Written by Richard L. Hall   

The word Idiot originates from the Greek word idiwtes (idiotes), which refers to a person disinterested in participating in democracy and public life. Idiots were viewed as selfish, contemptible and stupid because they were more concerned with their routine personal affairs than they were with the good of their society.

US House Republican Congressman Scott DesJarlais showed up for a Town Hall Meeting to address our concerns and hear our ideas. He didn’t fluff around with a long opening speech, he got right to it after a couple minutes, asked who wanted to go first.

A local gentleman, 27 year military retired, and I have to assume he has taxpayer funded healthcare coverage, retirement and Social Security, as well he should, spoke first and rattled off a Tea Party type political platform for congress to act on now and when. Sam’s platform included: reducing federal spending to 2008 level, repeal all regulations enacted during the Obama Administration, stating that 800 new regulations went into effect in the previous two months and that that was really intrusive of the government (4,000 more or less new regulations enacted per year is not unusual), balance the Federal budget, repeal the 16th amendment (established the IRS) and establish the FAIR tax (very regressive national/federal sales tax, “fair” in name only, not fair to working middle class and working poor) and repeal Obama Care. Most everybody clapped.

The Congressman then says he agrees and that the gentleman’s platform was a winning platform for President. Wasn’t any ifs, ands or buts, just straight up “I agree with what you said.” Pretty specific no bullshit response. Later DesJarlais did say he’d prefer 2006 levels.

Next was this guy from Morgan County expressing his concern for “our youths” telling a story about some pill heads taking his friend who had some pills on him, beating him near to death stealing the pills and dumping him off the road in New River leaving him for dead. Next day the pill heads found the victim still alive and tried to beat him to death again. Next day victim was still alive so they set the victim on fire. Morgan Co. guy says, “these were kids... and they set him on fire”. He was pretty choked up about it.

The Morgan Co. guy also mentioned political bickering as a problem. So DesJarlais went on this drone about being appalled at the shameful behavior in congress, about needing to work together. Spit out a talking point about C-Span airing “out and out lies”. (If you watch C-Span you’d know that conservatism is far, far from being underrepresented or lied about on C-Span, but that’s just not good enough). And then he had the berries to bring up the recent manufactured debt ceiling crisis as a good example of how it shouldn’t be in Congress. Says everybody in congress was worrying about how they’d look, “Who cares how they looked”, DesJarlais says, “It’s you guys that matter and they lose sight of that”. Then went on to paint himself as someone who is for working on compromise, in the middle.

DesJarlais is one of the Congressman who voted to let the nation default on it’s debt, the cause of degrading of our credit rating and the implementation of the “Super Congress” a 12 member panel, 50/50 Republican/Democratic charged with cutting spending which is all but certain to end up cutting or means testing Social Security. “Means Testing” turns Social Security, an Entitlement, into Welfare which can then be cut further or all together. The means testing sounds good because, as the Republican, argument goes Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdock, they don’t need Social Security they have plenty. An Entitlement is something you are entitled to because you paid or worked for it or are otherwise contractually entitled. Entitlements are not Welfare, Food Stamps or SSI. A paycheck from work is an entitlement. Food stamps is welfare. So when you hear a politician talking about a need to cut entitlements they’re talking Social Security and Medicare.

After that a Mr. Brooks wanted to know how to get the EPA out of our lives as well as doing something about Free Trade Agreements that are costing us jobs. Mr. Brookes also pointed out that if we had those jobs we’ve already lost that Social Security would be fine basically. He’s right.

DesJarlais responded with one of those examples of ridiculous sounding regulation, if you’re a farmer you can’t make dust in the field while you’re plowing. I tried to look that one up but I’d have to dig deep to find the origins of this regulation. Instead I’ll just tell you why a regulation like that is even written: Well, some bloated city manager or planning and development committee has gotten together with a land developer/campaign contributor and greed won out over common sense, and possibly the law. And they built homes all the way up to the farmer’s fence instead of leaving an undeveloped buffer between farmland and neighborhoods. So now the EPA is the bad guy.

Back to DesJarlais who went on to say no one wants to be irresponsible with our planet, we share it, we need it. That’s the Unregulated Free Market proponents’ view of the world. The market will take care of the environment. It’s bullshit of course. A smarter man will bring up the EPA in a bit. Also the Congressman said the Department of Education is a failure and that the states can take care of education better. The states can take care of education better is mostly bullshit. What that means is that poor regions will get poor education and wealthier regions or states will have more money and provide higher quality education. Oh yeah, Unregulated Free Market proponents support job losing Free Trade Agreements.

