It
starts with what I can only describe as a tremendous
quote…
“I
think the American people should know the members of Congress
are underpaid.”
Jim Moran, Democrat from Virginia, U.S. House of Representatives
Ok…
here we go… an article to set the scene…
“Rep.
Jim Moran: ‘Members of Congress are underpaid’” (Original
link no longer active.)
Tremendous
in its stupidity… tremendous in its ignorance… tremendous in its
identifying of an idiot… and yet… he’ll probably get re-elected.
Ok…
before we get there though, to start things off… I have to ask…
Has
Jim Moran lost his flippin’ mind?
Because
no matter what you try to do with this quote, there really isn’t
a way to make it work as a thoughtful, well-reasoned statement.
In
several of the places I researched, Jim Mora makes the point that
a Congressman has to pay for two places of residence… one at home
and one in Washington. And…
Actually…
hold on… one thing to add first…
We’ll
use the total in the article, and say that most members of the
United States Congress earn $174,000 per year.
I
know of many parents that right now are sending their kids to
college. And, between tuition and travel, room and board, books
and so on, they are racking up some lovely expenses. And I thought
of these parents when I began considering the words from this
idiot… excuse me, this Representative… and his two-home-dilemma.
Sure…
there might be scholarships and financial aid involved. When a
child is sent off to college though, many times an apartment or
such needs to be paid for. You know… a home away from home, from
which to work out of. Many parents are doing this with a household
income of far less than $174,000 per year.
Talk
about scholarships though… Representatives also get some expense
allowances. While I won’t go too deeply into these, one of them
is called the Member’s Representational Allowance. According to
what I found, in the budget year of 2011, the average MRA was
well over $1 million per Representative. The figure moves a bit
up or down depending on your source, but most of the differences
in whether that number is above or below one million dollars annually
seem to involve terminology more than the final bank balance.
This
allowance pays for staff and other assorted costs associated with
the position. And so, depending on what items we are including
from a list that covers space and expenses of an office, a full-time
staff, and… well look at that… costs of travel can in some cases
fall into this allowance. Anyway… depending on what you are including,
that number can be slightly below $1 million per year or, for
some, nudging up into the realm of slightly less than $2 million
per year. We just need to decide if we are discussing staff… staff
and travel… travel and notepads… and then you can get a really
good number.
Regardless…
the end result is that the $174,000 is not the only source of
funding involved.
Now…
keep in mind… there are certain rules involved in being a politician.
In one simply put thought… campaign funds can’t be used to pay
work expenses, and work expense accounts can’t pay for campaign
costs. Still…
Must
be nice to make about $174,000 per year and not have to use any
of that to pay for your office or office staff. Keep that office
cost under a million, and the rest looks pretty good. And that’s
without digging into how they can pay for their travel, the rules
concerning mail use, and guidelines that certainly allow for other
jobs and sources of income.
I
dare to ask… are you feeling any more sympathy for Jim Moran and
his income of $174,000?
The
general idea being… plenty of American families are struggling,
facing costs from two residencies, and making it work with far
less.
One
way they are making it work is by putting off contributions to
retirement accounts.
But
amazingly, this clown doesn’t seem to get it. Nope… in the middle
of an absolutely historic run of virtually no accomplishments
coming from Congress, and flat out ridiculous lows for approval
ratings… we get fed this idea that, in my reading of it, We the
People don’t understand what a U.S. Representative is offering
for woefully little pay considering the factors involved.
And
my response?
(Well…
I’ve actually typed my response several times so far, and can’t
figure out how to write a sentence respectful enough that it doesn’t
include “suck it” somehow in the final phrasing.)
Apparently
Washington is under the impression that all of us are bringing
in $174,000 per year or more. I say that because they keep changing
the rules, and yet seem to expect us to bounce right back up and
sacrifice some more.
I’m
watching as people can’t find full-time jobs… as people are finding
medical costs still rising… and so on. (And what do you think
about that Jim? “I think the American people should know the members
of Congress are underpaid.”)
These
politicians play this amazing game, where the dollar signs don’t
add up for the real people they claim to represent.
Some
of them say they will get medical for all while allowing us to
keep the plans we had if we wanted to. (Well… no… many of us couldn’t.)
Some
say the job market is improving. (For who? I’m serious… for who
is it improving? The Affordable Care Act has basically set things
up so that most places aren’t hiring anyone to work more than
20-24 hours per week. Which, you see, means they don’t have
to provide health coverage… and then the people getting hired
need to work two or three jobs in order to eventually meet the
demands of buying the required medical insurance to avoid a fine
for not having it. But… oh… look at that, the jobless claims and
unemployment numbers are going down. There are more jobs. It’s
working! See, America is back on track! (Balderdash.))
And
now, insult after insult after government shutdown after political
party posturing and finger pointing after insult hurled at the
common man, some guy in a wig and a red nose decides that the
$174,000 isn’t enough. He deserves more for what he isn’t doing.
After all… he’s running a country. (Running it… in my humble opinion…
very poorly… 200-300 feet into the ground… but, ok, running it.)
Well
Representative Jim Moran, Democrat from Virginia… good luck with
that thought. My guess is almost anyone in America doesn’t find
much sympathy for you.
~ ~
~ ~ ~
Here’s
a funny last thought… I wonder if this is enough to get Jim… or
any politician voted out of office.
Honestly,
We the People should scrap the whole darn lot of them. Over the
next six years, replace 100% of them… new President… 100 new Senators…
435 new Representatives… and start over.
But
we won’t.
In
the simplest version of the thought, quite often we’re all faced
by the “devil you know” scenario. As bad as our current representation
might be, when we literally or figuratively step behind a curtain
to cast our vote, we might very well decide that the opposing
candidate could do worse. And, as a result, a fair percentage
of the 536 mentioned a moment ago will stay in place.
Jim
Moran has been a member of Congress for more than two decades.
And, my understanding as I write this is that he does not plan
to seek re-election after his current term. So most of this article
needs to be read for intent and not specifics.
The
thing is… he is not alone.
Anyone
recall John Boehner late in 2013? Speaker of the House John Boehner?
Ok…
Early
in October of 2013, most of the quotes you will see attributed
to Boehner talked about not bringing a vote to the House floor,
of making no compromises, and of not ending the possibility of
a shut down until the Democrats negotiated.
And
then… mid-October… “We
fought the good fight. We just didn’t win.”
What?
Folks…
there was no fight. The suggestions that Republicans under Boehner’s
watch “fought the good fight” implies that something was attempted.
And if you look at the results… yeah… no. The government was shut
down for no reason at all. Nothing was attempted. There was no
“good fight” at any point in the process.
We
the People deserve better results… much better… not better paid.