Greg Awtry

A loyal York News-Times reader dropped off an interesting article the other day. It was a “report” or newsletter from a Nebraska congressman. He was writing about what a mess it is in Washington and how Congress can’t get along,

He said, “Nebraskans are eager for change, believing that changes in many policies and programs are long overdue.”

On the back of the congressman’s newsletter were poll results taken from 25,000 people who took the time to voice their opinion.

Some of the questions and answers are:

Would you favor eliminating Saturday mail delivery if it would save tax dollars? Fifty-five percent said yes.

Are you willing to accept substantial cuts in federal spending if the cuts seem to be equitably shared by all segments of society? A whopping 86 percent said yes.

Do you favor an increase in the share of the federal budget devoted to defense related items? Sixty-two percent said yes.

Would you favor mandatory registration of all privately owned handguns in the United States? Only 49 percent said yes.

In view of the continued rise in hospital care, would you support mandatory cost controls imposed by the federal government on hospitals? Fifty-three percent said yes.

Do you favor gradually raising the eligibility age for full Social Security retirement benefits? Only 31 percent said yes.

There were other stories the congressman covered in his newsletter. He spoke about the federal budget process as being the most controversial and confusing exercises in government. He writes about how we need to cut spending, but Washington is engaged in a monumental “tug of war” on budget issues.

He also discusses how we need complete and thorough tax reform, saying the nation’s economic problems can be traced to the ever-increasing tax burden on all its citizens.

So here’s my question. Are you the one in 10 who thinks Congress is doing a good job, because their job approval rating is near only 10 percent? As the congressman points out, we the people are fed up with the inability of Washington to govern, to solve the nation’s problems, and to set a course for a positive and prosperous future.

The fact is most of our problems today are the fault of Washington’s failures. Congress is very good at pointing out the problems. It is very bad at solving them.

Do you need proof? Well here’s some proof for you.

The congressman writing this newsletter was Representative Doug Bereuter. It is a four-page newsletter he sent to Nebraskans in the summer of 1981. That was 32 years ago folks. Rep Bereuter was complaining about the very same problems that exist today because all they did for the past three decades was to talk about the problems and make promises to fix them.

Bereuter was complaining about the large federal budget of $695 billion (in 1981) that it would take to run the country. Today we spend that amount in only 69 days as our federal budget is now near $4 trillion dollars a year.

And with all that extra money taken from our pockets and sent to theirs in Washington, you would think they could do something with all those dollars that would garner the respect of more than one in 10 Americans.

Can you believe that in 1981 Congress was trying to fix Social Security, cope with the post office’s financial problems, legislate gun registration, reduce federal spending, properly fund the military and struggle to balance the federal budget?

This 31-year-old newsletter could have been written yesterday, as all those issues still exist today, proving Congress is not only inept, but incapable. The time has come to stop talking and start fixing, and it must begin with the voters who need to stop listening to empty promises and start demanding that we don’t face another 32 years like the past 32.

If the current crop of Nebraska representation, Johanns, Fischer, Smith, Terry and Fortenberry can’t right the wrongs, then we need to fire them and hire someone else who can. Shame on them. Shame on us.

With all due respect to Rep. Doug Bereuter, it is obvious his newsletter written in the summer of 1981 vividly points out that Congress’ biggest problem is… Congress!

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Nebraskans are lucky to have two extremely qualified candidates running for the open U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the retiring Ben Nelson. Until now State Senator Deb Fischer and former Senator Bob Kerrey have been campaigning solo across our state. That ended when the two faced off in a debate staged at the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island.

If you took the time to go to, listen to, or watch this first debate, it wouldn’t take long to see these two candidates are focused squarely on the issues, and for a political junkie, it was a refreshing to finally see two candidates discuss America instead of each other.

They openly spoke with passion about Nebraska and their love of this great country. The issues of experience, public service, rural versus urban, or Kerry’s stint away from Nebraska, are no longer in question. They agree on little politically, but there is no question they are on the same page when it comes to their desires to help our nation through difficult times and to lay down a path for a prosperous future. Their paths though, travel very different routes.

Fischer is a self-admitted smaller government candidate, focusing on the core fundamentals of government. Kerry, on the other hand is one quick to turn to federal programs on a wide range of issues. Fischer wants lower taxes, while Kerry wants higher taxes. Both want to reform entitlements albeit it in different ways. Both say they will work across party lines, but then all candidates say that… few actually do it.

Kerry is smart. Fischer is tough. Kerry seems stuck in the nineties, referencing the past many times during the debate, while Fischer seems firmly positioned in the present. Neither gave a clear vision of the future during the debate.

I listened to every word. They seemed to disagree about TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, but when pressured a bit, both are in favor. Kerry is more of a wind energy guy, Fischer a drill baby drill position, although both believe in alternate forms of energy production, especially ethanol.

They have major differences on immigration. Kerrey more along the traditional liberal lines of pathways to citizenship and Fischer stressing border security and employment enforcement.

