The Politician and the Tax-Payer

There can be no doubt we live in a chaotic period in history.  Everyone knows we’re facing debt and spending crises, job loss, and higher prices from the gas pump to the grocery store.  We’ve known about these things for a while, we’ve elected representatives with the hopes of seeing meaningful action.  This is what’s actually been going on:

Montana has made a number of startling proposals.  Republican politicians there have decided there should be a six-week waiting period for divorce.  Some think there should be an 11-person committee who can veto any federal law.  Hunting with spears or silencers has apparently been illegal for far too long.  Some have called for Montana to secede from the Union, and another proposal called for the creation of a state militia to repel invaders.

Utah wants to require acceptance of gold and silver as legal tender (a 7-11 burrito would run roughly 6/100ths of a gram in gold).

Some state representatives are making proposals designed to mock the health care law that requires Americans buy insurance.  A bill in South Dakota would require adults to carry a firearm.  A bill in Georgia would no longer require drivers to posess a valid driver’s license, claiming that driving is an ‘inalienable right’.

These outlandish responses from our elected representatives aren’t confined to individual states.  On the federal level, lawmakers proposed the closing of local Poison Control centers throughout the country.

It should be noted that Poison Control’s functionality isn’t limited to nervous parents and their children.  Doctors and hospitals often rely on information that Poison Control can provide.  Police also contact Poison Control when dealing with drugged suspects or find unlabled pills.  Many people who contact Poison Control find out they don’t have to go to a hospital, reducing the number of unnecessary ER visits.  Still, the savings would equal $27 million.

Some opposition to this bill states that, with a $14 trillion debt, $27 million in savings isn’t worth pursuing.  I disagree with that statement.  Regular Americans who have had to budget their finances recognize that making small cuts here and there can add up to big savings overall.  However, we take fewer visits to restaraunts before we stop buying food.  We turn off the cable TV, going from several hundred channels to only a handful, before we turn off the lights and the phones.  We understand that it’s not just about cutting a little here and a little there, it’s not just about reducing spending at any cost.  We understand that we have to examine priority before something is eliminated.

The Representatives who support this bill currently draw salary, individually, four times the income of the average Oklahoma household.  If the salaries of Congress and the Senate were examined and reduced by only 25-30% (bringing them to roughly only three times the income of an Oklahoma household), the cuts would roughly equal the $27 million our government is so desperate to save.

Our congressman, James Lankford of Oklahoma’s 5th District, is one of those Representatives.  To quote Representative Lankford:  “The key here is we’re $14 Trillion in debt, and as the Federal Government we can consistently say ‘Well, we can’t cut anywhere and everything’s important,” and I understand everything’s important, but we’ve also got to be able to deal with our debt and with what’s the right thing for the next generation”

So why is it that our polticians, in the middle of financial crisis, waste time with ridiculous proposals?  Why do our politicians think we can do without things like local Poison Control centers before we address government mismanagement?  Most in Washington readily admit the government spends too much money on itself, with high salaries and mismanaged or redundant agencies, so why are things like public broadcasting and local Poison Control first on the chopping block?

Politicians have lost touch with regular Americans.  James Lankford has, in a very short time in office, overlooked the tax-payer in preference to Washington’s business-as-usual.  Politicians across the country are fighting deeply ideological fights rather than searching for meaningful solutions.  One side launches volleys against the other, and the American tax-payer is caught in the crossfire.

This has got to stop.

Meetings, Face to Face!

Tonight I held my first town hall meeting and, though the turnout was a bit sparse, many things were discussed.  I want to start by thanking those who have shown interest up to now.  I’ve gotten suggestions from folks in Jones how to get my name out there a bit more and already expect more and more to attend additional meetings.  Tonight we talked about government spending, the two-party system, and the business-as-usual in Washington.  I’ll cover some details of the conversations here.

