Misdirection and misinformation are powerful political tools used to divert attention from important issues or manipulate public opinion toward a desired outcome. While these tools have been used for centuries, they have become increasingly prevalent in today’s political environment.
Americans are witnessing the significant adverse impact that misdirection and misinformation can have on democracy, including undermining public trust in the electoral process and eroding faith in the foundational tenets that support a government “Of The People, By The People, and For The People”.
While Americans of all political persuasions are confounded by the current quagmire of skillfully orchestrated misdirection and misinformation, conservative columnist Charley Reese addressed this same dilemma in 1984. American voters need to thoroughly understand his insight to prevent America from continuing on its path to self-destruction.
In his article “545 People Make The Mess, But They Unite In A Common Con,” he clearly defined who, in the end, must take responsibility for the government decisions that affect each of us every day.
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both Democrats and Republicans are against deficits, America still has deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all politicians are against inflation and high taxes, America still suffers from inflation and high taxes?
You and I, the average American citizen, we don’t propose the annual federal budget. The President does.
You and I, the average American citizen, don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on government appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code or set government fiscal policy. Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices make up 545 officials out of the 350 million American population. These 545 officials are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
The members of the Federal Reserve Board are not included in this number because Congress created that board in 1913, when It delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
Special interest groups and lobbyists are also not included. They have no legal authority under the Constitution. They cannot coerce a senator, a congressman, a Supreme Court justice, or a President to do anything. Each of the 545 politicians can accept or reject any inducement a lobbyist or special interest group offers.
These 545 constitutionally empowered officials spend much of their energy convincing the American public that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this finger-pointing con job, regardless of party affiliation.
The Constitution, the supreme law of the land, gives the House of Representatives sole responsibility for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is currently the Speaker of the House? Mike Johnson. He leads the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, Congress can override the veto if it agrees to do so.
Just 545 Americans, representing both political parties, have fouled up this great nation.
It seems inconceivable that a nation of 350 million cannot replace 545 officials who stand convicted — by their own actions — of incompetence and irresponsibility. No domestic problem is untraceable to the action or inaction of those 545 people.
When oppressed Americans fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that the condition that exists in America is what they want to exist
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because the 545 want it to be unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red. The current 40 trillion-dollar debt did not accumulate under one party’s majority. Federal borrowing has skyrocketed across Republican and Democratic administrations for decades, driven by a mix of wars, recessions, pandemics, tax cuts, and spending that did not match income.
The U.S. national debt first exceeded $1 trillion in fiscal year 1982, during Ronald Reagan’s first term. It took the country 206 years (1776-1982) to accumulate that first $1 trillion of debt.
The national debt is growing at roughly $5-6 billion per day, or about $2 trillion per year. It took 40 years for the debt to go from $1T to $10T (1982-2008), but only 18 years to go from $10T to $40T (2008-2026).
If any of America’s military is in Iran or any other place, it’s because the 545 want them there.
There is no such thing as an unsolvable government problem; there is only an unwillingness on the part of some or all of the 545 constitutionally empowered officials to do their job of resolving government problems.
American voters, do not let these 545 people continue to shift the blame for government problems to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists mystical forces such as “the economy,” or “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing the very job they take a sworn oath to do.
Those 545 people alone are responsible. They, and they alone, have been delegated the Constitutional power to ensure that the vast resources of the government benefit “We The People”.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who elect (hire) them and therefore are their bosses.
This accountability can only happen if the voters have the gumption to manage the employees they hired. The upcoming Mid -Term 2026 elections are a good place to reset this inverted employee/employer relationship.
Vote the finger-pointing advocates of misdirection and misinformation out of office and make sure the newly elected employees know who they really work for.
American Voters, are you up to the task?
James W. Breedlove
