John McCain was a good politician, better than most, more average than most. He was more like you and me– real. He was concerned about the common man. The common man who puzzled every day over just how to manage his 24 acres estate.
Of course you don’t have 24 acres. You’re lucky if you have a quarter of an acre. You’re lucky if you have a quarter, period, free and clear.
What’s the big deal?
Congressmen make about $174,000.
It just struck me that even John McCain, who– like all of them– loved to insist that he represented well the working classes, and that he cared for people like you and me, and that he understood how hard it was to get by nowadays, and so on and so on– even John McCain had a 24 acre estate to fall back on when he was sick of wandering around Washington in his limo with his driver and security guards.
There should be some people in Congress with 24 acres. There should maybe be a few with 1,000 acres. Maybe even one or two with 10,000 acres. These people have interests and concerns. They should be represented. They should have a voice, so that the vast majority of Congress with their apartments and condos and mortgages and maxed out credit cards, don’t tilt the playing board too far in their own direction. Success should be rewarded.
Now, about those other members of Congress. Yes, I know– no members of Congress take a bus anywhere.
What does Congress do? One thing they do is decide how much money to put into public transit and infrastructure. 600 mostly white men voting on whether or not it’s really necessary to improve public transportation. 600 mostly white men with generous employee-provided health care deciding on whether or not the government should even bother helping you get health care. 600 mostly white men who live in bland suburbs, or expensive downtown condos, or 24-acre estates, deciding on how much toxic waste can be dumped into your drinking water.
How many, do you think, should be representative of the working class? How many should know what it’s like to take a bus somewhere, or fly coach, or take out a payday loan, or have to borrow from friends to cover the deductible on their health care? How many? How many?
Do the Trump acolytes, his mesmerized followers, understand that there is not a single member of Congress who lives even remotely like them? [There are, in fact, a few who have more liabilities than assets, but I will insist that anyone who owes $4 million is not poor– they just haven’t cashed out yet.]
If I lived in the U.S., I think I would start a political party that is constitutionally committed (I mean the party’s constitution) to having a composition that accurately reflects the social-economic status of the country. So it would have to have, out of 100 candidates, about 20 who are really poor, 30 who are middling, 30 who are doing pretty well, and 20 who are prosperous. Of the 20 prosperous candidates, we’ll allow five to be filthy rich.
Okay: come up with legislation that we can all vote for.
[whohit]24 Acres[/whohit]