Meet the new greed, same as the old greed

We’ve all heard of “corporate greed” and its sidekick “Wall Street greed.” But perhaps the greediest of all greed goes unnoticed or at least unchallenged when talking about fat cats who profit from back room shenanigans. If the phase hasn’t been coined yet, then let me be the first to call it “Public Service Greed.”

Our poor economy was begat from public service greed. Congress, by abuse of power, called the shots to risky loans, which collapsed the housing market. Chris Dodd and Barney Frank were the ringleaders in this den of thieves. But it goes further and deeper than a couple of bozos that constantly get elected for no apparent reason

I’m talking about politicians putting their needs, wants, and desires ahead of the people they took an oath to serve. Which is worse, an oil executive making profits legally in a capitalist market, or an elected official selling favors to the highest bidder? Not only should an elected official be held to our standards, they should be a cut above without stagger or wobble. But we’ve come to accept public service greed with just a shrug of the shoulder while proclaiming Walmart is evil and corporate America is the diagnosis to every ill. Winning an election doesn’t mean you won the lottery. All too often that’s what happens when greedy politicians find loopholes through flimsy rules, or manage to forget about paying their taxes.

Tom Daschle is the poster boy for public service greed. He makes (earn is suspect) eighty-six thousand a month consulting. Most likely consulting is a code word for keeping an ex-senator in your back pocket for future use. Daschle feels the rules don’t apply to him; taxes are what the peasants pay. Who knows what would have gone on if Daschle were confirmed as secretary of health and human services? His wife is a well-known lobbyist—what could have possibly gone wrong? I pick on Daschle because he looks like a smarmy worm, but public service greed comes in all colors both Democrat and Republican alike.

Public service greed rips at the fiber that holds this country together. And somehow we must find a way to stitch righteousness back into our house before it’s too late. As citizens of this great country we are held accountable for our actions. Nothing states this clearer than paying taxes. However, Washington is full of tax cheats and inside corruption on the highest order. It bellows out of Capital Hill like a Chernobyl meltdown and infiltrates into the consciousness of the common man until we’re all mired in the muck of apathy.

We no longer care about honor or integrity; we want what’s in it for us. We vote for guys who promise us anything without understanding they’ll take everything. We buy into class envy by becoming outraged over executive’s salaries, but ignore the fact that congress cheats, steals, and lies their way to power, and power holds the key to everything.

I realize moral decline started when Adam bit the apple, but these clowns eat apples by the bushel without one sense of remorse. At least old Adam knew he was naked and felt ashamed, while the greed-mongers-of-Washington twist the shame on somebody else. And most of them can’t wait to get naked. (Hi Chris Dodd, how you doing?)

Power, greed, and corruption are not what our founding fathers had in mind when its citizens looked to their government. The toll taken on decency has finally bored a hole in our ship. She’s taking on water at breakneck speed and there’s not a bailout program to repair dignity or a stimulus package to overcome dishonesty. We’re led to believe that the answers lie in the same corrupt officials who placed this country in economic peril. We’re being sucked up in the ultimate shell game as the poundage of pork piles up at the trough. Public service greed-dwellers tell us we’ll spend our way out of this mess, they place fear in our heads in order to gain more power—it’s just that simple. This stimulus package is the first salvo in the battle for total government control. Soon we will have the odor of a third rate nation where individuals are beholden to a government that has no moral authority.

Nothing is more dangerous than a politician playing fast and loose with the constitution. But when you promise cradle to the grave protection from failure, that’s exactly what they’re doing. It’s funny, to a liberal the hardest thing to do is make it out of the womb. As a fetus you’re on your own partner, but that’s for another day.

How long before blogs like this disappear? You say it will never happen, well keep dreaming Mr. Kool-aid. We’re a “Fairness Doctrine” away from free speech and I know for a fact that the House of Representatives web browser has viewed this blog. I have a site meter that identifies traffic, and sure enough anytime I mention congressmen by name, boom, I get a hit from the House of Representatives. Coincidence? I think not. (Hello again Mr. Frank so glad you dropped by)

We reap what we sow.