Who wields the power in this country? I ask this question because the answer to it rests in the midterm elections. Traditionally the average Jane and Joe look at midterm elections and yawn. They live in a world where those yielding the power, the true power, never really declare it. Instead they along with a compliant media work diligently to convince us that the power resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The person sitting behind that desk in the Oval Office is the warmonger, the big spender and the person responsible for everything that both plagues and blesses us. No, it isn't the President who has all the power.
You see the President does not set a budget, he submits a recommendation for one. The President does not have a checkbook, he just signs the checks handed to him. He does not have reams of fancy parchment that he writes legislation on only to turn around and sign it. The President does not have constitutional authority to set appropriations. He can’t unilaterally level a new tax or change tax policy. The President doesn’t have control over our monetary system. The President until recently didn’t have the authority to enter us into a war. So, who does posses all these powers, all the keys that drive this country? If you were to ask most people to assign a number to who is the most powerful person they would say 1, I say the number is more like 535. So who are these 535 people you might ask and why is voting in midterm elections so important?
Well, 100 of them are United States Senators, 435 are the men and women of the United States Congress. These are the individuals who wield the power. These are the people with the checkbook. These are the people who design and ultimately write legislation, craft regulatory authority and tax policies. These are the people who give a President authority to wage war and who recently acquiesced that power to the President. If you don't like lobbyists peddling dark money don't blame the corporation or special interest groups blame the people who take the money and then write the laws. These 535 people create problems and then they have the temerity to campaign against the very problems they create. To a person these 535 people will tell you that they are against poverty, yet we still have poverty. They will tell you that they are against running the government at a deficit, yet we have an annual debt that that feeds a national debt is exponentially exploding. It is inconceivable to me that there are individuals sitting in both houses s reelected year after year always promising to fix Washington yet Washington is more broken than ever.
Here is the truth, if you don't like Obama-care, blame the 535. If you don't like budget deficits and an exploding national debt, blame the 535. If you don't like the government being the single largest employer in the United States, blame the535. If you don't like the direction this country his going in terms of unemployment, spending, immigration, taxes, war, social issues etc. then it is time you understood exactly who has the power to effect change. Currently there are 535 people who are running this country into the ground. Those who profess to be conservatives are attempting to convince those of you who will vote that this is a referendum election against the President. Those who are liberal are spending their time pointing the finger of blame at their counterparts while simultaneously running away from the President. Why, because if they succeed at diverting attention away from their failed time as our elected representatives they perpetuate their power through our collective inaction and ignorance.
The solution is to elect 535 people that reflect our country and their constituents. 535 people who will defend the constitution and not try and outsmart it and dumb it down. 535 people who can come together in a loud voice with a resolute purpose to hand the President legislation to sign that makes this country better. It is time for the 535 to serve the people rather than hiding in the shadows serving their own interests. Midterm elections are not a yawning affair, they are a very important piece of our electoral politics and sitting on the sidelines is not acceptable. Please go and vote Tuesday November 4th. Of course that is just my take.