A 40-Year Wish List – What An Outrage!


Image courtesy of merz_akademie at Flickr.com
Image courtesy of merz_akademie at Flickr.com

I was playing a version of the newlywed game the other night with my wife and some friends when a question was asked of my wife in regards to what career I’d most likely end up in given a choice of only four: a policeman, firefighter, EMT or a politician. I knew right away which one I’d choose if I had no other options, but I regretted that it was so from the very beginning. My wife, knowing me very well, was able to guess it without hesitation. I’d choose to be a politician if I had only those four fields to choose from. Her reasoning for this was, as she said, “because Joseph is a sissy.” (God bless her.)

I loathe politics. As I already mentioned I regretted immediately that out of those four professions I’d eventually choose to be the politician. In all fairness the reason I’d choose a politician over a policeman, firefighter or EMT has to do with my distaste for blood, guns, extreme heat and dangerous situations. Or, as my wife so eloquently put it: because I’m a sissy. So be it.

Let me tell you why I hate politics. Politicians are (generally speaking, of course) the kids who never learned how to get along in grade school. They are the kids who manipulated others around them to get their way. They can be completely self-serving, egotistic and just plain stupid. Before I go too much further, I’d better stop. Let me show you what recently got to me. We’ll kick things off with a quote… from a politician, of course.

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”

That quote is straight from the lips of the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as quoted in November 2008. Obviously he’s referring to the current economic crisis that our nation is facing. Unfortunately Washington politicians (specifically the Democrats) have taken his advice to heart, and used the recently passed stimulus package as their bridge to opportunity.

Before you go any further read A 40-Year Wish List at the Wall Street Journal. That article is the inspiration for this post, and filled with information on all of the small (and not so small) Democratic proposals that were slipped into this so-called stimulus package. Of particular interest:

  • $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in forty years.
  • $2 billion for child care subsidies
  • Only about 5% of the spending in the bill will go toward fixing bridges and other highway-related projects

Unfortunately this stimulus package is probably filled with fluff that won’t actually go toward stimulating anything. Of course there are billions of dollars that will go toward helping the poor or the unemployed (COBRA benefits, food stamps, etc), but overall this package is poorly constructed and not likely to go toward stimulus like it’s been touted. What it really is? A spending package, with a smidgen of stimulus.

That, my friends, is why I don’t like politics… or politicians. Let’s hope I’m never actually forced to choose a career in public service.


One response to “A 40-Year Wish List – What An Outrage!”

  1. I completely agree. In theory, our political system should be elected by the people, to serve the people. In reality, greed and money skew our government so much that it’s just a joke.

    I have another example. I was recently reading in National Geographic how the Bush administration attempted to reconfigure the Endangered Species policies. For over 4 decades now, it has been scientists who get to decide what species get placed on the list- once they are on the list then their habitat obviously gets some pretty good protection. The Bush administration decided that it would be better for the federal government to decide which species were truly endangered. How convenient would that be; the only species worth saving in their eyes would be those with habitats of little economic use. Wow that really ticked me off! Luckily the change did not happen.

    Like you, I have absolutely no stomach for politics!

    Blakes last blog post..Should Parents Pay for College?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *