Rubber Washers **Old Post from 8-07**

I know that there are alot of people that get involved in public service (politics) for the right reasons. There are some that do this because they are tired of the way things are being done. I do think it's noble. It's probably one of the toughest things to do is to do the right thing when everybody wants you to do what they want you to do. I know that with public service, it is impossible to please everyone. It's useless to try. An elected officials need to follow their own conscience because it is never going to be right to try to please segments of the population. Maybe that is what is wrong now. Everybody thinks our leaders are only in office to please us instead of leading us. They are too busy trying to figure out what is the best way to piss off the least amount of people that they stop becoming leaders and become politicians. Politicians that follow party lines and depend on polls to see how they should do their job. Everything is scripted. All votes in congress are pretty much transparent. There are so many leftys and so many rightys. Very little is ever left to their conscience. Their vote isn't a noble act for our betterment anymore but it's a calculated precision act for power. See if they don't vote the party line, then their party will not finance their next campaign. If they don't vote the party line, then their special interest groups will not funnel money into their bank accounts and help finance their next campaign. So most of their decisions are scripted their whole time in office. There is little left to chance. And until there is something done, it will stay this way. Until WE THE PEOPLE get tired of this, it will stay this way because our elected officials will not police themselves. It's not in their perceived best interest.
I know that some people may be wondering what set me off on this. Well I'll tell ya....I read where 2 rubber gaskets (washers) were shipped overseas. For these 2 items, the government was charged almost a million dollars. FOR 2 items that were not for an emergency or anything like that, and were so small and light, you could hold them in the palm of your hand. How can this happen? Think of the stuff that could be accomplished with a million dollars. Think of the people that it could help. This is messed up. There is no excuse for this. NONE. But this is just one of many examples of an inept government lead by politicians. The billions of dollars that was set aside for the gulf coast after Katrina doesn't seem to find the people that need it. It's found local, state and federal officials; but few if any Katrina survivors. It has financed construction but for Gulf front and River front properties. It's financed casinos, hotels, golf courses, resorts, and the big million dollar homes but it has done little for the average person. The average person doesn't matter that much in the run of things. If their home is a tent, a little camper trailer, or a toxic mold infested house; our elected officials seem to care little about it. But they got their 2 rubber gaskets delivered. It's nice that our government has it's priorities in the right place. Things just keep going with no one watching what is happening. Everybody is too busy to care anymore.
To me, it seems that this (politics) is all just a big game. There are all of these different sides to the game. Power is swapped around, alliances are made and broken, promises are kept and broken at the expense of the average person, and the rules are made up as the game goes along. The game revolves around gaining power by pitting us against ourselves. We are inexpensive pawns, easy to forget, easy to manipulate, and sacrificed at the first sign of trouble. And in this game we think we are in control of the players but in reality, the players are in control at all times. I guess that is the beauty of the game, we don't know or even care we are being played.