What Happened to "We the People"?

When I was a child, I had the understanding that Members of Congress and Senators, as well as the Executive and Judicial branches of government were patriotic folks who worked together in Washington, D.C. for the betterment of the people of The United States. By 1975, I started to wonder if there weren't more than met the eye...and why someone would quit a six figure income job and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a job that paid $42,500. That base salary has risen over 300% to today's base salary of $174,000. It's also noteworthy, I think, that Congress hasn't taken a pay cut in over 77 years. And, yes, there are the perks...I'll outline some of those, as well, further into my discussion. Now, I may be wrong, as I ofttimes am, but I don't think We the People have done quite that well over the last thirty five years, especially when you consider the difference in productivity required to earn our paychecks.

There's a lot of talk in Congress now about spending cuts to balance the Federal Budget. One of the things they've put on the table is my mom's Social Security check, which is between $500 and $600 per month. Her check is small due to no fault of her own. She grew up during the Depression and had to quit school after the fourth grade to work in the fields picking cotton and doing other jobs to contribute to her families survival. As an adult, she worked many low paying jobs waiting tables and washing dishes due to her lack of education. She did manage to get her High School Diploma later in life (one of her proudest achievements), but too late to have a significant impact on her lifetime earnings and contributions to the system. I take offense to anyone in Congress or anyone else for that matter who would take that for which she has worked so hard away. The problem with so many is that they are quick to discount someone's situation without having spent any time on that person's path. This is unforgivable in a Member of Congress or any other elected official who is supposed to represent all of his or her constituency, not only those who give the most generously to their campaign coffers.

Tomorrow, I will write more about what, in my oh so humble opinion, should be done to take the corruption out of the government that is supposed to represent We the People.