What do Representatives do again?

Last I checked, ours was still a government, according to President Lincoln, "of the people, by the people and for the people," so where the hell does Representative Eric Massa (D-NY) get off stating, "I will vote adamantly against the interests of my district if I actually think what I am doing is going to be helpful." No sir, your title is REPRESENTATIVE. Your JOB is to represent the interests of your district. That's what they hired you to do.

When we vote people into office assuming they have our best interests at heart, we are doing a grave disservice to ourselves. We are in fact enabling exactly the kind of attitude that says things like what Representative Massa said to a group at Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh.

Excuse me, Mister Congressman, but I will decide what is in my best interest, thank you very much, because it is my right to do so. It is also still my right to decide what is in the best interests of my children. And it is my right and responsibility to vote for people I believe will protect my rights. Our government was not established to take care of us like children as so many have unfortunately come to believe, but to enable us to take care of ourselves by keeping us safe from "all enemies, foreign and domestic," the vow that you, sir, and your colleagues have sworn to uphold. The Constitution of the United States of America was intended, designed, and written to limit the size of government and the actions of its elected officials, and provide a framework within which We the People could live our lives as safe, independent, productive members of this society.

On czars

czar 
–noun
1. an emperor or king.
2. (often initial capital letter) the former emperor of Russia.
3. an autocratic ruler or leader.
4. any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field: a czar of industry.

au⋅to⋅crat 
–noun
1. an absolute ruler, esp. a monarch who holds and exercises the powers of government as by inherent right, not subject to restrictions.
2. a person invested with or claiming to exercise absolute authority.
3. a person who behaves in an authoritarian manner; a domineering person.

For the record, I hate politics.

Seriously. So much of it is lies and posturing to bolster already over-inflated egos and self-importance in the name of "the greater good" or whatever. Let's just be honest. I can't tell you how sick to death I am of the terms "hope" and "change," used in either direction, or "reform" as policy. "Transparancy" and "accountability" need to mean exactly that.

I honestly didn't used to care about this stuff one way or the other. It's my husband's fault, really. Before I met him I was skipping along in my happy little uninformed existence, not paying any attention to the news or what was going on in the world. I felt it didn't really affect me and that I had very little control over any of it anyway. I got to where (and now it makes me cringe to think it) I didn't even want to hear about what was going on in the world. It was scary or depressing or too far away to matter. I didn't pay attention. I didn't care.

My husband cared deeply. He loves history, pays attention to current events, listens to talk radio - which after years of enduring it in the car with my dad, I'd grown accustomed to tuning out.

Then one day the whole world changed. On September 11, 2001, I was working in a medical office doing filing and data entry work. I don't remember how it came to my attention that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, but the television was on in the break room and a few of my coworkers had gathered to watch what was going on on the screen. I stopped and watched for a couple minutes, read the ticker at the bottom of the screen, listened to what the reporters were saying... and then watched as the second plane flew into the other tower. At that point it was clear that it was no accident. I immediately got on the phone to call Paul. We'd been dating about a year and a half and I knew he was probably still asleep, but would want to know what was going on. I called several times before he finally woke to the phone ringing. He turned on the television and shortly thereafter, the Pentagon was hit, all planes were being grounded and flight 93 was in trouble over Pennsylvania. That day, I started paying attention.

WHAT exactly do you want to change? WHAT do you feel needs reform? Because it looks to me like the change some seek is in the founding document on which all our laws are based, and the reform is in the structure of our nation itself, its government and its political system. Now don't get me wrong. Our system is by no means perfect. I am not suggesting that there are not improvements to be made, but more government is not now, has never been, and never will be the answer to the issues we face.