This is our president.

I’ll let you in on a little secret – I like the guy.

Some people may be really, really surprised to hear me say that but, it’s true.

A lot of people I know, people whose opinions I respect for the most part would have you believe he is an evil, evil man but I disagree.

Mainly, it’s because I don’t think of the President as a dictator. As much as people want to attribute amazing powers to the Chief Executive when he really is only the most public face of our government. This is also a reason why I wasn’t extraordinarily perturbed when George H.W. Bush was President either.

Barack Obama also is a parent.

I have a lot of trouble believing anyone who is a good parent wants to make the world a darker place, a place with more struggle, a dysfunctional place for their children (again reminds me of Bush Jr.).

And I’ll tell you something else...

George Bush Jr wasn’t the problem. Barack Obama isn’t the problem either.

Our government is the problem.

I’ll give you a f’r instance here: Recently, the senator from the great state of Kentucky, Jim Bunning, decided to take a stand against wanton government spending, spending wildly out of control. Now while there were some things Bunning was railing about he actually was on the mark on, he pointedly hurt (or went to the wall) a lot of people who could ill afford to take a bullet just because Senator Bunning wanted to make a point.

And the fact that it even happened at all underlines just how dysfunctional our government really is right now.

And I don’t use the word dysfunctional lightly here because anyone who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention over the last year can see example after example where the members of Congress have made a big show of taking a stand while in the process grinding the gears of government to a halt.

And as Americans... we all should be very, very mad.

We should be mad at our leaders because instead of doing the Nation‘s business, they are so concerned with their petty bickering, with polarizing every issue that the end result is very little does in fact get done.

So, here and now I want to put something before all of you and I want you all to seriously think about what I am proposing because I am totally serious about this and it is something that should concern every American taxpayer.

Congress, the Senate and the House, comprises a membership of 535 individuals. Each of these individuals, duly elected by you and I to represent our interests in the Federal government are really our employees. Now, whether or not you realize it, we the people of this country are really great bosses. It might well be that we are the best bosses anyone in the world could hope to work for!

What do I mean?

Well, here’s a juicy little tidbit of information you should roll over in your head for a little bit:

Salaries
As of January 2009, the annual salary of each Representative is $174,000.^[11] The Speaker of the House and the Majority and Minority Leaders earn more, $223,500 for the Speaker and $193,400 for their party leaders (the same as Senate leaders). A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it. Congress sets members' salaries; however, the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a change in salary (but not COLA^[12]) from taking effect until after the next general election. Representatives are eligible for lifetime benefits after serving for five years, including a pension, health benefits, and social security benefits.^[13]

Now, that’s just salary alone it doesn’t even begin to factor in other things like offices, supplies, staffs, travel and all the other perks that come with the gig. I don’t know about you, but I think I could manage to squeak by pretty well on that per year.

Thing is, most of us in the workaday world are judged regularly by our performance and Congress is so busy fighting with one and other unfortunately very little gets done and what does get done seldom is in the best interests of the nation as a whole.

So, again let me put this before you...

Since many of us have jobs that are measured by our performance and Congress has considerably underperformed over the last several years, since many people have lost their jobs
 and even the people who are still working have in many instances faced reduced salaries, since Congress is all about fiscal responsibility and also sending a message and setting an example for the American people.

HOW ABOUT A PAY CUT FOR CONGRESS?

Our nation spends close to $11 million dollars annually in salary alone for these people (again not including their staffs and all the other perks). About the only thing we can be guaranteed they will get done in a legislative session is to vote themselves another pay hike if it’s on the schedule, I think it is well and full time Congress showed they are serious about controlling government spending, about having some empathy for all the Americans who are struggling and facing hard times.

If the members of Congress took a pay cut, they would still be making close to $100k per year and let‘s face facts, that’s nothing to sneeze at. Isn’t it about time We The People held these guys feet to the fire? And if you think they would be unduly suffering if we did something like that, let me ask you one question: How many people do you know who get fully vested lifetime benefits after being on the job for ONLY FIVE YEARS!