I usually try to stay away from populism. Having lived around cows for much of my life, I know, vividly, exactly what herd behavior is, and how much we don’t want it in human society. But the Speaker of the House, Ms. Nancy Pelosi (D), has earned a good dose of populist rage, and I think we should give it to her.
Check out the backbone of this story, from Judicial Watch.org: [1]
According to the documents, which we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the Air Force $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. (Lots and lots of alcohol.) The following are highlights from the recent release of about 2,000 documents, which you can read here [2]:
Read it again. Let it sink in.
That woman spent the price of a modest new home on hoochie juice and munchies for just her plane trips. And billed it to the multitudes of taxpayers who have lost their home on her watch.
[3]
Make It Rain [4]
We’re not talking about all the food and drinks she consumed over the course of two whole years. That would be bad enough! No, this is just the food and liquor she consumed on the plane rides from her district to DC and back.
$100 large… Taken by gun point from your wallet along with those of everyone you know, and every other taxpayer in the country, dividing the total up to such a small sum from each of us that we don’t really notice the scale of the largess.
With the median [5] household income (two people working, half the US households are below this value) sitting at $46,326 [6], we can safely say that many, if not most, of you reading this won’t make $100,000 in 3 or 4 years. Like I said, it’s the cost of a modest home for a lower middle class family. If you, or someone you know, lost their home over the last two years, think about the fact that Nancy Pelosi dropped half of your entire mortgage on nothing but food and liquor on her plane rides over that time period and made someone else pick up the tab. Namely, you!
I don’t know about any of you, and I would not be surprised if some apologist yahoo jumped in on the comments and tried to defend the Speaker of the House, but that’s absolutely ridiculous.
Let me tell you what the world would be like if it were up to me:
The politicians wouldn’t be getting caviar and fine wine on their plane rides. They wouldn’t be riding in private jets, military jets, or even first freakin’ class. They’re supposed to be the servants of the People, and the People ride coach.
To me, it’s a situation similar to Harry Reid’s comment about stinking Americans [7] visiting DC…
Does this not remind you of how the aristocracy, the nobles, treated the serfs in the Dark Ages?
(Actually, that’s not even a fair comparison… The serf’s tax rate was only 50% [8]…)
They’re supposed to work for us. We do not exist to serve the politicians. We do not exist to serve the State. Both of those human constructs exist to serve us. WE the PEOPLE invented those ideas, that of the state and the politician, over time, to help us function in society, and to increase our chance of survival.
Not to grind us under their boot heel, to insult us, to live lives of opulence and extravagance on our effort, our labor.
They should be back in coach, with the stinking, sweating, farting, swearing common man and woman. They should be listening to the cries and laughter of our children. They should be talking to us. They should be trying to share our existence. This is essential for them to represent us effectively. They have to know us, our lives, and how we think, what we care about, and what scares us.
Not sitting on some private military flight sucking down 3 year’s worth of a common man’s wages in firewater and finger foods.
But hey, what can you seriously expect from a woman who looks at the poll numbers on Health Care, has seen the “Summer of Angry Town Halls”, has seen one of the most powerful Democrat strongholds switch sides in an election, and yet still has the moxy to tell us that she’s still going to fight to get health care reform passed?
A freaking disgrace.
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Mike McGowan [11]
Latest posts by Mike McGowan (Posts [12])
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