Disillusionment of politics

So it really makes me wonder if the powers that be in Washington, on both sides, actually care at all about the money they force us to send them every year. Both candidates for president are promising to spend more money, both candidates are promising that the government will do more things (which sounds nice to SOME people that actually get a benefit from what the government does), and both are promising that they will be the best person for the job. Neither the R or the D vice-president is superior to the other in my opinion after having watched them debate, just like neither the R or the D presidential candidate are superior to the other... but my biggest concern right now is Congress. While MY representative, Jeb Hensarling (who I am definitely a fan of) voted against the bill in the house, which didn't pass, BOTH Texas senators voted for it. 700 Billion Dollars. Billion with a B. That is nearly a trillion dollars, which it probably WILL end up being by the end of this. Now I for one did get my 600 dollar "economic stimulus", which didn't even make a dent in anything, but when I think about it, even if every single person in the US got that (which they didn't) that would be 305 million people getting it, for a total of 183 Billion Dollars. This bill is basically spending the equivalent of $2000 for every single person living in the United States... is that not insane? If you consider there are only about 170 million people that are actually working, that is $4000 per taxpaying person. I personally didn't intend to give banks and insurance companies $4000 of my income this year, did you?

So instead of doing something that would be helpful, like letting the lying, cheating, and stealing banks that have already been discovered to be commiting fraud at every turn, the government is giving them money. Couldn't smaller companies just pick up the slack? Or even larger ones. Bank of America and JP Morgan-Chase have been buying out the banks that are failing... there are plenty of insurance companies that could buy up the ones that are failing. Plenty of them make a ton of money and have it available to spend. So why in the world is the government trying to give them money? Well... a simple reason. Money. It's the biggest scam in the world, and nobody bats an eye. The companies that are getting bailed out are some of the biggest donors to political campaigns. And not just one side or the other.
Look at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. From Banks and insurance companies, which this bill concerns, she recieved $228,000. That is about 10% of her TOTAL contributions. Crazy Democrats, right?
Well then lets look at my own two senators from Texas.
Kay Bailey-Hutchinson
$439,000 from banks and insurance companies. Closer to 5% of the total, but that is still a TON of money for a political campaign.
John Cornyn
$734,000 from banks and insurance companies. About 5% of his total.

The only people that donate more to political campaigns in general than banks, "wall-street" securities firms, and insurance companies are lawyers, and we can see the effect that has with nothing getting done in the court system for reform. It's the same thing with these huge corporate bail-outs. They allocate money and tax-breaks for the companies (I am not against the tax breaks), and they get their kick backs. Not directly of course, because that would be illegal. It is just "campaign contributions".

Well I for one am tired of it. With the exception of my own representative, who voted NO on the bill in the house, I have no incumbents in any position in government that I care to vote for ever again. I won't go so far as to just vote for any random Democrat that is going up against them, but I will certainly find a valid "third-party" alternative.

I am fed up with the people in government that probably don't even remember when they first sold their soul to the mighty dollar, it was so long ago.

Hensarling voted no, and my former district Rep Sam Johnson (who I am also a huge fan of) voted no, but there are a TON of representatives in the House even from Texas that voted yes, so there is no end to the level of my disappointment with the politicians in Washington that supposedly represent MY state right now...

Update: Johnson and Hensarling voted NO on the second go round in the House that actually passed. Still my heroes.