An email from my brother, who usually doesn't send stuff like this

"545 vs. 300,000,000 People

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems
and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits,
WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes,
WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget.

The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.

The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve ...does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices
equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally,
and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board
because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913,
Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency
to a federally chartered, but private, central bnak.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.

They have no legal authority.

They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President
to do one cotton-picking thing.

I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.

The politician has the power to accept or reject it.

No matter what the lobbyist promises,
it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you
that what they did is not their fault.

They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.

No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker,
who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

...Who is the speaker of the House now? He is the leader of the majority party.

He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want.

If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people
who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people
exercise the power of the federal government,
then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan
it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan
not available to the people,
it's because they want it that way.

...Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats,
whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish;
to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject;
to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate
and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief
that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics"
that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

...They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.