A sweet lady sitting beside me was worried about her Social Security being cut and jobs. Now I wanted to hear how DesJarlais would handle the lady’s Social Security concern. That was his opportunity to bring up means testing. The sweet lady made the mistake of mentioning contacting DesJarlais’s office so DesJarlais introduce some staff and said let’s stay in touch. That was it for the Social Security until later.

Now the next guy who spoke was smart. First he brought up the EPA, said God Bless the EPA. Pointed out that there’s rivers around here where signs advise people not to eat the fish and no swimming for pregnant women. Said we need the EPA, he’s right. Nobody clapped though. The smart guy went on to ask about the current highway bill. Going to lose another 500,000—600,000 jobs if it is cut by a proposed 34%. He wanted to know “whether or not” DesJarlais “would vote for a bill that would cut that many jobs” at a time like now. I wanted to know too.

Now even though DesJarlais agreed that all regulation enacted by the Obama administration should be repealed without question he came back with “having not read or seen the specific bill I won’t speak to the contents of that.” So I interjected and said “What he wants to know is how you would vote on a bill that would reduce jobs.” DesJarlais said that was a tricky question. I said it was straight forward. The smart guy came in and made a good argument for not voting for a bill that would cut so many jobs, that it would be “kind of crazy in the economy right now.” Then I cut in and ask again would he vote for a bill that would cut so many jobs. DesJarlais said he had an answer for the question and then goes on for 4 minutes not even giving an idea of how he’d vote on such a job loss bill. But he did later.

I said it sounded like a good typical answer.

Then DesJarlais says to me “Let’s hear your answer”. Good Bullshitter come back, turns it on to me. I hadn’t enough sleep to want to spar with the Congressman over the nothingness of his answer. And that’s what I was thinking about so I said my answer would be similar to his. Really all he had just said for 4 minutes added up to “It depends”. Everything depends, hard to argue with it depends. But he does eventually answer the question later.
(NOTE:) When asked, I should have said infrastructure investment is important to our economy and losing even a hundred thousand jobs let alone 600,000 jobs would be a terrible blow to our all but failing economy. That preserving infrastructure spending and associated jobs would provide a good return on our investment in our economy. And that I would have to read the bill but on the surface it doesn’t sound like I’d support a bill that would cut spending on that kind of good and important investment in our country… And since it was mostly a Republican crowd I’d have added - “...to protect our freedoms.” Republicans eat that bullshit up. When I hear “protect our freedoms” now, it’s like hearing “I love you” from someone I know is cheating on me.

Anyway he kept staring at me so I said, “Typical answer, that’s all.” He kept starring so I said “I understand completely, you’re correct.” but that it didn’t address the anger over jobs. He said he didn’t like the answer either but that that was the reality.

Then a lady from E.T.H.R.A. was expressing her concerns about cuts in her funds that has left her drivers with ten hours a week to work. She was asking DesJarlais if he could help maybe get a little of the funding back to help out the drivers that are so important to her efforts to help the elderly. Said she understood that cuts are needed but that she felt that the elderly shouldn’t suffer and that the wealthy should pay more. She asked him to just make her feel better about the E.T.H.R.A. program to maybe get a few more hours, that her drivers are getting down close to around $200. a month now and that that was terrible for the people in her county. She ended by asking DesJarlais if he could see any hope anywhere.

DesJarlias comes back with a long time filling drone about inflated home appraisals, low interest rate car loans, got to change how we do things in DC, we going to lose our country , we’re going to go bankrupt and then I interrupted to cut him off and said “and we’re going to lose our freedoms” right on top of his same words but with me ahead by half a word. Yeah, I was being a little disrespectful. I mean, he wasn’t really saying much of anyway. But out of this drone he did tell us that “seniors and road builders have to share in the sacrifice.”

So then I attempt to go into this question that was suppose to go like this:
I’m a business owner operating in 14 counties, I’m absolutely unregulated, unlicensed, I’m legal and I’m kind of in the same boat with Exxon-Mobil in that I don’t pay income tax and I get a refund.
The government is as out of my business as it can be. I’m a would be job creator.
If I hire now there’s no return on my investment, because there’s no buyers, middle class cash flow for transactions has all but dried up.
Now if I were to, as an example, start building toasters or washing machines anyway I couldn’t compete with offshore prices.
How is reducing my taxes, tort or liability reform, reduced regulations or free trade agreements with low wage, low or no regulation countries like Columbia, Panama, S. Korea or Mexico and China going to help my toaster factory hire workers without the US becoming a polluted third world nation?

