Assert your 'citizen’s authority’

To the editor:

“We the people,” every citizen of the United States, can cite a long list of corruption, incompetence and downright criminal behavior from our elected officials in Washington, D.C., and in our local and state governments.

We are all aware of how the lobbying by special interests controls our congress and, it appears, our Supreme Court.

We are also aware that no issue that comes before Congress is voted on, yes or no, on its own merits. It is all about power and who controls Congress, for they who control Congress have the power, and therefore get the majority of the major campaign contributions. Most of the politicians place self-interest first, party interests second, and I am not certain they even consider their constituency at all — except, of course, at election time.

We the people own this government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Those monkeys in Washington, D.C., are our employees. We, their employers, have not supervised and held our employees responsible for their votes, their conduct and their outright dishonesty.

We the people can easily stop all the chaos, lunacy, corruption and waste in Congress. We do not need a special bill. It would never make it through Congress anyway. We are empowered by our vote, if it is used wisely. If we the people will do four things we can take back our government.

1. Investigate the candidates. Do not accept their word, or the media’s word. Satisfy yourself as to their qualifications before you vote.

2. Follow up after the election. Review their votes on different issues. Did they keep their campaign promises? Supervise your employees!

3. If you determine you made a mistake voting for a candidate, recall them! Remove them from office. Do not wait for their term to run out. A few politicians being fired and embarrassed in the middle of a term will send a good message to other elected officials.

4. Assert your citizen’s authority. It will take an effort on your part. It will be worth it. Our founding fathers can stop rolling over in their graves. If we do not take back control of our country we can lose it.

Can you envision our taxes cut in half, all services improved, simply by eliminating the horrendous squandering of our tax money?

Les Reynolds

Wasilla