Current political machinations remind me of the childhood fairy tale, The Emperors New Clothes. Remember, the Emperor, a proud, and arrogant man scammed by a trio of crafty tailors. They told him that they were in possession of a miraculous fabric. It's beauty would be obvious to him because he was such a great king, but anyone unworthy of their position would not be able to see it. As they mimed, holding and feeling the texture of this unique fabric, the King, who saw nothing, praised it's beauty and quality and quickly ordered a full suit of robes. He would not admit that he saw nothing; to do so would mean he was unfit to be king. The court watched as the tailors pretended each day to cut, fit and sew the new clothes. They praised the material and the tailors sewing talent to bolster their personal job security.
The day arrived for the Kingdoms' Great Parade. The Emperor, dressed by the tailors in the new garments, was flattered by all his court, as they each tried to prove their job-worthiness, complimenting the fit, cut, and fine workmanship of the new clothes fashioned from the mystical fabric. The King swaggered, as the parade started, to better show the elegant clothes he could not see. There was a stifled gasp as his subjects caught sight of their Ruler strutting, center street, clad only in his underwear. They tried to look impressed to hide their unworthiness for their positions. The Emperor waved and accepted their silent bows.
Then, a small child, unschooled in court etiquette, said, "Mother, the Emperor has no clothes." A child has no job; he can't be unworthy of his position. This realization spread quickly through the crowd, with first a whisper and then a repeated shout "The Emperor has no Clothes","The Emperor has no Clothes".

The events of the last few weeks have exposed the modern Political Class, politicians, pundits, press and sycophants of Washington D.C, as was the emperor in the fairytale.
For years, like the tailor, they have scammed us, telling us that they work harder than we do,and must be more honored.We believed.... and allowed them to raise their salary and increase their status at their will.

They told us that the complex issues they handled were beyond our understanding. We believed... and allowed them to pass bills and laws that curtailed our freedoms and increased the power of their incumbency.

They told us they could better spend our money for the things, we should want or need.
We believed... and they destroyed our personal dreams and budget priorities with taxes and fees to pay for things we didn't ask for, don't want, and many times are by designed to be hidden from us.

On those occasions when we began to murmur and complain about high taxes, unread bills and foolish spending they flaunted their degrees from prestigious schools, inside the beltway resumes, and influential contacts to convince, we little people, of their supreme wisdom and status. We believed... and stood by quietly while they squandered our treasure and trampled the rights of farmers to irrigate their land, people of faith to pray, and our states to determine their individual budgets based on the needs of its residents.

The more we believe in them the more incredible are their demands and behavior. People who break laws that would put the average citizen in jail, are confirmed for lofty positions. Those who can't pass a close scrutiny are quietly hired and given staff for powerful positions without transparency or accountability. In a time of deep recession, they ask for new jet planes, continued subsidies for a cafeteria, personal haircuts, postage, the best heath care money can buy, and funding for large entourages and growing staffs.

We little people, hone our budgets, fly economy class, choose items from the fast food value menu, cut our kids hair at home, do our own manicures, use email , drive cars that are older than the aging family pet, and have lost jobs or laid people off as the businesses we work for, or own, try to keep their doors open.

We believed what the Politicians, Washington insiders and mainstream press had told us. We believed because of our trust in our constitutional government and the integrity of the leaders we elected. In the reflection of our honesty, we believed in theirs. We trusted in the objectivity and honest curiosity of the press, to be our watch dog. They would be on our side, represent our interests, and do the research we were "too busy" to do. We were busy, we had a living to earn, kids to raise, and commitments to God and community to keep.

But then things changed. The press divided. They chose sides. The protection was gone. To get to the truth more than one report, of any given event, had to be heard. Newspapers became, irrelevant. We little people began to think questions and ponder answers. We discovered talk radio and cable news. We heard our questions articulated by the hosts and we watched as, those same hosts, who had dared to say, what we were thinking, were at first ignored, then called names and relentlessly harassed and vilified. We saw politicians from outside the beltway who had the audacity to think, talk, and conduct themselves as us little people do, made fun of, lied about and their vulnerable children mercilessly mistreated by the DC gang.

We no longer blindly believed.

We watched cable news and saw events as they happened and compared "our take" with the main stream press reports. We saw the truth and we began realise that truth could make us, again, free. It was hard to accept that we, like the Emperor and people of his kingdom, had been conned by the people we trusted.

The Emperor's clothing, like the atmosphere of Washington is woven of lies. The DC crowd is not better educated in common sense, or smarter by nature. They do not work harder, or make better decisions about how we should conduct our lives and spend our money than we do. Like the emperor in the story, every one has accepted the "politically correct" line.

The scam is over, we see them as exposed as the emperor in the fairytale when the child murmured the truth. "The emperor has no clothes." The lies are stripped away. We see, our leaders, and those who report about and serve then, as they really are, no smarter, no harder working, no wiser, no more honest or well intentioned than the American people they have asked to represent.

We no longer believe them: we know....."The Emperor has no clothes"