No one likes Congress. We’ve all heard the comments.
“Congress is corrupt.”
“Poli-tics: many-blood sucking leeches.”
“If ‘con’ is the opposite of ‘pro’, what’s the opposite of progress? Congress!”
In my mind I’m thinking, “yeah, but those are just exaggerations.” Well, I think I just lost all hope in the system. Have you ever heard of Ben Nelson? He’s a senator from Nebraska, a Democrat. This gentleman sold his vote to invoke cloture, the one thing that will end a filibuster in the United States Senate.
~a little background info~
After a bill passes the House of Representatives, it goes to the Senate. The US Senate has a tradition of unlimited debate, meaning the minority party can keep debate going to prevent a vote, also known as a filibuster. To combat this, is something called cloture, and to “invoke cloture” there must be a 60% vote, which then results in a vote on the bill itself. There are 100 seats in the senate (2 from all 50 states), so 60% is 60 votes. Easy enough. The Democrats want the health care bill to pass the Senate. In order to vote to end debate to vote on the actual bill, they needed that 60%. They had 59%, and needed another.
~Entrance, Senator Nelson~
Mr. Nelson, a man elected to represent the people of Nebraska and their needs, made a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. A deal – an exchange – that sounds a whole lot like a sale to me…the sale of a vote. If Nelson votes with the other Democrats to end the filibuster and go ahead and vote on the bill, Reid consented that the Medicaid expansion expenses for the state of Nebraska would be forever paid for by the federal government.
What self-respecting senator sells or trades his vote? How could anyone consider that an honest thing to do? And not only that, does he realize who will really be paying for his state’s welfare that he will no longer have to pay? He certainly does, and those paying are you and me. The federal government=citizens of America, and I personally resent Mr. Nelson for trying to pawn off his lazy citizens onto my paycheck.
Whatever happened to honesty in politics? Did we ever even have that? In school we learn about the political machines that used to control the way government worked. Instead of the civil service system for giving out political positions, the spoils system was the way to go. Politics used to be about who you knew, who you liked, and what was in it for you. Oh wait, maybe it’s still like that…
It certainly doesn’t help that so many of the men and women in Washington are career politicians. The election system favors incumbents, and it’s fairly easy for Congressmen and women to maintain their seats for years and years. Perhaps a limit on the number of terms would increase the beneficial productivity and decrease the amount of messing around and deal-making made in Congress.
If you are one of those dear people who doesn't really care about politics (and I'm guessing you're not considering you're reading my blog), care about this. You may think that what goes on in the government doesn't really impact you. But the health care bill, as well as Congressmen's ability to act as Mr. Nelson has, WILL impact you, and that impact will continue for the rest of your life.
With everything that has come out of Washington in the past year, I can’t say that I’m looking with golden eyes to my future. But before today I’ve looked for the silver lining. Now, all I can think is that I hope the Good Lord comes back before I have to live with the consequences of my government’s actions.