And then there’s the money. Ben Nelson will complete his second term in 2012. That’s 12 years in office. When he was first elected, he was not a millionaire. He’s now worth 7.1 million. How did he become a multi-millionaire in 12 years when his salary is $174,000 a year and he must maintain two residences in addition to normal living expenses?
Denny Hastert, former Speaker of the House, was worth less than $200,000 when he was first elected. When he retired a few years ago, he was worth 16 million. Again, how did he accumulate this money?
The American taxpayer is a sap. These people in Congress feather their own nests and treat our hard-earned tax dollars like Monopoly money.
For starters, we need term limits for the House and the Senate. I am sure that our Founders did not intend the members of Congress to be there for 20, 30, or 40 years or more. Our Founders also intended that they be “public servants,” not wannabe millionaires.
Our legislative and executive branches (and maybe the judicial also) have become completely corrupt. We can’t maintain a viable government and country unless we start to clean up this mess.
