OF, BY, FOR

Football has rules.

Players and coaches must play by the rules or be punished for disobeying them.

There is a rule book in which the rules are written.

There is a way to change the rules if they need changing.

The rules cannot be changed by those whose job it is to enforce the rules or to apply the rules on the field.

We are a nation of rules.

There is a rule book. It is called "The Constitution of the United States of America."

There is a way to change the rules.

It's called "the amendment process."

There's even a way to re-write the entire rule book.

It's called "a constitutional convention."

But just as neither the referees nor the NFL can't change the rules of football while it is being played, judges can't change the rules of our country "while it is being played" (although they certainly seem to have forgotten that part of the rule book).

There is a set of bodies that can make laws, but even they are subject to the master rule book (although they certainly have shown plenty of disdain for it).

These bodies are called the Houses of Congress, and they are made up of the Senate and the House of Congress.

Calling them both "congress" and one of them individually "congress" at the same time can be confusing, but that's the way it is.

Lately, the collective congress has forgotten the principles laid out in the rule book. They have gotten confused about their job and have come to believe that they "rule" the country.

They are not supposed to.

The other night I heard one of the members of the House of Congress (not to be confused with the Houses of Congress) expound on how they were elected to exert "leadership" (that's a word they use for "boss citizens around").

They have gotten the idea that their job is to lead the country in the direction they think best for all of us.

That's backward.

That's how other countries do it, not the United States of America.

In America, the lawmakers' job is to lead the country in the direction its citizens want it to go.

Abraham Lincoln called it "...government of the people, by the people and for the people."

Our Houses of Congress (not to be confused with just the House of Congress) have tried to turn us into a "people of the government, by the government and for the government."

This past November we said "Enough, already!"

Turn it back around!

Many members of the House of Congress and the Senate (you remember, the Houses of Congress), failed to get the message.

Either that or they got the message but preferred to pretend that they did not by twisting the message into a congressional pretzel.

It is my hope and prayer that this January, when the new members of the Houses of Congress, (the Senators and the Congresspersons) take their place in our government they will remember their job: find out what the citizens want and lead us in that direction.

Each side (there are at least three: Democrats, Republicans and Independents) prefaces every speech with, "The American people want...," when they really don't have a clue what the American people want because they don't listen to the American people, they listen to their favorite sub-group (special interest groups) to find out which ones are going to give them the most money for their re-election campaign in two, four, six or eight years.

Time to wake up, Congress persons of both houses.

You've been sent to Washington D.C. (not to be confused with Washington state in the great Pacific northwest) to represent us, not to get us to represent your ideas of how things should be.

Now you Lame Duckers (not to be confused with blog commenter, Ducky) need to develop some character and integrity and stop trying to lead the country where you think it should go in a mad rush before you have to leave Congress.

Try leading us in the direction WE want to go!

What a concept!

I wonder how our framers came up with it?