The government has been hijacked.

As I learned in elementary school, the legislative branch is responsible for creating laws.  Given our representative system, this should mean that laws enacted reflect the will of the majority.  Let’s check the math: 4 people want the law + 1 person against the law = law passes. 

The system breaks down when those in Washington D.C. stop representing their constituents.  This is happening now with the Stimulus Bill or else why would Congress race to pass it when popular support is plummeting?  Somehow Congress thinks a $789.5B mistake is what everyone wants instead of a $0 mistake (no bill).  And since Obama and Geithner are now openly talking about requesting additional funds this year, we are not looking at a $1 trillion dollar deficit this year… we are looking at $2 trillion.  Is this really what anyone wants?  (Side note: Wouldn’t the cost will be less if we just let the economy correct itself without government intervention?)     

Let’s do another analysis – have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s efforts gone toward advancing the interests of her constituents?  1) In the first war funding bill she proposed $74 million for peanut storage.  2) In a recent interview, she defended the $300 million in the stimulus for birth control funding as a “cost savings” to state governments. 3) In her first year in her new leadership role, she failed to get an appropriations bill through Congress until November. 4) Remember her rousing support speech before the vote on the first $700B bailout?  “Democrats believe in a free market…  But in this case, in its unbridled form as encouraged, supported by the Republicans, it has created not jobs, not capital, it has created chaos.”  Hmm, didn’t the vote fail?   

Personally, I believe the lack of representation is the cause of the frustration and hopelessness that many Americans feel.  How else do you explain the record low approval ratings? 

Stay tuned for the judicial and executive branches…

Last 3 posts by Eric B.

• Nassim Taleb on the Economy - June 25th, 2010
• Full Circle - May 3rd, 2010
• The Dark Side :) - April 5th, 2010