Then I was going to say “I’ll sit down for your answer.”

I should have read it off the sheet I printed it on considering I had no sleep for two days and 5 hours sleep in the three days before that. I only made it to the part where I said I pay no income tax and the sweet lady beside me giggled which caused me to wink at her and say “yeah” and lose my train of thought. So I went with Exxon needing to pay taxes. Only quick move I had mentally.

He said they were working on making it so Exxon & GE would not pay less than 5%. I interrupted and badgered him on tax rates trying to see what I could salvage from the failed attempt at asking my original question. So I got that he thinks everyone should have skin in the game on taxes. So if you make $6,000. (the example I used in the back and forth) a year you should be paying $780. a year under a flat tax scenario and $2,000. (or almost a third of your skin) a year under a FAIR tax scenario (FAIR taxers use the figure 23% but that’s fuzzy bullshit math and the actual rate would be over 30%). To be fair about the FAIR tax I have to add that the poor would be getting a pre-bate check from the government that is suppose to cover the sale taxes on basic needs purchases and rent which would also be taxed. Still not a fair tax, still won’t reduce the size of a federal tax agency or service and neither the FAIR tax nor a flat tax is going to be able to collect from a black market of goods and services that will immediately be approaching the size of the taxable market. Revenuers would have to exist in mass to assure better than moderate collections. Not going to reduce the size of government. It’d be a windfall in savings for wealthy tax payers.

Anyway somebody calls the two minute warning, the show was shutting down. It’d only been a little more than thirty minutes. Fearing I’d be there for a last softball pitch and a drone of an answer I went ahead and pushed the question I wanted to ask out onto DesJarlias. I asked how is reducing my taxes, tort or liability reform, reduced regulations or free trade agreements with low wage, low or no regulation countries like Columbia, Panama, S. Korea or Mexico and China going to help my toaster factory pay people to sale toasters without the US becoming a polluted third world nation? Kind of loud.

He came back asking me do I pay my fair share of taxes. He relies heavily on that bullshitters’ tactic. Then there’s a back and forth over my taxes. Said I pay what I’m suppose to by law, social security tax. He asked me if it was wrong for me not to pay taxes. I wasn’t sharp enough to say “what’s wrong is that my wife and I work about a hundred and twenty plus hours a week and we don’t make enough to pay income tax, and that’s very taxing.” It was a stupid conversation that I got started and he used to avoid the question I asked.

He tried to move on to someone else, so I took it back with “You’re not going to answer that question...” I hear rumbles trying to quite me so I stood up and continue with asking how’s turning the United States into a third world nation going to create jobs.

So DesJarlais again turns the question onto me. He asked me to tell him the solution. So I point down at him and told him “we have to get rid of people like him, people that don’t answer questions, the Bullshitters”.

That’s when the guys that had rush up to me already, nabbed me and pushed me out the door. I was right there at it. After some Hitcha boy talk in the doorway I was leaving, a tall lanky fragile looking man wanting me to wait for the police. I said “tell them to come get me.” Really I wasn’t interested in pressing charges on my “attackers”. I got my story. So I walk on down the hall, busted out with laughter and exclaimed “I liked that”. I didn’t mean to but I had just earned my “got kicked out of a Republican Town Hall Meeting” badge. Down the hall I came face to face with a cute small framed woman. I was feeling good so I talked to her long enough to get her name and where she works. I got a drink of water and told her to have a nice day, she said the same, “too”.

Anyway my question was a trick question, of course, because it’s DesJarlais’s political platform. He couldn’t answer it because tax cuts don’t create jobs. It’s a known Republican lie that has been repeated so much I think they believe it even though history and evidence doesn’t support the claim. The supposed “job creators” have so much cash on hand they don’t know what to do with it. They use it to play and gamble in the market causing unnatural price increases on all kinds of goods and supplies we need to live decently. Tax cuts to the super rich cash hoarders are like a grain of sand in a large hourglass. Tax cuts =jobs is bullshit. People spending money creates jobs. If you get a tax cut are you going to hire someone to produce something in mass that you can’t sell? No, you’re not. Neither is someone smart enough to stay rich. They have virtually all the money. Once you have virtually all the money and there’s no money left to get it’s time to move on to a new market, anywhere on the globe. Tax cuts would save DesJarlais a relatively material chunk of change, he’s not that rich.

