Blast From the Past

Here's a little something I wrote in pre-Jenius days; November 21, 2001, to be exact.

Seems more appropriate now.


MORE LAYOFFS

Here’s an idea: Let’s give the Puerto Rican House and Senate a month off.

Don’t give me that look: I’m serious. We should give them a whole month off to go home and stay home, a month off from pretending to represent “the people”, a month off from “impromptu” press conferences, a month off from “legislating”, “fiscalizing” or whatever “ing” they think they’re “doing.”

In simple terms: To disappear for a month. Not to be seen or heard by anyone. And at their own expense. They are already the highest-paid state-level legislators in the U.S. of A., so no more of these “I’m in Brazil studying the chance to join an organization that we can’t join anyway” junkets at our expense.

Why a month off? Because We, The People, need it. Desperately.

What are these legislators doing for Us? Quite a few of them are under investigation for ethical or illegal misconduct, they often get into spats that school-kids are punished for and one of them has the unmitigated nerve to “serve the people” by going to law school when he should be in session, at Our expense. [Jenius Note: At least that idiot is no longer legislating. He runs a political party now. Woo-hoo.]

This is no way to run a country. So by making them take a month off, We can go about fixing the problem without their interference.

Here’s what We’ll discover:

1) Proof that they are overpaid. We all sense that, but when We see the improvement and savings, this will give us hard, factual evidence.

2) The media will have to do some real reporting, maybe poke their noses into some real issues for a change. No more “political gossip fodder” to feed the mill.

3) We’ll discover individuals who deserve to be revealed, good people doing good deeds, and a few scalawags who are sucking the blood from Our veins. No more “buzzing politicians blowing smoke” to hide the good and bad.

4) That We are actually more in tune with each other than We think. Like wrestlers, politicians create issues for the mobs to cheer: the bottom line is that We are more alike than different.

5) That maybe We’ll want to give the legislators another month off, and some We might want to get rid of permanently. Now.

Some folks might object saying “Who will make laws?” My answer is: We will. We do it anyway, as anyone observing how We “obey” traffic laws and get things done on this Island can attest. (That should change, but can these “servants” of the people do it?). And to those who wonder “What about the commissions?” I can only ask: ‘What about them?” Name one--right now!--that has had a direct impact on your life. See? You can’t think of any.

And finally, to those who say it’s part of democracy and they should stay on the job, I respond: Democracy is government by the people. We are the people, and as one of those faceless many who make up “The People”, I at least, want Us to govern them, for a change.


The Jenius Has Spoken.