270 Decide for 300,000,000

Have you ever really pondered how much power so few people have over so many? It's by design, and our Constitution was set up by the founding fathers to give us a Republic, rather than a mob-ruled Democracy, for good reason. The objective was to make sure that intelligent, reasonable people would make laws in the legislative branch because our nation gives great deference to the lawmakers. As such, we settled upon a compromise of a House of Representatives to be elected by the people, and a Senate to be elected by the state legislatures. That, of course, changed with the 17th Amendment, but there are still 2 Senators per state. Therefore, we have a nation of over 300,000,000 people where a whopping 270 can basically control every aspect of your life.


218 Representatives are all that's needed for a majority out of the 435 elected.

51 Senators can pass a bill (1 VP if there is a 50/50 tie, but it's still 51 people).

1 President signs the bill into law.


I suppose if there is some Constitutional debate over the law, you could add 5 Supreme Court Justices to the mix, but that brings the total to 275, and only as a caveat.


Just think about that for a minute! You KNOW more than 270 people, more than likely. You pass 270 people in a matter of seconds on your way to work if you drive along the highway. That isn't a whole lot of people, but still it is more than enough to dictate almost everything that happens to us! Those 270 (275 with a challenge) can say that the tax rate is 100%. They can outlaw guns (although I disagree with their authority to do so, it wouldn't change the fact that they could do it). They can implement a policy that requires all children attend public schools and that the curriculum be favorable to abortion policies, communism, socialism, or whatever they dream up.


I'm not suggesting that this is necessarily a bad system, but we've morphed this into something else. The learned people that Franklin, Adams, and Washington may have envisioned running things are the exception, not the rule in Washington today. Today we have morons calling for public witchhunts of political rivals, and votes for pork projects that have the Treasury's printing presses humming! We have elected leaders who don't even read the bills that they vote on, and a President who play the media's adoration of him to his full advantage in the name of political expediency.


We are a Republic, and we are a great one. Yet we need to seriously consider the fact that we allow 270 people to run it all. Those 270 had better be good, and they better have some the conviction, courage, and intelligence to make this nation a better place for generations to come.


My father once caught me daydreaming out in right field, when I was a 5-year-old T-ball player down in a suburban Georgia town (Riverdale). After our long talk about paying attention on the ballfield, he wrote in permanent marker five letters: T-H-I-N-K. Everytime I would daydream and undoubtedly put my glove over my face, those words would remind me of my father's words.


Perhaps America could learn from that lesson, as well. As we put the metaphorical glove over our face, as we always do in a mid-term election (just look at voter turnouts when a President isn't on the ballot) perhaps we need a reminder that says to T-H-I-N-K. Maybe we could write under that five more letters: F-O-C-U-S. This is important, people. The mid-term may make or break us for the remainder of many of our lives. We can turn this thing around, eliminate tax burdens, speak out for values, and bring business back to what was once a business friendly nation.


270...that's all it takes. Vote and make it count!



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