The Elections
Charlie Reese
I could go on and on, because virtually every program started by government has failed in its objectives or sputtered along in the most ineffective and expensive manner.
There is a simple explanation. Men do not become gods when they are elected to public office. To use the vernacular, "there ain't nobody here but us humans." All humans are fallible. They don't change just because their paycheck comes from the government. People on government payrolls are no more or no less honest, smart, stupid, vain, ambitious, etc., than people in the private sector.
We don't expect either perfection or miracles from the private sector, and we shouldn't expect them from the public sector.
The way to handle a retarded giant is exactly the way our Founding Fathers intended. Keep it simple. Give the government simple tasks, and not many of those. The way to keep it from usurping its legitimate powers is to maintain a divided government.
The only way the people can protect themselves from corruption is to make sure the politicians have nothing to sell. If Congress stuck to its constitutional duties and only to them, there would be no favors it could grant for cash or other goodies. People should read their Constitution. After listing the specific tasks Congress is authorized to do, it does not say "and anything else that might cross your mind."
I don't expect a return of the constitutional republic that Abraham Lincoln destroyed. It would be enough if the American people just realized that elected officials are no smarter than they are, and some of them are a whole lot dumber. There are some people in public office who couldn't run a hot-dog cart.
In the words of a Georgia politician, if you expect government to solve your problems, "You done come to the henhouse looking for wool."
(Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802)
(c) 2006 by King Features Syndicate