Do We Really Need Congress Anymore?

Alright. You have a bunch of guys and gals who make very good money and get great health insurance and pensions and perks are able to publish books and go on television and parlay connections into making even more money and then we ask them to vote and put the people first and not their own jobs. Right. That's going to happen. Not in this I got mine economy. Those people do not want to fall back into the great unwashed of the sweaty middle class. They got there and they want to stay there and they will vote for what is politically expedient every time. So to hope that the fat cats in Washington are going to pull a Jimmy Stewart and suddenly become Mr. Smith is a fantasy.

So where does that leave us. Well, here is my proposal. Get rid of congress and let the people decide for themselves. In the beginning we needed a representative body because people could not vote on every issue of government. Not so anymore. We have the Internet. We are wired. Why can't the people decide for themselves? Think about it. The American Jobs Bill comes up. Ok the deadline is thirty days from now. The nation votes. You go to the site and click YES or NO. Think about it. A democracy deciding for themselves beyond the reach of Special Interests!

We can do this now. At the end of the thirty days the votes are counted and the people decide. Should the Bush Tax Cuts be discontinued for the wealthy? You have thirty days to decide. Bam. Just like that. If the people want the wealthy to be taxed then they will be taxed. This would be true Democracy because there are too many people to be bought off. Congressman get bought off routinely. Sad but true. But the people would decide what is their best interests and majority rules.

The age has changed. Congress has worked well for over two hundred years but we now have the technology to take representative democracy to the next step. We have to break the Washington Wall street Corporate stranglehold. So why not give the power to the people? It would be the triumph of the people over the oligarchy. So...why not? Just give Congress their walking papers and we become congress.

A Congress of the People. It has a ring to it.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Rocket Man

The New Guy is going to have to Punch Back

When I moved from Baltimore to Chicago I was the new guy. I had a weird accent and I dressed weird and I had bad hair. And I had no friends. We had moved to a suburb of low tolerance for weird. We had moved into a town of Midwestern guys who wore checkered shirts and blue jeans and boots. I dressed like a refugee from the seventies and grew my hair to Afro length. A clash of cultures. My parents were Kennedy liberals and we had moved into a red enclave of button down Yankees. But I was a kid, what did I care?

So I walked into the lunchroom past a group of football players when one of them calls out. "Now there goes a real faggot." I stopped, dropped my lunch, and saw the blond haired blue eyed Captain of the football team. I didn't know he was the Captain, but I also knew from Baltimore days that you had one chance to set your line. So I threw my lunch on the ground and walked up and pinned "Randy" against the wall, not knowing I had just grabbed the most popular guy in the senior class. "Who are you calling a faggot?" I screamed.

Randy turned red and struggled against my grip. Hey...Hey! He finally got free with his face burning and told me to get my lunch, but his homeboys were in shock. Somebody had pinned the Captain against the wall. This is what the President has to do now when he gets back.  He has to pin anybody who tries to bully, extort, or blackmail him again against the wall. He has to set a line for these guys. A funny thing is once you take down the leader, then all the other guys slink away. But he has to do it now.

A week later I saw Randy in an empty hallway. I had not seen him since the lunchroom. We walked past each other and then he nodded to me. I nodded back.

Rocket Man Has Been Released

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Kindle Download of Rocket Man

The funniest serious novel since Richard Russo’s Straight Man, rich with the epic levity of John Irving and salted with the perversion of Updike." - Chicago Sun Time

"Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." - James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning

Little Eric Cantor Doesn't' Share with the other kids

Eric just doesn't share well with the other kids. He must have been hell on wheels in high school and college. The feisty guy who got the grades the girl and bulled his way past the big dudes who always put him down. Little skinny egghead. But he showed them by his bluster, his will, his gonads. So he rose up and became a congressman and everyone just knew he would do it one day. The problem is he never learned to share.

He always took the other kids blocks and kept the truck for himself. Eric. Now you have to share with the President. No! I won't. I want what I want! Yes, yes, but this is a democracy Eric! NO! This is not a democracy and I don't want to play with anyone else! These blocks are mine. This truck is mine. The sandbox is mine and I want to have it my way or I won't play! Hmmm....teacher conference.

And Eric is a nice boy but he doesn't seem to want to give in. He won't compromise. Eric's parents nod because they know their little achiever while smart and able and competent and just about everything a parents wants...is strangely self absorbed. It's his way or the highway and even though they have tried to reason with him, little Eric just doesn't get it. Why should he compromise on anything? The way Eric sees it, he should just have his way.

The teacher also is worried about respect. Eric  doesn't seem to respect authority. He wants to let his opinion be known above all others. Even with a President of the United States! Little Eric just gets red faced and screams out that no one can tax the rich. No one can tax billionaires and he doesn't care if the government defaults. He wants to have his way.

The teacher conference ends and Eric's parents go home. His dad finds little Eric in his garage building a podium. What are you building son? It's my Presidential podium dad. Ha Ha. You going to be President one day son? Little Eric stares at his dad like he's the biggest moron on the planet. Of course dad. He frowns. What did you think?

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Rocket Man will be out July 26th