Jim Hightower: Lawmakers Are Free Not to Become Narcissistic Jerks

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Lawmakers Are Free Not to Become Narcissistic Jerks

Saturday, 25 January 2014 10:42
By Jim Hightower, OtherWords | Op-Ed


Mark Twain spoke for me when he said: “I’m opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.”

One danger that such wealth brings is that many who have it become blinded to those who don't. Thus, the news that more than half of our Congress critters are now millionaires explains why it has been striving ceaselessly to provide more government giveaways to Wall Street bankers and other super-wealthy elites, while also striving to enact government takeaways from middle-class and poor families.


[font size="1"]Congress Discovers Inequality in America, an OtherWords cartoon by Khalil Bendib[/font]

Take the richest House member, Rep. Darrell Issa, with a net worth of $464 million. A right-wing California Republican, he has used his legislative powers to try denying health coverage to poor Americans, even as he tried to unravel the new restraints to keep Wall Street bankers from wrecking our economy again.

Issa and his ilk are proof that a lawmaker’s net worth is strictly a financial measure, not any indication at all of one’s actual value or “worthiness.”

I hasten to note that many millionaires in America have been able to rise above their financial handicap, serving the public interest rather than self or special interests. For example, when Rep. Chellie Pingree was elected to Congress in 2009, she was an organic farmer and innkeeper in rural Maine. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/21438-lawmakers-are-free-not-to-become-narcissistic-jerks

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1. Congress "OF", "BY" and "FOR" the Corporate Wealthy and Extremely Rich

Corruption never had it so good!