, so we'll do nothing. Vote for the guy who says, that's not our job-it's the state's job, or the local government's job, or it's only the individual's job-not government's job.

If you need help from Washington, you've got a problem and the problem isn't Washington. Rake the leaves in your own damn yard, then go help rake your neighbor's yard. Pretty soon all the yards will be raked, without subsidized rakes, imported rakes, regulated rakes, outside labor, rake-related law suits, federal rake regulations and commisions, rake funding for treeless communities, or studies on the environmental impact of using ABS rakes over bamboo rakes. And the whole thing is just about that damn simple.

Every time somebody says, we need to spend money on doing such and such, my answer is, why don't you spend all your money and time on that if it's a worthy goal? The response is, I don't have the time or the money to do that. The answer should be, we don't either or, what makes you think the rest of us do either?