Who's Speaking for Me?

Being generally conservative, I've been a little amused and a little aggravated that Rush Limbaugh seems to been ordained as the spokesperson for conservatives everywhere. What a crock! Then on the opposite end of the spectrum we have Nancy Pelosi as the poster child for all things liberal. Double crock! So (stay with me here) we have Rush speaking for the ultra-conservatives and Nancy representing the ultra-liberals. Here's my question......who's looking out for me?

My best guess is that Rush's followers represent about 10% of the far right and Nancy's disciples represent about 10% of the far left. So who represents the rest of us, the other 80%? For that matter, who represents the 40% right down the middle? I'll bet that's where most of us are. I probably know more people personally than the average guy, given that we've lived in three states and my work has allowed me to travel a good bit. I don't know of a single one of them who thinks that either Rush or Nancy has anything close to the right answer.

So what do those people who make up that 40% believe that is so far removed from the aforementioned knuckleheads? Well, I haven't been designated to speak for them, but I'll bet most of them believe something pretty close to this:

• We need to take care of those who can't take care of themselves. This does not include people who won't take care of themselves. There's a big difference. Stop the ongoing welfare.


• Everyone should pay their fair share. How much is that? Well, I've seen some estimates at around 17%. That's more than some pay now and less than some others, but at least we'd all be on the same scale.
  
• The federal government should protect our shores, deliver our mail, and leave us alone. We can handle everything else locally.
  
• Stop funding all the pet projects in the budget. "Bridges to Nowhere", etc. By the way, did you know there is $200,000 in the stimulus package for tattoo removal? Seems gang members in California can't get jobs because of their gang tattoos, so you and I are going to pay to have them removed. I'm guessing we could find some good ole boys in Mississippi who would do it for nothing.
  
• Stop spending money we don't have. That goes for you, me, and the government.
  
• Make convicted criminals serve their sentences. And make them work while they're in there. I don't care if they're overcrowded. If we made them serve their entire sentence and made them work, my guess is the overcrowding would take care of itself. As for their rights, they gave them up when they were convicted.
  
• Not everyone is a victim. Some people are where they are because they made bad choices. This doesn't have anything to do with luck, bad genes, or the signs of the Zodiac. Step up and take the consequences of your behavior. If you don't like the consequences, change the behavior. It's really pretty simple.
  
• None of us are entitled to anything just because we're here. If you want something, work for it. If you try to steal mine, I'll shoot you.
  
• And finally, stop with the political correctness already. We're so afraid we're going to offend somebody, we can't effectively do anything. Take profiling for example. We have to shake down an 85 year old grandmother at the airport so we won't offend the Arab-Americans who might be in line, too. Maybe it's time we acknowledged that it wasn't the Southern Baptists who flew planes into the World Trade Center.
  

So, back to the original question. Who's looking out for me? Well, friends, sadly the answer is no one. If we don't look out for ourselves, we're left to whatever Rush and Nancy think we should have.

Guess I'll just do the best I can and trust God for the rest. Beats trusting Rush or Nancy any day.

Till next time..............