Alfred E. Neuman For Congress

Just for fun I recently Googled "pictures of morons in congress" and--no surprise--mug shots of most all of our representatives came up.  Initially I thought the situation was the fault of those of us who bother to vote.  I reconsidered when I asked myself who runs for any kind of political office?  Sadly those drawn to life as a D.C. demimonde are, to a greater degree,  narcissistic nincompoops who never tire of telling us they're just what the country needs to right our ship of state.  In reality they are mostly just carnies with good teeth.

It's not a bad gig.  Tell some whoppers and promise your gap-toothed goober constituents they can have everything their hearts desire and then get ready to stand at the government trough.  Just get elected once and you're set with great lifetime medical coverage for you and your family and you've guaranteed yourself a fat never ending pension unequaled in the private sector.  Your only job henceforth is to get re-elected and continue to remain among the Beltway elite.  Do the right thing?  Only if it feathers your own nest.  Just keep shoveling the fertilizer to the folks at home and, should they ever throw you over for a newer prettier face, you can just stay in Washington and become a lobbyist for some wealthy concern that once fronted you campaign money.  No need to return to your hometown where it may be necessary to explain a vote or two to the un-washed who elected you not so long ago.

What prompted this rant?  Congress can't seem to accomplish even the simplest of their constitutionally designated tasks.  Their constant "election mode" setting has rendered them completely ineffective and impotent.  Budgets don't get passed, simple straight forward bills passed and, though we've been in many since the Second World War, they can't even manage a declaration of war, EVER.  The Afghanistan war, and that's what it is, has been ongoing for eighteen years with no end in sight.  Kids now volunteering for service weren't even born when it started.  How can that be?  An essential part of Marine boot camp now includes a mandatory history lesson about the September 11th attacks and their connection to the Afghanistan war.  Can you imagine World War II dragging on like this?!  Once again, like Korea and Vietnam,  our country is bogged down in a half-assed attempt at a politically "safe" solution that has cost the lives of too many of our best young people.  Only worried about the next election, our representatives have chosen to take the easy way out and refused to declare any of these wars.  Gutless!  Either declare this war in Afghanistan and throw everything into it  required to win or get the hell out and bring the kids home.  Twenty-thousand wounded and 2,400 American dead is a national disgrace.  Congress, DO YOUR JOB, or go home.  This isn't how it's supposed to be.