elovestea:

Everything you said, I agree totally. But would it be enough?

 

If they would really do it, yes, it would be enough. We've all heard of toilet seats that cost like they were made of pure gold and so many pet projects that we're all paying for. I'd venture to say that the things we know are barely the tip of the iceberg, but those aren't the only things that's causing the problems. Bad judgement and lack of common sense have brought on some problems as well, but I think the main problem this country faces right now is a lack of morals, both in the government and out. 

 

I know here enough examples of govt waste of our tax money to know that they tighten in the wrong areas (hospitals etc)  and blow it in the wrong areas too if they aren't pocketing it. just voted themselves a nice raise because they only make an average salary of $150,000 per year and that ain't right according to them.

My Family's Interests:

I know here enough examples of govt waste of our tax money to know that they tighten in the wrong areas (hospitals etc)  and blow it in the wrong areas too if they aren't pocketing it. just voted themselves a nice raise because they only make an average salary of $150,000 per year and that ain't right according to them.

 

It's the same here, if not worse. Something about being in politics must short circuit the neurons that connect common sense and integrity to reality.  

I've never been enthused about any politician running for office. It's always been a matter of trying to decide which one will do the least amount of damage. So I pick one, hold my nose, and pull the lever.

Some seemingly honest politicians don't give the whole story. Sen. William Proxmire was famous for his "Golden Fleece Awards" and one of them, for example, was an expensive fax machine that (if memory serves) was about $15,000 about fifteen years ago. The true story was that the fax machines were used on bombers to transmit maps at a very high resolution, or level of detail. This was not your ordinary office fax machine.

Now, if you know anything about transmitting pictures, you know that doubling the resolution quadruples the number of pixels (picture elements) that must be transmitted. Since these maps were to be used for targeting purposes they had to be very high resolution indeed! Given the level of detail needed the price tag was not out of line. That was "the rest of the story".

Cutting spending means picking whose spending you're going to cut. Nixon, for example, was all for cutting spending on "welfare bums" which sounds good, unless you're disabled and living on welfare. Yes, some people did know how to "milk the system" and did so, but that does not justify reducing the incomes of those who would starve without it.

Politics is about trying to please all the people all the time and as Lincoln knew, it ain't gonna happen.