Posted on 06/26/2015 12:53:56 PM PDT by Jacquerie
How often at your workplace have you held your tongue out of fear of saying something that could get you fired? Are you willing to put your principles ahead of your income or pension or do you regularly “suck it up,” and save your muttering until you get home?
Everyone looks out for their interests. Read that again. You and I and everyone else naturally try to do that which best serves ourselves and families. It is called human nature and it has served mankind well since the Creation.
Our politicians are no different. They can’t be different, for as fellow human beings they are as imperfect as the rest of mankind.
Rare are the men/women who willingly risk all for free government principles. One exception is Michele Bachmann. I suspect she and her husband are still up to their eyeballs in debt because she wouldn’t cave to Speaker Boehner. Michele and Mr. Bachmann are the rare and notable exceptions.
Freeper posts overflow with diatribes against rinos, meaning those who campaign on conservative principles and soon go to the dark side and either do nothing to stop the accelerating tyranny or actually promote it.
First, we must understand that most of the chosen 435 of the House of Reps had to claw, grasp, climb their way up from humble beginnings. Does that sound familiar? Didn’t you have to do the same to achieve your level of success? They had to eat many a cr@p sandwich as they endured endless boring time on local school boards and county commissions and dealt with petty complaints from unreasonable constituents.
They are now in the House of Reps and they “made it.” In this heady environment most congressmen think they should be senators and most senators believe they should be president.
What happens to these otherwise good and upstanding people? Like anyone else, they respond in varying degrees to their (corrupt) surroundings. Go along to get along with party leadership and lots of extra power, money . . . are nearly guaranteed. They know their every public move and word is recorded and can be posted to the internet at any time. MSNBC, Politico, Salon, etc, are poised to exploit any unguarded moments. In this environment it makes perfect sense to shut up and avoid all controversy in and out of congress.
Despite the rhetoric at FreeRepublic, freepers themselves would respond in the same manner, and conduct themselves so as to continue their ascent in so-called public service. It is human nature. What you and I do in our workplaces is little different from the behavior of our politicians. It cannot be any other way!
We can admonish pubbies to stand up for the constitution all day and night. We can beat up rinos and blame them for the accelerating tyranny. It feels good. I occasionally take part in the sport myself. However, if we are to peacefully restore our previously FreeRepublic, we must come to grips as our Framers did with the fact that men respond to passion and self-interest far more often than reason. No matter where, in or out of government, personal aggrandizement trumps the greater good almost every time.
Since passions rule, how can they be turned toward the greater good? How can they be directed toward one of the declared purposes of our government, the general welfare?
Whattabunchacrap.
While working as a government contractor twenty years ago I remarked that democrats shouldn't be eligible for security clearances.
My boss was within earshot. I found out later on, after I was let go, that he was the leader of a La Raza type group during his college years.
Cry me a river.
Next time, please take the time to read my entire post.
Yeah, it kind of stinks to realize that in our republic we send fellow Americans, no different than anyone else to DC.
Congress is subject to global forces, and is stuck with a vast domestic bureaucratic machine of its (Congress's) creation. When one "gets in," it's like getting a job as foreman in a major corporation. There is no way on God's green earth that you are going to change the corporation. Not even if all the foremen pulled in the same direction. Either those bosses (hidden in politics) or the workers (the bureaucrats) will torpedo the efforts.
Getting into politics is a good gig because the pay is okay, the graft potential is enormous, and the retirement benefits are unbeatable. Going into federal politics with the goal being to reducxe the federal machine? That's Pollyanna.
Elaborate your crap. With what do you disagree? The title?
Our republic is on the cusp of hard tyranny, and no one so far has bothered to answer my question.
You’ve got a lousy outlook on life and your fellow citizens and you picked a bad day to ventilate it.
Go back to your home page and re-read some of the things you posted there.
Stand up, get up on your hind legs!
Stop whining, start getting angry and help us elect conservatives to office to replace the CINO `taints you try to defend here.
I tried to answer one of your questions. “What happens to these otherwise good and upstanding people?”
The Founders and Framers had their backs against the wall and rose to the occasion. Absent the turmoil we would never know the names of Hancock, Sherman, Chase . . .
Press your state legislators for an Article V state amendment convention. Other, currently unknown Americans will also rise to the occasion and address our awful situation.
Spare me your ignorant BS.
Our situation is beyond the reach of elections. Only an Article V state amendment convention can save America and probably western civilization.
I already do express my desire for Article V. I think it’s the only way left at this point in time.
My point is that while today’s Congressman may have come from humble beginnings, those who created our Republic had it far, far harder. They faced real consequences — not the least of which was loss of their very lives — and it didn’t faze them. I simply do not buy the argument that places today’s politicians on anything like the same plane.
I did. I reject your ideas. We deserve better. We have had better in the past. I heard calls on Obamatrade were 30 to 1 against, and the rinos you are asking me to tolerate ignored their constituents. You may be OK with that, I am not.
Tough one. Revolutions in human liberty generally come when the elites see their interests benefitted with the accident that liberty for all grows.
We’re winning on guns and abortion, despite terrible rulings out of SCOTUS and the near total control of schools and the media by liberals. How were those two fights won?
You can get fired from elected office. Just ask Eric Cantor.
Article V. Okay.
I never equated today’s pols with our framers. I do equate them with our fellow Americans. They are as human as we are and subject to the same temptations.
It is silly to expect them to conduct themselves as saints on earth.
No, what really happened was that American elites saw their interests as better served without Britain’s control, than with it. Liberty was born by accident of history and God’s grace.
He’s simply stating the obvious. Everyone acts out of self-interest. Being a pseudonymous FReepers affords us some anonymity to act out, but in real life we cannot always get away with that.
If you answer, please include your real name, real home address, real email and real phone number. ;-]
Once upon a time a group of men risked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for what was right. But you’re right, even back then most people just wanted to go along and get along.
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