New Planes for the Government?!?!?!?!

The Pentagon's bugdet was just passed last week by the house. Hidden deep inside the 636 billion dollar budget is about 200 million dollars in order to buy three planes for members of the government to fly around in. Yes, you read it correctly, 2 followed by 8 zeros. The three planes are fancy private jets to be used to transport members of the government around the world. This is absurd. Where and when did the government get the ability to spend our money like this? Especially with the government deep in debt, and getting deeper with all of the new spending. Instead of talking of raising taxes, how about stop spending money!!!!

I think this is part of a trend in which the style of our government is changing. Let us look into the representaion system our country has set up. Obviously in a country where millions of people are living, not every single person can have the society run the way he or she chooses. Nor would anything be accomplished if we were to have all of the people in the country spend time, as the members of the house and the Senate do, as legislation is reviewed and passed. So, we have representatives, sent to represent the people of the country and speak on their behalf at these meetings of the house. The contstitution allows these representatives to receive compensation for the time they spend dealing with these matters. It is clear from the constitution that they did not view politics to be a career, but that is not a discussion for now.

The point I am trying to make is that congress, and the Senate should be very carefull when spending our money. It is clear from billis, such as this one to purchase these planes, that they are not. They forget that they are only supposed to be meeting in Washingotn to make sure that our voices are heard, not because they are the owners of this country. When one individual takes anothers money to buy himself a toy, there is a big problem. Congress has no power to spend money on planes for itself. It has power to tax the people in order to raise an army, and to make sure order is kept in the land, but not much more than that. As I said they can take some compensation for the time they spent away from their jobs and serving their districts by meeting in Washington. Our government is so far from this, that I am sure many of you think I am crazy as I speak of a politician's occupation being something other then being a politician. But at least I would hope you agree with me when I say that the House does not have the authority (or at least is not supposed to) to order themselves planes with money we earned.

Their argument for the passing of this bill was that it might not be safe for the government officials to fly on the regular planes with everyone else. I can hear that concern, but there are other things to do than buying planes for $200,000,000. They can charter small private jets, that only costs a few thousand dollars. Or they could sit in first class and get on the plane last and leave first; no one would even know they were on the flight. Or maybe, just maybe, the President could share his two huge planes with the rest of the government. Why don't they drive? What I am saying is that this is not a real reason for ordering the planes. They could have found many other cheaper ways to solve their problems of security concerns. But in order to make it seem okay, they say it is becaue of security. Am I suggesting they are lying to our faces in order to spend our money? Yes, yes I am. And unfortuanately it is not a surprise to me.

Especially since they were so mad at the CEOs who were flying in their company planes. Why was it wrong for the CEOs to use planes bought with money they earned, but okay for the government to buy planes with our money? And what about all of the polution? The government is trying to pass laws restricting our use of fossil fuels and here they are buying themsleves big new planes. They could fly on the plane with the rest of us, but instead they ae flying themselves, and using a whole flight of unnecessary polution.

But none of this surprises me. The members of our government now almost never include themselves in what they try to force us to do. Most of what they do is based on the fact that they think they are superior to us, and that we need them to run our lives for us. That is why they are constantly trying to pass bills restricting how we live our lives. Maybe if they were regular memebers of society, like they were supposed to be, instead of career politicians they would think differently. Maybe, if they would have to follow the rules of the new healthcare reform they are trying to pass, they might not want to pass it. Maybe if the payments for the planes would be out of their pockets they wouldn't buy them. And maybe if they would once again be represneting the town they come from, and not just doing a job miles away, bills like this would not even be thought of, let alone be passed.