How ironic that the silent majority (or “Country Class” to quote Angelo Codevilla from his American Spectator article last week) is rising in protest and volunteering blood, sweat and tears versus Washington, DC’s professional politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists. These volunteers have engaged themselves in a David v. Goliath effort to stem the tide of a burgeoning Federal government that is quickly developing into a cash eating, capitalist economy destroying monster beyond reproach or repair. Volunteers (defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service”) versus the pros who take (via our taxes) between $175,000 and $225,000 per year, avail themselves of an annual cost of living increase, free parking on Capitol Hill and at Reagan International and Dulles airports, go home for “District Work Periods” (aka vacations), accept an inflation protected pension plan that is funded to the tune of up to 80% by taxpayers, partake of health and life insurance that is 3/4 to 1/3 subsidized by taxpayers, participate in travel junkets, tolerate cut rate health clubs and fine furnishings, obviously force themselves to take advantage of the “franking privilege” which equates to millions in tax dollars for beneficial public relations, employ office staff that performs constituent services and hands out pork barrel spending, and yes, they also accept exemptions and immunities from tax, pension and other laws that saddle and often hinder the non paid volunteers. Yet those same volunteers are regularly and very skillfully disparaged by the pros in both DC and the mass media.
Of course, one very clear irony lies in the fact that without volunteers of a similar ilk expending blood, sweat and tears versus an over-reaching government some 240 years ago, today’s “Ruling Class” (pros) would not have this great experiment in democracy to disparage, fundamentally change, and even destroy.
There is an old saying that normally holds true: you get what you pay for. However, in this case, the money we send to DC is being misused and wasted by the professionals. Therefore rallying with the volunteers versus continuing to feed the government monster makes just as much sense today as it did 240 years ago.
