Trust Me

It's not that I don't trust President Obama.  I don't trust any of our political leaders.

Modern politics has it set up so that politicians are more concerned with their donors than they are with the concerns of the voters.

They have to be.  The donors fund the ever increasingly expensive campaigns that these people must run in order to be competitive.

Millions and millions of dollars are spent every cycle for television and transportation and staff.  The politicians are constantly hustling the next fat cat to extract some scratch.

The fat cat, in turn, expects his due once the politician is elected.  He expects his interests to be served by the politician he helped elect.

Gone seem to be the days when men (and women...) went into public office to serve the people and the greater interests of the country as a whole.

In the old days, it seems, politicians saw public service as a duty, one whose rewards were in the passage of meaningful legislation that benefited the citizens or casting a deciding vote to stay out of, or participate in, a just war.

Politicians of old were orators and statesmen and men (and women...) of honor and ethics.

I challenge you to find any Senator or Congressman today who possesses the qualities of the legislative heroes of our past.

Do we have a contemporary Washington or Jefferson or Lincoln or Roosevelt?  Do we have an Aaron Burr or Everett Dirksen or Claire Boothe Luce?

Are any of the stewards of our government called to service because they see it as the highest calling and an honor unto itself?

Hell no!  They see public office as a retirement plan designed to create a lifestyle unknown to most Americans. 

Free health insurance, individualized police protection, transportation, retirement packages.  The list goes on...

The revolving door of Washington politics not only ensures boatloads of money during but also decidedly after one's term(s) in office.

They all tell us what we what to hear just to get elected and then they either do whatever they want or the bidding of their patrons, or should I say "puppetmasters."

They have the same honor that thieves supposedly have.  To themselves and their "families."

Trust me...