I n his recent letter to the editor, David Giffler blasted New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith for using the legal franking system to mail newsletters that in reality “are nothing more than self-aggrandizing re-election propaganda produced and mailed at taxpayer expense.”
All so true, but it is great getting them. They show what Congressman Smith considers important and how out of touch he is with the really important things that affect the chumps who keep re-electing him.
For example, in the latest issue, he boasts of his efforts to raise breast cancer awareness. Isn’t the whole country already aware?
Congressman Smith is strangely silent about things like ending the corporate shield for personal criminal liability.
Drug companies that allow dangerous drugs on the market — and do not withdraw them until the number of deaths reach astronomical levels — treat the fines as mere costs of doing business. They pass the costs along as increased prices or reduce shareholder dividends.
Then they continue their callous ways. The responsible decision-makers never go to prison, thanks to the corporate shield.
Likewise for all the homeowners who lost their homes because the foreclosure procedure was not done legally. For example, “robo-signing” was used instead of human reviews of each homeowner’s situation.
Congressman Smith does not talk about ending the highly secretive Federal Reserve System, a privately owned bank whose first allegiance is to its banker-owners. Their zero-interest-rate policy has decimated the retirement income that prudent savers counted on to fund their golden years. Likewise, he dares not mention the manipulation of the gold and silver markets or the adverse impact of high-frequency stock trading.
What about the National Security Agency snooping into our private lives? Corporate control of the government? Ending the ban against the government’s negotiating Medicare/Medicaid drug discounts? Unconstitutional, warrantless searches at airports? Creating real jobs?
The government’s idea of job creation is more unneeded laws made purposely complex to justify the army of drones needed to execute them.
If any of you are impressed by Congressman Smith because his office successfully interceded on your behalf with some issue you could not resolve yourself, don’t thank him with your vote. It just shows how overly complex the government is.
Congressman Smith has been a professional politician since before 1981. Isn’t 33- plus years more than enough? It is time to dump him so he can try getting an honest job. Maybe with his lack of real-world job skills, he might end up on the unemployment line, a fitting ending.
So Smitty, keep those embarrassing newsletters coming. I love them. They reveal how oblivious you are to the real world because of the isolated world you power-obsessed politicians live in. Raymond Kostanty Manalapan