And some days you still and wonder why people will risk exposing their lives and families to the public eye and the MSM, and spend many times more to win an election, than the salary they will be paid….

It’s all about the access to almost unfettered “influence” that will line your pocket in other ways.  For Harry Reid, it’s land deals;  For Al Gore it’s telling us the world will burn if you don’t buy carbon credits (oh, and the company he invests in ends up with $3B from the taxpayer’s pockets – interesting), while he becomes a billionaire;  for Bill Clinton, it’s $150K per speech;  For The WON:  Book deals of $500K before he’s even sworn in, and $1.5M for a Nobel Peace Prize;  John Murtha makes sure his relatives and good friends get plenty of money (while calling our Marines cold blooded murderers) from other taxpayers, not in PA, to live at the level to which they have become accustomed.

While Social Security is being “downsized” due to the economic crisis, now Congress decides they need a 2.8% COLA for FY 2010.  I guess with higher prices for energy (you know, none of the rest of us have to pay), and “incidentals” (payoffs must be higher these days, with some lobbyists going out of business, I suspect)…

And don’t forget about making sure your “supporters” employ your family members…

What does this say to me?  Someone gets it:  Politicians make it on the fringe, and outside of the box, in the shadows, and in venues that the MSM won’t expose.  And they believe if you can make it, they can take it.  Your work is now for the good of the many, and anything you do over and above…well…sorry, someone else needs it, and even if you believe that, you don’t get to choose who that someone is that will get your surplus money of time and energy.

Now, in case you want to say:  “Hey!  That’s a pretty broad brush you’re painting with there! Not all politicians are like that!”  Really, are you serious?  If you’re right and I’m wrong, then how come these people aren’t run out of office at the request of their fellow politicians, or at the very least, the people who voted for them?  Nope, they actually go to bat for one another and make sure they all stay on the gravy train.  It’s a “Good Old Politicians” club.  So, my commentary is based on actual observation of the facts, not because I have some axe I feel like grinding to make myself feel better.

Representatives for us?  No, self appointed royalty.  They are turning out to mostly liars on top of that:  “I’ll go to DC and stand on my principles!”  Yeah right, until Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, or Barack Obama, and even other leadership, over a subsidized lunch in the Congressional Dining Room threatens to take away all the perks you all of a sudden see, that you had no idea of the luxury of hauling your family and friends and campaign supporters to exotic foreign destinations on a whim, and the barber shop, and the $93K in “petty cash” per year…just because you won’t vote their way, which is all about them making sure they stay put to rape the Federal treasury for their personal interests.

And then, they don’t even work a full week, and while “in the office,” they play solitaire.  Know anyone fired from a real company, that has to balance the books, for doing this?

I can think of a vulgar term for these people, who live large on our backs:  B@$t@Rd$ comes to mind, quite honestly….

My opinion:  We can’t even afford to keep our own incumbents any longer, unless we like seeing the outcome of giving it all to them.  Flush the old ones out, and begin again.  Difficult, but, like a bone marrow transplant:  Unless you go that far in “cleaning house,” you’ll die a lot sooner.