Let’s be clear about what’s happened: after it became clear that taxpayers could no longer afford to pay for their own pensions, they were compelled to pay for government pensions. That would seem to settle the question of who is working for whom.

Facing an increasingly ominous economic outlook, President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats are rapidly ratcheting up plans for a massive fiscal stimulus program that could total as much as $700 billion over the next two years. That amount, more than the nation has spent over the past six years in Iraq, would rival the sum Congress committed last month to rescuing the country’s financial system. It would also be one of the biggest public spending programs aimed at jolting the economy since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion….

To deliver an opinion, is the right of all men; that of constituents is a weighty and respectable opinion, which a representative ought always to rejoice to hear; and which he ought always most seriously to consider. But authoritative instructions; mandates issued, which the member is bound blindly and implicitly to obey, to vote, and to argue for, though contrary to the clearest conviction of his judgment and conscience,—these are things utterly unknown to the laws of this land, and which arise from a fundamental mistake of the whole order and tenor of our constitution.

Parliament is not a congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole; where, not local purposes, not local prejudices, ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not member of Bristol, but he is a member of parliament.

-Edmund Burke, 18th Century Member of the British Parliament

1. Democrats with 39.3 million
2. Republicans with 30.6 million
3. Independents (not a party) with 22.8 million
4. Constitution Party at 0.4 million
5. Green Party at 0.3 million
6. Libertarian Party at 0.2 million
7. Reform Party at 0.04 million
8. Natural Law Party at 0.02 million
9. and “other” at 0.7 million

I was mostly familiar with the top six parties but I didn’t even know what the hell the Natural Law Party was. I looked and, well, don’t waste your time. Their website leads you to the “US Peace Government” web page of a group of people who are trying to open 2400 “Peace Palaces” across the USA. Uh, OK.

The Reform Party was the one started by Ross Perot in 1995 for his second run for president. It seemed to consist of people who read Robert’s Rules of Order for fun so squabbles and infighting caused several splits to occur – the American Reform Party, the America First Party and oh, who cares about the rest. You get the idea. In 2005 the state committees from a few states even sued the state committees from some other states.

According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics there are…
1,496,773
as of June of 2008.

Holy crap! Each one with an office, of course, and a staff. Non-profit maybe, but don’t kid yourself – it’s a business like any other.