Want to understand why 2009 has witnessed the eruption of Tea Party and Town Hall protests of unprecedented intensity? Look no further than Rep. Charles Rangel, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that writes tax law for the rest of us.
A parade of steadily more serious revelations was capped with news that Rangel somehow forgot to report as much as half a million dollars in assets and income on his 2007 financial disclosure report. It’s impossible to know exactly how much he forgot to report because Rangel and most of the rest of the career politicians in both parties who have run Congress for the past several decades conveniently designed their disclosure form to be as opaque as possible.
That’s why they can report “ranges” of income and asset value. Let you or I try reporting a range of income on our 2009 income tax return and see what happens.
That’s why people are angry. The realization is sweeping the ranks of productive Americans that they’ve been taken for a ride by the professional politicians at all levels of government but especially in Washington – and by their enablers and allies in the liberal media, on campus, the ranks of leftist non-profit activists, in the foundation and think tank worlds, and the ranks of the Fortune 500.
And people are up to here with it. Democrats, Republicans, Independents. That’s why they are going to these town hall meetings and talking back to their congressmen. That’s why Glenn Beck’s fact-based emotional appeals are making him the most-watched man on cable TV. It’s why public support for Obama and Obamacare are plummeting.
Rangel’s explanations for his various financial disclosure dodges have ranged from making honest mistakes to not understanding the Spanish spoken by some of his tenants. And none of it is credible any more. His evasions and rationalizations are embarrassing to anybody who cares about preserving the credibility of government.
It’s time for him to leave.
It’s not like he’s got nowhere to go. There’s always that little rental villa he owns at the Punta Canta Yacht Club in the Dominican Republic. He forgot to report $75,000 in income he derived from that asset but I am betting it’s looking a lot more attractive to him as a retirement spot these days.
And you can bet a range from your next paycheck that Rangel is far from the only congressman who should go home for good.