Tort/liability reform, he’s a Doctor of course he wants reform. Tort/liability reform is an effort to reduce the amounts awarded to victims of medical malpractice, or victims of products that hurt or kill people (tools, medications, toys,…). This type of reform would lower liability/malpractice insurance rates for professions and manufacturers. And reduce award amounts to victims of negligence and such. It’s an effort to make it cheaper to be irresponsible, not an effort to create jobs. The only spending that is reduced is DesJarlais’, and the likes’, spending on malpractice insurance and awards that may exceeded an underinsured entity’s policy limits. Oh yeah, it may also lower the price of a $7. aspirin by two cents or so. The manufacturer isn’t going to hire because he gets to keep the money. He can’t sell any more product than he does already. He’s not going to give anyone a raise either because there is 5,000 people at the door who need a job. He might lower wages because now there’s 17,000 desperate people at the door that need a job, any job, any pay.

Reduced regulations.... Making it cheaper or free to be irresponsible and/or criminal. Not going to create jobs. If we got rid of almost all regulation we’d still have to be willing to work for $2. a day to compete for jobs we’ve lost over the past two decades. Only reduces spending if we can ignore the damage to our lives and environment. They want to reduce regulations that hamper the concentration of wealth, globally. They regulate down on main street business and de-regulate up for Wall Street banksters.

What’s left, Free Trade Agreements. FTA’s don’t create jobs anywhere but in other countries, not ours, period. FTA’s don’t get our products into other countries’ markets in any material sense. It’s complete bullshit. FTA’s do help concentrate wealth into fewer hands, globally.

Congressman DesJarlais is highly intelligent if anything and he votes, but I think he’s kind of an idiot anyway. The kind that is more concerned with his routine personal affairs, like malpractice insurance (yeah I believe it’s that fricken simple, greed), than he is with the good of his country. He’s being paid by the taxpayers to help himself, I can’t pretend I believe any different. So he’s a smart idiot. He’s a public servant privateer. That makes him an oxymoron (look it up first before you call).

Is it disrespectful to refer to the Congressman as a bullshitter? I don’t think so, for one thing DesJarlais is a pretty good Bullshitter. To a good Bullshitter that’s a compliment. I’m sure DesJarlais is very proud of his Bullshitting prowess. It’s a debate skill, a campaigning skill, a haggling skill and a needed skill for most. Suckers, like in there’s a sucker born everyday are people who have no skill at bullshit, to the point they can’t even recognize it.

Check this out. Couple years ago or so I went to this Democratic meeting in my county. A woman showed up to campaign. She was a Democratic candidate re-running or running for higher office, running for something anyway. Nice lady. I asked her reasonable questions till she broke down crying. You could see it coming, she was breaking down. I even told her nicely that she probably shouldn’t be running for office after she was crying. I felt kind of bad but she was interviewing for a job. There was no gasps, no one tried to get me off her even when she was crying. No one rushed me and shoved me out the door. No one even got mad. We all stuck around discussing her afterwards. And I’m not even a Democrat and they know I’m not. I just think the contrast of the two parties is interesting.

Our government has failed to protect our economy from the rest of the world for the sake of wealth concentration. They have failed to protect the ordinary citizen for the few at the top which now includes the majority of those political public servants tasked to protect us and manage our national affairs. They are virtually all knowingly or unknowingly sellouts and privateers with few exceptions.

What can we do to fight back and fix our country? Well for now I’m going to turn that question around to you, the readers. Write up your thoughts on what we can do (little things and big things) to improve our situation here in the U.S.A. If I print it we’ll pay you. You don’t have to be a great writer, just understandable. We can fix up the spelling and grammar for you, if needed, without changing what you have to say. Include your name and a phone number incase we need to ask you anything. Email works too if you check it daily. And I don’t have to agree with you to print your ideas and I pay you. Even Congressman DesJarlais could be paid if he wants to respond to this report.

We pay for opinion too, don’t have to agree with you either. We’re now looking for free lance citizen journalists, news hounds, complainers, muckrakers, especially muckrakers (look it up first) that want to make money for writing. We’re looking for your local, state, national, world and personal experience, news and opinion or commentary. If you’re not sure, just ask.

(NOTE:) Also, I sat in the front row closed to the door in case I wanted to leave if the meeting went stale. The Congressman was sitting in front of the podium. We were 6 or 7 feet apart. When I stood and pointed at him my hand may have been 4 feet from him. That’s too close. If you are going to aggressively question a high level politician like the Congressman, do not get that close. I was too close to the Congressman (his fault or his security’s fault), a risky, possibly costly space to be in. Be careful.

Don't be a Sucker!
Richard L. Hall
www.thecommunityshopper.com