Congratulations President Obama! We welcome you and are very excited about your message of Change.
May God Bless You and These United States.
This blog will offer the suggestions from one Sane Citizen to My Country's Leader.
Topic One: Special Interest Groups
As President Lincoln's train entered Union Station, it carried him, his family and many well-wishers. But it was also loaded with office seekers and many unsavory people. Train loads of men would descend on Washington City to seek favors and audience with the "dealers of power and favor." They came from many areas representing companies and men of wealth seeking land grants, loans and business contracts with the new government.
As they got off the train in droves, others would look at them in distain and say, "Here come the locusts to feed on the harvest." Their cheap luggage material was noticeable and seemed to distinguish them. They became known by its descriptive name, "carpetbaggers." (Under President Grant these same people would be known as "lobbyists" because they would join him for a drink in the Willard Hotel lobby to court his favor.)
Look out Mr Obama, the carpetbaggers are back by the thousands. They have pockets of gold to offer everyone with an "in" with anyone of influence and they promise "paradise" to the go between for his or her efforts on their behalf. Of course they only are "doing what is best for all involved".
My carpetbagger couldn't make it, I had to use her fare from my Social Security check to pay my health care bills (their aggressive debt collectors are ruining my credit rating), rent (I lost my house), and put gas in my 10-year old car.
Throughout world history "influence people" have been there, at the seat of power...the pretty, the sensual, the wealthy, the schemer...always "something for nothing, a lot of payback for a little price, great rewards later for a small assistance now."
In the days when there were courts of kings and princes, they were called counselors or courtesans. The spelling has changed but the meaning did not.
I suggest, Mr. President, we follow the farmer's story in dealing with the throngs of self-serving special interest peddlers. The farmer had a small group of hogs. They could all be at the trough at the same time and eat harmoniously; no one hog would have greater access to the food. As the farmer prospered, the hog population grew and they began to fight over who would get to the trough first and stay the longest. Of course, the biggest one would always win (most seniority with success from the past therefore the biggest..might makes right, some are more equal than others, etc.).
The farmer sold the fat hog and thereby reduced the friction and all went back as it was. Eventually the same thing occurred again and then he had to sell two hogs. He noticed the trend. He could increase the size of the trough and not have to sell hogs right away, or he could continue to diminish the size of the herd. He couldn't decide and so kept doing as he had done.
Soon he decided to buy another trough. He noticed the same problem occurred only twice the size as before and his feed cost had doubled. The more troughs he added, the more hogs grew to be fed.
Preferring a simpler life and the need to devote resources to the rest of his farm, he trimmed the herd to its original size and got back to one trough. He spent the excessive hog feed money on feeding his milk cows who produced residual income, with no loss of physical assets and with stable expense. (Maybe this was in California where the "cows are contented.")
Simple Answer: We should reduce the number of hogs at the public trough and closely monitor their behavior.
(1) Form herds of special interest groups and allow them to select ONE person to lobby to Congress from their group (substituting many smaller pigs for one large hog).
(2) Restrict the number of large hogs. There should never be more than 100 large hogs...one per senator. If the Senate can get its message across with 100 people, the special interest groups should be able to do the same thing.
There will always be special interest groups pummeling elected officials for their cause in a true democracy, but in our representative democracy why not make the special interest groups follow the same design (Our Advantage: a smaller number is accountable and able to be audited)? If this sounds familiar it should be, but it has nothing to do with the Clinton Health Plan.
Just a Thought.
Best Regards,
Sane Citizen
(not related to Joe the Plumber)
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