America's Ugly Face

You may have noticed that there are a lot of people screaming at each other and speaking rather disparagingly of one another. We sometimes blame politicians for setting the tone but they are really just saying the things they say to appeal to their constituencies. They demand blood and politicians had better deliver!

America has gotten a very ugly face. I think that the thing we all have to realize is: that person on the opposite side of an issue from you--that is screaming as loud as you are--is doing so because they are as passionate about helping our country succeed as you are. That is why their doing it. Shouldn't that passion and desire to aid our country be something that binds us more than opposition over some issues should divide us?

People, I am telling you that if we could focus, with laser-like precision, on the issues on which we all can agree, we can solve most of the problems and we would all be a lot happier, healthier and wealthier. Is that not a prescription for a better quality of life? It's like we caught a shoplifter and are roughing him up outside while the mob is moving our entire inventory out the back door.


What face would you make if your wealth increased by 62%?

So what am I talking about? For instance, members of Congress can buy and sell stocks, based on knowledge of the company or the industry that they are privy to due to their work in the legislature. In the world we all live in, that is called insider trading and it is against the law. We get thrown in jail if we try it, politicians do it with immunity and their only risk is throwing out their backs as they carry away the loot. What makes things even worse is that members of Congress can actually vote on bills that could affect their investments. If a bill comes up for a vote and it would improve the lives of most Americans, but would hurt senators' and House members' stock portfolio, will they vote against their own pocketbook and for the American people? Or will they vote to increase their own wealth, at the peril of the rest of the country? When you consider that the US is in pretty bad shape but politicians in Washington, DC have never been wealthier, it is understandable that we may have some suspicion about it. Washington, DC became the wealth capital of the country a couple of years ago.

Nancy Pelosi was recently in a strange position. She purchased stock in Visa before a bill proposing to regulate credit card companies was scheduled to be introduced. The bill never made it to the floor of the House and Pelosi's stock went from $44 per share to $64 per share. That made a cool $100,000 that she could toss on her pile. John Boehner owns "considerable portfolio of stocks in oil companies, financial firms and pharmaceutical companies" and we all know how he votes when bills related to those companies come up.

How can we allow this to happen? How can we sit by as our elected representitives use their positions for their own financial gain, while the interests of the American people become secondary, are ignored or are thrown under the bus? I propose that all members of Congress must freeze all stock trades while serving. Any members of the House or Senate that does not go along with implementing this reform would be voted out in the next election. But to accomplish this, we must all stand together. We must direct our attenion on such issues and agree to a truce on issues that divide the nation. Those are the issues that rob us of our power and bolster the power of elected officials. They seem to have figured this out. Why are we so late to the party?

~R. Charan Pagan
information systems technologist, musician, writer, filmmaker
Los Angeles, CA 90017
http://www.reclaimingourbirthright.blogspot.com/