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...some local governments are upsetting the apple cart by charging fees... |
The World Has Gone Crazy, or at Least the American Part of It Trina L.C. Sonnenberg In a time when there are more people who are poor than rich, when governments are running in the red, and people are suffering for lack of health care, what in the world is going on with our politicians? In an effort to scrape more cash into their coffers, some local governments are upsetting the apple cart by charging fees for things that should be and always have been free. I heard on the news that California is going to beginning charging people hundreds of dollars for using the 911 service. Think about this... Elderly and disabled citizens who already live on limited incomes, are going to have to fork over $300-$400 to call 911 for an emergency. Don't have a heart attack, because you'll pay through the nose to get an ambulance. Not like ambulance services aren't already over priced. (It cost me $900 to take a 3 mile ambulance ride, and all they did for me was inject me with Valium.) Wasn't it bad enough that the president spoke of fining people who didn't get health insurance, even if they couldn't afford it? Now that's adding insult to injury...taking money from people who don't spend money they don't have. I thought that politicians were supposed to be educated, intelligent people. Isn't that what they tell us when running for election? Why is there such a gaping hole between those who have enough to buy insurance and those who qualify for assistance? That's millions of people who are falling through the cracks, and our government doesn't seem to care. The powers that be are not affected by these decisions. They have health insurance and you and I are the ones who pay for it, but we can't afford to insure ourselves? They don't want a tax increase on incomes over $250,000 a year, because that is the income bracket they are in. Why doesn't Congress take a pay cut, if they're so worried about the deficit? Why do we provide former presidents with Secret Service protection after the end of their term? Why are we protecting George W. Bush? (Let someone shoot him.) Why does the president make $400,000 a year, when he has no living expenses? He gets paid, even when his position is terminated. What is up with that? The United States would save a lot of money if the people would actually demand satisfaction. We need to put our collective foot down. I say that they should do what we want, or they are fired! The Declaration of Independence gives We the People, the right to overthrow government if we do not feel that it is operating in the best interest of the people. So why is it that we cow-tow to these men and women in power, when they are not acting in the best interest of the people? Now don't get me wrong... I support our president. I voted for him. It is the other wishy-washy, greedy sots, on the Hill that piss me off. They don't want to play ball. Their self-interest wins out over the people every time. I don't envy him the presidency he inherited either. When Clinton left office there was a surplus of money, enough to fund Social Security for decades to come. Now the coffers are empty. George W. Bush's Sins Against the American People 1 Going to war under false pretenses 2 Cutting taxes while at war. 3 Spending ridiculous amounts of money on an unwinnable war with Iraq 4 Back end profiteering with contractors Thank God he didn't get his way on privatizing Social Security. When the bottom fell out of Wall Street, the elderly would have dried up and blown away. (Funny thing is that those are the very people who elected the idiot in the first place.) So why doesn't the government do something meaningful? I've got lot's of ideas, but who will listen to me? I wrote to the president, but the letter came back unknown address. Since when did 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. ceases to exist? One thing that we could do to re-establish ourselves on the global market place would be to stop importing hemp from China and go back to farming it ourselves. Instead of spending billions on importing hemp, we could be making billions exporting it. Why don't we grow hemp anymore? We became afraid that people would hide marijuana in their fields. How stupid! During the second world war, the United States was the major player in the hemp production business. Now China is. What's wrong with that picture? Imagine the jobs that hemp farming and production would create. Why is our government letting paranoia keep us from doing what is right for the people? What is the hold up on job creation through infrastructure repair? Makes perfect sense to me. Look, the poor outnumber the rich, so the poor should stand up and make themselves heard. Why should the lower income citizens of this country be ruled by the rich? This is not a monarchy, as much as GWB wanted to think it is. Didn't the French Revolution begin as the result of the King (Louis the XIV, I think)wanting to tax the rich? Tax the nobles, not just the poor. Why do the rich seem to have all the votes? This is supposed to be a democracy. There is something very wrong when, a young man of 20 (my son) sits at home with a broken rib, because he has no job and cannot afford to go to the doctor. Furthermore, because of his age, he does not qualify for government assistance. He is over the age of 18. The fact that our wealthy politicians can be swayed by money thrown at them by special interest groups, who have no agenda for the general public benefit, is sickening and We the People should stand up and do something about it. Who runs this country? Those with big bank accounts, that's who. The average citizen is not being represented, regardless of who they voted for. I assert that those in power are self-serving, greedy, and way over self-important. They don't run for office to be of public service, they run for the money, power and prestige. Think about it... When was the last time the government did anything meaningful for the poor people of this country? Still they allow illegal immigrants to live and work here; still they allow people to live in poverty, and they give free money to those who aren't supposed to be here in the first place, and they squabble about who deserves to go to the doctor. The government is supposed to be of the people, for the people, by the people. What the Hell do we have in Congress? Certainly not average people. Our government has become of the rich, for the rich, by the rich. How do they get rich? They run for office, and give our jobs to others. Who should we really blame? Ourselves; for letting this happen. We are the People! We are supposed to be in charge. Our president recognizes the problem and is trying to do something about it, but the wealthy Congressmen fight him every step of the way. Copyright © 2010 The Trii-Zine Ezine About the Author: Trina L.C. Sonnenberg Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276 Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2 |