Why Should Anyone be Surprised That Congress Has No Credibility?

{Editor’s Note: This is the 31st installment of a series of articles attempting to address the 32 questions posed by Ron Paul in his recent farewell speech given in front of Congress. Check out the previous installment, "Why Is Democracy Held In Such High Esteem When It’s The Enemy Of The Minority?"}"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Emerich Edward Dalberg ActonNo truer phrase has ever been uttered, and naturally this applies to politics above virtually any other profession. Many may enter politics from a genuine urge to help their fellow man or to bring about change or protection of policy which they honestly feel will be for the betterment of the population. Many, many others simply enter politics because they crave power, or are so used to being in power that they crave additional power. This is why so often we see men of considerable influence make the leap into politics. Power is an addiction and the addict must continually seek a new high.These power hungry men should immediately cause us to question the credibility of Congress. Why would we assume that self- centered men and women with personal ambition as their sole goal would ever look out for the interests of the populace over their own?  But for those who start out with pure hearts and minds, there are still ample pitfalls, temptations and traps of the system to turn them from leaders into liars.So, why should anyone be surprised that Congress has no credibility, since there’s such a disconnect between what politicians say and what they do?Let's look at the two most recent Presidents for some examples of the disconnect between words and action, even in the executive office.President George W. Bush ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility and a very rational foreign policy that was stated as opposed to nation building and one that would avoid putting American troops in danger abroad. Of course, we all know how that turned out. 9/11 happened, and Bush used that as an excuse to launch unconstitutional wars on numerous fronts, including Iraq and Afghanistan. 9/11 also gave Bush the opportunity to remove basic liberties from citizens under the "protective" auspices of the Patriot Act. His despicable flip in position was rewarded by the American people with four more years in office.President Obama has also been rewarded for his own blatant disregard for his original campaign promises. Obama quite literally ran on a platform based upon attacking the Bush administration's policies and guaranteeing that he would be the anti-Bush. He promised to bring home the troops in the Middle East, end the war in Iraq, close Guantanamo Bay, etc. Naturally, none of these things have happened and in fact Obama has extended our militaristic ways into brand new fronts. We're also closer to war with Iran than we have been in the past 20 years. Yet, we have four more years of Obama in office. Apparently no one is surprised that C0ngress has no credibility...but your average American is either too stupid, uninformed or simply doesn't care enough to hold our congressmen accountable.Of course, there is ample enticement for our representatives to ditch their campaign policies once in office due to benefits and bribes from special interest groups.  Here is a handy list of discredited representatives by Presidential era. Quite an impressive list...and those are just the ones who were dumb enough to be caught.Corruption aside, one of the main issues that has to be examined is simply that those elected have either forgotten or never cared to know what it means to be a Congressman or Senator. The true purpose of Congress - to protect and voice the rights of the people and to check the power of the President - has long ago been abandoned.  The numerous disturbing Bills and Acts that have passed in recent years, starting with the Patriot Act and most recently culminating in the NDAA, show us that Congress has lost its loyalty to the American people. Like all government, Congressmen seek only to extend their power within the system, lie to get reelected and then blame their failures of votes against the wishes of their constituents on other factors outside their control.Until we hold Congress accountable and elect representatives like Ron Paul who vote with their heart, in an unwavering manner that is consistent with their running platform, we will continue to perpetuate this appalling affront to liberty. The only way this can be done is with education - education about promises kept and missed, votes cast and those which are curiously absent.  And of course, education about liberty. Those who have been in power for decades, running on an ever changing platform must be removed - and the only way to assure that will happen is to create a wiser population that understands liberty and is inspired to create positive change in that direction.Have a very Merry Christmas Eve, everyone. If only we could elect Santa to Congress, we might have another honest man in there...or with Ron Paul's retirement, we'd have at least one.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!