To begin, we talked a bit about the Modern Whig Party and how it came to be.  To give a bit of Whig history in America, American Patriots who supported the war for independence against Great Britain were known as Whigs.  These Patriot Whigs would form the leadership that declared the United States a free and independent nation in 1776.  In the early 1830’s, opposition to President Andrew Jackson’s policies of increased executive power led to the first fully organized party system consisting of Jackson’s Democrats and the opposing Whigs.  In volatile years just prior to the civil war, the polarizing nature of issues like slavery in this country marked the end of the Whig Party, as Southern Whigs joined the Democrats and Northern Whigs joined the Republicans.

In the 21st century the Whig Party has experienced a revival.  It began in the deserts of Iraq, and the mountains of Afghanistan, with our men and women in uniform.  They were dissatisfied with the deep divides between Democrats and Republicans.  The Modern Whig Party was organized as a national party in 2007, with many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as its founding members.

So why is this important?  Let’s look at the history of the two party system.  Andrew Jackson’s policies of executive overreach sparked fierce opposition and helped give rise to opposing parties.  In the mid 1800’s, the Whigs split off to join the Republicans and Democrats as deep ideological divides plunged this country into civil war.  And now, today, we find ourselves torn between two warring factions.

We don’t have to look far back for examples.  During the Bush Administration, the Democrats fiercely opposed many Republican efforts.  This wasn’t any different, though, than we had come to expect from our two-party system.  After President Bush left office, many Americans were dissatisfied with the Republican Party, and many Democrats were elected to the House and Senate, giving them majority numbers, and we elected a Democratic President.  We were promised change and, as a nation, we wanted it.

The Democrats realized they had an opportunity to push through their own agendas for a change, despite any Republican objection, and they jumped at the chance.  Wild spending and far-reaching legislation started slowly but quickly gained momentum.  A twenty-four hundred page health care bill was rushed through the House by the Democrats, going unread by almost everyone.  This was seen by many as little more than the pursuit of Party agenda for the Dems, and a strike against the Republicans.  The lack of understanding of this legislation and the prior wild spending once again led Americans to dissatisfaction with the Democrats just as they had with the Republicans only two years earlier.  So when election season rolled around, many democrats were voted out of office and replaced with Republican politicians once again.  The Reps had told us all they understood what Americans wanted.  They told us that, while some issues would be steadfast, a new era of ‘reaching across the aisle’ in ‘cooperation’ was necessary to solve our problems.  We were promised change.

But here’s the thing about it…  across this country, and particularly here in Oklahoma, voters were polled.  The general consensus?  “I didn’t vote Republican.  I voted against the Democrats.”  Americans weren’t happy with either choice but we were only presented with the same old option we’ve all heard, the ‘lesser of two evils.’

We did what we thought was best, given the choices, and hoped we made the right decision.  Immediately the trenches were dug.  The House voted to repeal the twenty-four hundred page health care law, an act that would cost the American tax-payer near a quarter trillion dollars, with no plans or provisions with which to replace the legislation.  Rather than ‘reach across the aisle’, read the bill and find ways to improve upon it or avert any negative consequences, they instead spent valuable time digging their heels in and demanding the law be pulled out by the roots.  Despite knowing such a repeal would never make it through the Senate, they focused more on this strike against the Democrats, this statement against the health care law.  When our financial situation and our health care demanded meaningful action, the Republicans chose to reject dialogue and fight an ideological fight at the expense of tax-paying citizens like us.

At this time, I’d like to post a quote from George Washington’s farewell address, warning of a party system like ours:  “I have already intimated to you the dangers….It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another…”

Sound familiar?  From the beginning of the two-party system in this country, the common threads throughout that system are conflict, animosity and revenge.  It distracts our legislators today from the tasks at hand.

It’s this very reason why the Modern Whig Party is important, today.  When two warring factions begin digging in and fighting such deeply divisive ideological fights, a third party is extremely valuable.  These are the mediators, the bridge builders, the diplomats.  It’s this outside perspective that helps put an end to the fighting.

