Paul Sassone

Let me ask you:

In your line of work, would you rather be in charge of five people or 500 people?

Of course, you would choose to be in charge of a staff of 500. The larger the staff, the larger the paycheck, the more power you have, the more respect you receive, the better your  chance of rising even higher in the organization.

That’s just human nature.

And that was something that confused me when the Veterans Administration (VA) scandal broke a while back.

You’ll remember that VA managers were caught falsifying how long it took for veterans to get a doctor’s appointment. I understand why the managers falsified reports — to save their jobs.

What I didn’t understand was why there was a need for such subterfuge.

Turned out, the reason it took veterans so long to get an appointment was there weren’t enough doctors.

Congress, of course, was outraged. Heads must roll. But beyond that, conservative members of congress wanted to eliminate the VA and turn the medical care of veterans over to the private sector — to insurance companies and medical corporations. This would be an incredible windfall for corporations that most likely support Republicans.

Yet, the reason there weren’t enough doctors was that Congress — that same outraged Congress — did not fund the VA adequately.

Now comes Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) scandal. There aren’t enough inspectors at airports, so there are humongous waits.

Travelers are being delayed, missing flights, sleeping on cots.

Congress, again, is outraged.

Congress, again, has not provided the money to hire enough inspectors.

And, again, some GOP members of Congress want to do away with the TSA and hand airport security over to the private sector.

Ca-ching!

Is this co-incidence or conspiracy?

Someone with a conspiratorial turn of mind might think that the GOP-dominated Congress is deliberately starving government services of money so government programs will fail, be eliminated and those functions turned over lucratively to corporations — the GOP’s true constituency.

No, that’s too far-fetched.

Right?

–Congress should be pointing finger at itself–