One of the surest ways to stimulate my gag reflex during campaign season, which seems to be getting longer and longer, is when candidates begin making campaign promises. Hearing such things always closes up my throat and forces me to swallow hard. So, for those of you out there who have forgotten what you were taught in high school, let me refresh your memory a bit.The president leads the executive branch of government! That is the one entrusted with enforcing the laws of our nation — not making them. It is the congress that is supposed to originate new legislation. (You remember, don't you?) They're that huge two chambered social club with hundreds of greedy, ambitious, amoral, and predatory political parasites that spend their time (and our money) arguing over what is "best" for us, and then usually end up doing either nothing, or (worse) the opposite of what we want and need.
Remember the 2006 elections when virtually everyone wanted our troops OUT of that oil-rich sand pile we invaded? Well, all the pretenders seeking memberships as new representatives and senators began echoing what the public was screaming. Yet, once elected, they were all (quietly) castrated by the military-industrial lobbyists who have been having an eight year picnic courtesy of our chief executive!
The simple fact is that even if our next grand poo-bah at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue tries to fulfill campaign promises, those two warring gangs on the hill probably will represent the interests of the nice folks (read "lobbyists") who provide dinners (evening meetings), club memberships (conferences), plane rides (inspection tours), and physical therapy sessions (figure this one out yourselves).
So you see, it doesn't really matter what aspiring chief executives promise, or even attempt to implement! Ultimately, it is all up to the two warring street gangs on the hill - the REPS and the SENS who decide what "gets done;" and they will ultimately follow tho$e who$e influence i$ $tronge$t! Get it?