So how can this be put into practice today?  Let’s examine cuts in government spending.  Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to ‘defund’ National Public Radio.  NPR, and local stations who play NPR content, bring us programs that give us factual news or educate and uplift.  Public broadcasting in general provides an avenue of education for our children.  That being said, believe it or not, I’m not opposed to defunding NPR.

The proposed cuts amounted to less than a hundred million dollars.  The argument was made by the opposition that such money was small potatoes in the grand scheme of our spending crisis.  The supporters argued that every little bit helps, and that only in Washington would people think of a hundred million dollars as a pitifully small amount of money.  I tend to agree with this assessment.  As a regular Oklahoman who has had to budget his finances, I understand the value of shaving off a little here and a little there to make a larger impact overall.

I’m forced, however, to ask why educational and uplifting content is on the chopping block before some other things.  The government spends outrageous amounts of money on itself, and admits that much of it could be consolidated or even done away with altogether.  Our elected representatives, individually, make four times the average household income in Oklahoma (just a side note, if congressional salaries were reduced by just 25%, it would represent a savings of over nineteen million dollars.)

It seems to me that cutting spending from mismanaged government agencies, examining high government salaries, and addressing other such problems should come before eliminating anything that reduces the availability of educational content or opportunity..  Putting any level of added burden on the American people should come second to addressing government mismanagement.

It’s time to hold our government responsible.  It’s time to stop the petty bickering and start implementing common sense solutions.  It’s time to end the combative atmosphere and replace it with one of open discussion, research and compromise.  It’s time to let the American people fix what our politicians have damaged.  It’s become obvious they won’t do it, themselves.

I hope to see more of you in the coming weeks, I’ll soon be posting the time and location of another town hall meeting.  If you haven’t already, friend me on facebook!  I’d love to hear your concerns and comments and suggestions on how to improve your government.

Keep It Coming!

First, I want to apologize for the delay in my posting this week.  It’s been hectic to say the least.

I wanted to take a moment once again to thank the growing support I’ve met in the last couple of weeks.  I speak with someone new every day.  Discussing your concerns and hearing your input is vital to this process, and the way our government should function, and I’m excited to see so many who are eager to contribute.

Something I’ve heard quite a bit are statements like “My dad would love talking with you,” or “You should talk to a friend of mine!”  Nothing would make me happier.  I’m doing my best to get out there and meet everyone, but I’d appreciate all the help I can get.  If you’re following this blog and you know like-minded people, please feel free to share links to my pages.  I welcome the opportunities to meet new people and discuss our government.

Also, the messages and comments and responses to my posts have started coming in.  Thank you all, and keep it up!  With e-mail (martin4congress@gmail.com) and facebook, I’m available to discuss issues that are important to you with a pretty quick response time.

As a reminder, and on the subject of meeting people, I’m hosting a meeting at Rooster’s Cafe in Jones on Thursday the 17th.  I’ll be there from 6:30PM to 8:00PM.

Thanks again, to everyone, and I’m glad I have you in my corner!

Lastly, my thoughts are with the people of Japan.  Currently, my mother and sister are near Tokyo, and I had the opportunity to speak with them this morning (they’re fine.)  Here’s hoping that things return to normal swiftly for everyone effected.

It Begins!

As promised, the first date and location for a local meeting has been set!

I’ll be at Rooster’s Cafe in Jones on Thursday, March 17th, from 6:30PM to 8:00PM, in the banquet room.  You can see a map here.   Just exit Britton Rd. from I-35 and head east.  Pass Westminster and take a right into the parking lot just before Hiwassee Rd.

We’ll be discussing the concerns of local Oklahomans, my campaign platform, and getting to know each other in general.

I’ll also be posting notes on the discussions held at these public meetings here, on my facebook page, and my twitter account.  I hope you’ll stay tuned as I begin this process.  It’s an exciting time for me, and I’m looking forward to taking these first steps with you.