"I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office."
--Andrew Jackson, President 1829-1837

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not guilty."
--Teddy Roosevelt, President 1901-1909

Now, more than ever before in most of our lifetimes, is the time to call for reform in the way that Congress handles the affairs of our country. Corruption is rampant in the halls of Congress, the offices of the Senate, and even the oval office.

Every day new facts come to light of campaign donations, earmarks, and government bailouts. It is easy to connect the dots, it isn't rocket science. Some major corporations have built their offices and headquarters in certain congressional districts because they have found an easy source of revenue- your tax dollar. Powerful, long term politicians have the clout and pull to get anything they want, either for themselves, their friends, or big campaign donors. Some companies
(AIG for example), give $103,000 in "campaign contributions" and get $170 billion in bailout money, plus hefty bonuses left in the mix for all the executives. Not a bad investment on their part, right? That is just one example of how things are being done. There are countless others.

This type of activity on Capitol Hill has become so commonplace that it is accepted as normal. This is crippling our country, and bringing it to the verge of collapse. Our elected officials have forgotten that they are spending our money, not theirs. They are not in touch with the needs of the common American citizen. They are only looking out for themselves and a close circle of associates, not you or I, the average citizen.

One reason for this is the extraordinary number of lobbyists working in Washington DC these days. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are currently 15,900 registered lobbyists in Washington. These lobbyists are walking around Capitol Hill with their hands out on a daily basis, getting federal tax dollars steered to the companies they work for or to special interests. Congress, the spending arm of the government,

is affectionately known to lobbyists as "The Favor Factory". This is not made up, it is true.



Obama said there would "be no lobbyists in my Administration", and then promptly went about business as usual appointing them into staff and sometimes senior positions. At last count there were at least 24 lobbyists in his administration. They will continue to pull favors for their former employers or organizations, we can count on that. They are supposedly banned from doing such, but we all know that will not be adhered to. If the President broke his promise, why can't they?

There is no honor and integrity left in Washington DC. This has to be changed. It must be done for the very survival of our country. There should be term limits on congress and senate seats, just like there is on the office of President. That would at least curtail some of the power-building that occurs after an elected official has been there for 10-15 years and starts to feel that they are invincible, undefeatable, that they are there to stay until they are 90 years old.

We must also develop a system whereby crooked politicians are thrown out of office when they are caught lying, cheating, abusing their power, or any other shameful act. A system that actually works to remove them from office, not like it is now where they get a slap on the hand and go about business as usual.

We must stand up as patriots and call for real reforms in Washington DC, or we will see the sun set on our great country and wake up the next day in another land that is far from where we want to be.

Been saying stuff like that for years.

Good luck.

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the biggest crime our goverment does is take that money we give them and not represent us equally .. we don,t need this trash in the goverment if they don,t want to represent the people who sent them there .. if you didn,t under stand that last sentence read it again . I DON,T CARE IF THE GOVERMENT DOES ANYTHING FOR ANYONE WHO DOESN,T VOTE . Shut the borders theres no work for anyone not here legally . get out ! good bye we well send for you as soon as we need you . but i did hear that there is a lot of work in russia for morons and CEO S

Far from where we should be unfortunately is here today.



Yup, there is "no honor and integrity left in Washington, DC"