But as I listened to everything from their opening to their closing remarks I couldn’t help but focus on a statement Bob Kerrey made in both his opening and closing. He said he promised to “narrow the gap between rich and poor”. What exactly does he propose? It is eerily similar to the “redistribute the wealth” talk we hear about President Obama. But it was important enough to Kerrey to mention it in his first and his last comments.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it claim government’s responsibility is to “narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.” It is not a fundamental role of government to control the amount of wealth one may or may not accumulate in their lifetime. Although there are many things one can find to agree with regarding Kerrey’s positions on issues, this reoccurring comment about narrowing the gap is very revealing. He must expand on this promise.

We know he favors Obamacare. We know he favors the federal department of education. We know he favors more government than we can afford. We know he wants to raise taxes. And now we know that he wants to use the senate to help him reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. What we don’t know is how and at what cost to the taxpayers.

As the next few months unfold, beware of campaign promises. As these two candidates come to your town, seek them out, ask questions, make them be specific about not only how they can make campaign promises a reality but how much will it cost, and more importantly, ask them if we can afford it.

At one point in the debate, Kerrey said it would take only a high school chemistry class to figure out we are undergoing man-made climate change. I would remind Kerrey that a Nebraska grade school student could figure out with their lunch money that borrowing $4 billion a day to fund a government we cannot afford is a more immediate threat and a larger government is not the answer.

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Budgetless in the U.S.A.

President Obama is batting a thousand on his last two budgets. Actually his record is 511 to 0.

Last year the U.S. Senate voted down his budget 97 to 0. Not one single Democrat, not even Harry Reid, voted to support it.

Next up was this year’s House vote; once again a unanimous vote, 414 to 0. I don’t care who you are, this has to be embarrassing.

Obamacare

Well, the Trojan horse called Obamacare finally ended up in the Supreme Court, exactly where it should have begun, the day after Pelosi said we had to pass it to know what’s in it and Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson negotiated the now vanquished Cornhusker Kickback.

Before the very first Obamacare initiative went into place and the first tax dollar was collected, our country should have tested its Constitutionality.

Democrats told us it would cost less than $1 trillion and now, before it is fully implemented, the price tag has reached an unbelievable $2.6 trillion.

Seems somebody was not very truthful with the American people. Shame on them.

Gas Pains

Near $4 a gallon and going higher? Since the 1970s and Jimmy Carter we have talked about our country’s reliance on foreign oil.

Talk is cheap. Unfortunately, gasoline is not.

Every study shows America has a lot of untapped oil. Drill baby drill but make one provision. Open up federal lands for oil leases providing the oil pumped up stays in this country, all of it, no exports on American produced oil.

If big oil wants it, that’s the deal. If they don’t want it, let the wildcatters go get it. Enough talk. Drill.

Hee Haw

Some of you may remember the variety comedy TV show Hee Haw.

It had a lot of talented performers who did their best to convince us they were just hillbillies. The part that made most folks laugh was the corn field jokes.

That is what China is doing right now. They must look at the U.S.A. and wonder if they are watching reruns of Hee Haw.

You see, we don’t have enough money, so China loans us some of theirs to run our government.

Then what do we do? We give some of it back to them calling it foreign aid! Heck, it’s so stupid even I’m laughing.

Republicans!

I would ask them, “What have you done for me lately?” They would answer, “Hey, we got you into several wars didn’t we! Even though Iraq was contained tighter than a Jack in the Box, and Afghanistan, we are fighting there too although we have yet to define what victory will be. And now we are setting our sights on Iran!”  

Republicans, embarrassed from the last time they had power and George Bush’s unprecedented spending spree, they now all run promising spending cuts.

We elected them in 2010 and they now control Congress (which is where all the spending begins), and they still spend more every year.

When the day is done, they always have some excuse for voting to spend money we don’t have.

America divided

Not since the Vietnam War have I seen the country so divided. Racial issues seem to be getting worse, not better.

Conservatives are politically stubborn, Liberals are fiscally blind and neither party is willing to work together to save our country.

People have lost confidence in the federal government for good reason and we seem to have a lack of leadership and vision.

Politics has become a soap opera of 30-second sound bites, positioning and power leaving the real work of this nation undone.

The Answer

The answer is where it has always been in America. It is the people. It is you and me.

In about six weeks we’ll have our primary election. This is the time we are asked to choose our future. How many of you will vote?

How many of you will take 10 minutes to help make a decision that will have lasting consequences on your life?

Not many.

If recent history is any indicator only about one in four will head to the voting booth.

Unfortunately, most of us will spend more time buying next week’s groceries than deciding who will help lead this country back to greatness.    

Last week I heard Tony Robbins, internationally renowned motivational speaker and advisor to many of the world’s top leaders, comment, “Americans get what they tolerate.”

How true. Sad, but true.

How much more will we tolerate?

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