Marsha Came To Visit

February 14th, 2010 · No Comments

This morning, I had the pleasure, along with about 45 or 50 other folks, to have a chat with our U.S. Rep, Marsha Blackburn. State Senator Delores Gresham and State Representative Vance Dennis rounded out the ‘party’.

Marsha brought along a very large pile of paper, and I do mean a LARGE pile of paper! This wasn’t even the entire bill, just a portion of it. Which bill? Why the budget of course. You thought that pile of health crap bill was big? I’d really hate to see that little bitty woman try to lug the WHOLE budget from meeting to meeting. This “budget” is a $3.8 trillion dollar pile of paper. Shall I repeat that? THREE POINT 8 TRILLION DOLLARS…..$3,800,000,000,000.00! Of OUR money! Why is Washington so dead set on destroying the future of our children and grandchildren? It made no sense to raise the debt limit to $14 trillion when these people can’t figure out how to manage, efficiently, or effectively the funds we have allowed them in the past?

The biggest concerns of the folks in attendance were jobs and the ever increasing taxes, as are the concerns of the majority of Americans. With no jobs, there is no money. No money, no taxes. No taxes, well….hey…wouldn’t that be a good thing? Yes, we do have to have some taxes in order to pay the military, provide ‘post roads’, and the few other items that the federal government was limited to in the U.S. Constitution.

There were a variety of statements and questions posed, from the tax issues, to foreign debt, to the NEA (education). All were reasonable concerns of the average American.

Just a few of the topics covered, in no particular order:

1- Education - return control of the money for public education to the states, and allow the state legislatures to deal with their educational systems. There were a couple of teachers who brought up some extremely valid points, like passing students who could barely read or write to the next grade. This may help the teachers pass the problem on, but it doesn’t help the kids at all. With Tennessee ranked at 45th in education, you’d think that there would be more parents concerned, but unfortunately, there are 1.2 million adults who are functionally illiterate, in a state of only 6 million people.

2- Jobs - the cost of doing business has gone up dramatically. The biggest problems are labor costs, taxes, and regulation. Unions pushed the cost of products up to pay for their fat benefit packages. The government taxes businesses so it’s difficult to expand. Then comes the regulations. The EPA and OSHA want to regulate every single aspect of your business. Why even bother? The paperwork alone would discourage any entrepreneur from even considering starting up and provide a few jobs for their community. If the EPA is able to shove through Cap and Trade, you can pretty much guarantee that even more jobs will be lost.

3- Health Care - this is a huge concern for all of us. There were several health care providers in the crowd who expressed even greater concerns with the direction of Congress than us non medical types. Did you know that in 2006, the House actually passed an insurance reform bill that addressed the biggest problems (TORT, portability, pre-existing conditions) that has caused the costs to rise? Unfortunately, the Senate only had 54 votes, not the required 60. Makes ya wonder if the Dems really want reform, or just power. Hmmmmm…… One problem that could be solved quite easily is paperwork. 30% of the cost of insurance is paperwork. Does this make sense? Why don’t the insurance companies use the same form, instead every company has their own. The February 25 “look at me, I’m Bi-Partisanship Obama” isn’t going to solve a single thing. Oh, and the consensus? NO OBAMACARE!

4- Federal Mandates - of the unfunded variety. The federales say you have to do this, we demand it, but we won’t provide the funds for it. Well, they don’t have any funds anyway, so how can they make such demands? Considering they don’t have the authority, how has it gotten so out of hand?

5- Illegals - H.R. 2406: Charlie Norwood CLEAR Act was introduced by Marsha last year. “To provide for enhanced Federal, State, and local assistance in the enforcement of the immigration laws, to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act, to authorize appropriations to carry out the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, and for other purposes.” Which is great, as far as it goes. There are at least 1,000,000 criminal illegal aliens in this country, that they know of, but what about the ones who still broke the law coming in? Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to ask why the Border Patrol was being cut.

6- TV - a local issue. Living out here in the boonies, we don’t get weather alerts that are essentials to the safety and well being of the community. Why this has to be addressed in Washington, D.C. is beyond me, but I guess there are other areas that have the same problem.

7- Tea Party - Marsha stated she believes the movement is a good thing. It has brought out people from all walks of life, fed up with the direction of the federal government. She and Michelle Bachman had no choice but to pull out from speaking at the convention in Nashville. Personal opinion, the ethics committee (and I use that term loosely when it comes to Congress) makes up rules as they go along. It’s time for ALL of us to take a good hard look at the candidates, and not just the party affiliation. And yes, she does like Sarah Palin.

A pastor is extremely upset at the direction the nation is heading. What was once shameful in the eyes of God, and society is now accepted as the norm. I tend to agree with him.

A great many topics were covered in a relatively short period of time. I believe if more in D.C. would come out and talk to the REAL folks, a great many problems could be solved for a lot less money in a shorter period of time. I really need to get one of those little tape recorders, so I can cover more. Taking notes is great, but ya tend to miss some things.