August 21, 2008

Gov't would be 100% better if it just told the truth occasionally

Democrats Calling
By JOE CALIENDO

    The basic problem behind government today is that it cannot be trusted to tell the truth anymore.
    Whether it is about national issues or the issues in our own county, government sometimes seems incapable of telling the truth about much.
    On the national level, President Bush lied to the country to start a war over in Iraq. Regardless about how someone feels about the war, the fact is that any kind of excuse there was for having this fight overseas was a bunch of garbage. In the meantime, this country has gone broke paying for a war that the socalled experts had to come up with reasons for having after the military was already in there.
    American jobs have been going overseas also, to the point where a lot of families have been very hurt. Sometimes it feels like the American dollar is everywhere, except in America.
    I was talking to a guy in the Bayshore the other day about this Obama and McCain race. He told me that he was worried about Obama because he heard Mr. Obama talking about how there needed to be redistribution of money in this country. He said seniors are worried that Obama is going to take things away from them and that he was worried about that too. This guy makes a living, but he gets by like everyone else. There's nothing like a fortune happening with him.
    I told him I didn't know that he was so wealthy. The fella looked at me and asked me what I meant. I told him that, in case he missed it over the past eight years, there has been a redistribution of money in this countryto the wealthiest 2 percent. It hasn't been the super rich who have taken a hit with the recessionit's been everyday citizens. I told him that if he was so worried about the super rich taking a hit that he must be one of them. Just before I was going to ask him if he had a spare million bucks hanging around somewhere he wanted to get rid of he told me he was just getting by.
    He isn't any better off after eight years. I know I'm sure as heck not better off. The only people I know who are better off around here are people that were loaded to start with.
    Something has to change in this country to get people to pull their heads up again. Heck, something has to happen in Monmouth County to do something to help business. Usually the best thing for government to do to help business is just leaving it alone and stop coming back with their hands open.
    In the town where I live, Middletown, the government is typical. Too much money is spent on nonessentials like widescreen televisions for departments that do not need them, lots of cars for professionals that buddy up to the mayor and committee, big salaries for top administrators that make nice with the Republican Machine in town. All of this is useless, but it costs a lot of money.
    Bad governments are the ones that always cry poverty. While they're crying poverty, government has its hand out looking for more money instead of trying to work with what they do have. It's like that everywhere, especially lately. But Americans, and particularly Monmouth and Middletown residents, are paying more in taxes than ever before in history.
    Whether it is change in this country, or in this county or in a municipality, sometimes things need to be shaken up to remind elected people about just who the boss is the people.
    For example, Middletown's own deputy mayor, Pam Brightbill, came out saying that the best way to help township residents was to lower taxes. She did that right before she voted to raise them this year by 7.1 percent over last year's budget. The lying has to stop before government will be worth anything at all, let alone the billions of dollars poured into it every year.

(Joe Caliendo is the chairman of the Middletown Township Democratic Party. He has been active in municipal government and politics since the 1961 campaign of former President John F. Kennedy.)