Declare war on incumbents
By Marshall Frank • Columnist
Time to send a message to our government leaders. Our democracy is ruled by the will of the people. It appears our president, and our senators and congressional representatives from both parties have forgotten that.
This is a call for all mainstream Americans to unseat every incumbent this coming November, no matter who, no matter the party, no matter the issues. Drastic? You bet.
Politicians must come to the realization that the real power is vested in the people. When elected powerhouses like Ted Kennedy, Trent Lott, Dennis Hastert and Nancy Pelosi are unexpectedly ousted, the message will ring loud and clear: We, the people, are sick and tired of it all and aren’t going to take it any more. Those who have been entrusted with representing the American citizens have fallen down on the job with a thunderous thud.
Here’s how:
1) The national debt now stands at $8 trillion. The budget deficit is over $400 billion. Interest rates are climbing along with soaring gas prices. The administration can tell us all they want about the so-called great economy, someone is going to be paying these debts down the road.
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Who is responsible? Those we have trusted, i.e., all of Washington, from the White House to the Capitol. While we are led to believe that our government is competently managing our public finances, they bury us deeper in debt every year, attaching senseless pork by the billions of dollars to every bill that passes Congress.
2) The Iraq and Afghan wars have been so horribly mismanaged the world is in worse shape today than it was when Saddam Hussein was in power. Pimple-faced American kids are being killed and maimed by the thousands in Iraq so that the Iraqi people — not the Americans — can have a better life.
Americans with an IQ over two digits know that the presence of weapons of mass destruction turned out to be a false ploy to justify an invasion. Using 9/11 as an excuse, we were fooled, plain and simple, by an administration hell-bent on establishing a war economy. A majority Republican Congress, for the most part, has fallen lock step with the president. The entire situation is — in a word — pathetic.
3) Americans are not just displeased but seething over the outsourcing of American jobs to third world nations like India and the Philippines. That’s great for the CEOs of major corporations, but not for mainstream American workers and consumers. While elected officials have has kept their promise to elevate profits for corporations, they’ve basically screwed the American citizen.
4) The illegal immigration debacle has never been worse. Porous borders have allowed between 11 and 20 million illegals into this country. Government officials talk about amnesty and allowing for a guest worker program, which solves absolutely nothing. Illegals will continue to pour in, thereby allowing the corporate moguls who own restaurants, hotels, farms, builders and sweat shops to wallow in higher profits. One can only imagine where this will lead us in another 20 years.
5) Homeland security is a sham. The newly formed department is nothing more than another bureaucratic entity wallowing in red tape and political correctness. How can this administration explain the absence of any increased security to our ports, in which only 5 percent of containers are examined. That number has not improved in the 4 12 years since 9/11. Hurricane Katrina is a glaring example of the ineptness of this agency’s ability to rise to an emergency.
6) Hundreds of scholars, experts and knowledgeable journalists have warned us about the surreptitious invasion of militant Islam into the United States, where they are rooting into the infrastructure of our society. There is but one purpose, which they’ve made no secret: The Islamization of America, whether it takes 100 years, it is their goal. This is all happening under the blind eye of American politicians.
7) Washington is corrupt. The situation with crooks like Jack Abramoff, and all the fallout including the indictments of Rep. Tom Delay, is undoubtedly a tip of the iceberg. While the big guys raking it in, we’re being screwed and we don’t even know it.
8) The nation’s prisons are bulging at the seams with over two millions inmates. Almost one-third of inmates, not dangerous, are serving the better parts of their lives behind bars for possessing drugs. Another one-third are in prison from crimes either directly related to drugs. We have lost the four-decade war on drugs, but no one is coming up with a better solution, when the solution is obvious. The cost, purity, importation and distribution of illicit drugs has been abdicated to the drug lords. And we foolishly remain down the slippery slope.
9) Health care for needy Americans remains an unaddressed issue as it did five, 10, 20 and 40 years ago. While 40 million Americans cannot receive health care, our 11 million (or more) illegal aliens routinely partake of our benevolence while riding piggyback on the legitimate taxpayers who must spend thousands for health insurance or forego treatment. Government? Where are you?
10) They’ve had their chance, and failed. That includes presidents Bush and Clinton. Senators from the far left to the far right have failed us all. Members of the House of Representatives spend half their time raising money for re-elections and not serving the people. Yet, we keep on reinstalling the same old faces, who espouse the same old rhetoric, and do the same old nothing about the most serious problems facing this nation.
It is time for a clean sweep. As November rolls around, I urge all voters to cast their ballots for challengers against incumbents, no matter who they are. How would that be for a wake up call?
(Marshall Frank is a retired Metro Dade homicide detective and a novelist. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
