As the congressional and presidential elections loom on the horizon and gas is at $4.00 a gallon, the question in my mind is, “What has to be done to have my voice heard?” During an era of turmoil for every single working class person, our government spends time and money on everything that is not important to most Americans. Why is a government supposedly of the people spending so much time and money investigating Barry Bonds and Major League Baseball? Why does Senator Spector want to investigate whether or not the New England Patriots taped a pre-Superbowl walk through against the Rams? It appears that our government officials do not care what the average American thinks.
Our government feels that they know what we need and want, and that we do not know what is best for us. Instead of “Father Knows Best,” it is now “Government Knows Best.” Case in point: illegal immigration. The average citizen screamed that we want our borders protected and that we want to know when someone is entering our country. I don’t think that is too much to ask. Do we want to stifle business or keep out all immigrants? No! However, we do want people to enter our country legally so that we have some possibility of keeping terrorists out. Nevertheless, I don’t want to digress too far from my first premise that no one in government will listen to the average American.
I work at a manufacturing company which employs approximately 500 people. I can walk through the plant or offices and listen to the frustration of the employees. What is everyone talking about? The high gas prices and the failure of government to take any appropriate action. If there was a real need for people to pay $4.00 or more per gallon of gasoline, most Americans would suck it up and deal with it. However, when our government puts a 25-year moratorium on drilling on U.S. soil or our coast lines, that is what upsets everyone. Our government will do nothing to help us. We won’t drill in ANWR, or off the Gulf Coast or any of the other areas that have potential oil reserves. We will not build new refineries. We will not build nuclear reactors, and we are trying to stop the mining of coal.
What have we done to help ourselves? We’ve introduced ethanol – which has done nothing other than drive up the cost of corn and other food products! This country and our government are insane. The definition of insanity is said to be doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
I believe, during this election season, we need to find someone who will be a true representative of the people. I do not care whether their party affiliation is Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian. I want someone who will listen to the American people. You can look at the polls and find out what the majority of the people want to happen, but yet we have lost all common sense and cater to the minority.
The average American wants to be energy independent. We do not want to be held hostage by any country. Many countries will allow us to protect them, feed them, and contribute to any disaster relief, but the same countries will not lift one finger to help the United States.
The average American feels that we should be leaving no stone unturned with cost effective technologies such as nuclear energy. Instead of sending billions of dollars around the world and wasting money on stupid political investigations, spend the money on energy research.
The average American wants to protect our borders and put a stop to illegal immigration. Another point to keep in mind is that it would be nice to take the people who do not want to be in our country, who feel that the U.S. is evil, and help pay for their ticket to whatever other country in which they would like to reside.
The average American wants the government to stop intruding in our lives. Big brother now tells us where we can or cannot put a Christmas tree, how to discipline and raise our children, and where we can practice our own personal religious preference. In the United States, private property is just that....private. The government has no business determining what I can or can’t do on my property, let alone have the ability to take our property away via eminent domain.
The average American would like to keep more of the money they have earned. We don’t need new government programs, we need fewer government programs. We want our tax dollars to be used on what the founders intended: defense of our country and infrastructure. We don’t need the government to take care of every country on the planet. We don’t need the government to investigate every social concern.
The average American would like the government to reward businesses that employ our citizens with tax relief and incentives. We do not need the government to regulate and tax our companies into bankruptcy. Every time government tries this approach we ruin the economy. We need a government that will listen to their own citizens.
