Candidate's contribution

Dear Queens Crapper and Ecuatimes, thank you for inspiring the following opinion.

POLITICIANS MUST BE "BLOCKED" FROM SUCCUMBING TO TEMPTATION
by Carlos Fabara

Queens is not the only place in the world suffering an epidemic of political corruption (on the part of its elected officials), but lately it appears to be the eye of the storm; at least to those of us who are sensitive to the pain being robbed by our electeds produces.

Queens is our home, and we need to face this problem and it is time we correct it -- once and for all time. But, can it be corrected? Is there a solution to the problem of political corruption? Or are we the taxpayers, helpless? And utterly powerless to stop it?

Queens' taxpayers, the people who finance everything the government is able to do, and who pay the salaries of the elected officials who make the monumental decisions of government, are like a victim who is robbed one day, immediately reports the attack to the NYPD, and for (what at this time I will call) mysterious reasons, continues to be robbed every single week, or every single month, every single year, ad infinitum! Enough!

The problem is that the "landlord" is irresponsible and refuses to install a fool-proof lock, an alarm system, and video surveillance system. And who is the landlord of all Queens? It is the government of New York City.

If the people of Queens really want to end political corruption and make it a thing of the past, as everyone, except the criminals, wants, we need to stop acting "stupid." Because we are all acting stupid, by not acting. By not doing anything and everything we need to do to stop these criminals. The words stupid, and the word criminals are strong words, but they represent the facts. The people of Queens are being stupid because we are too busy watching TV and doing other useless things, instead of fixing a leak that is about to flood our home, the borough of Queens, and may have already.

Human beings are intelligent, and in fact magnificent beings who are capable of solving every single problem they are confronted with. Hello people. We are human beings. We are not trees.

To correct this problem, we need to install mechanisms, like a lock is screwed onto a door and the doorway, we need to install technology, like alarm systems and video surveillance systems in the government. And government, is not those colossal court buildings in Jamaica, and City Hall, and 1 Center Street, government is people, people who have a heart that beats like your heart beats and like my heart beats. Boom, boom, boom. And everyone has a brain that thinks like you and I do.

The problem, essentially, is that power tends to corrupt. And, with few exceptions, most people who enter politics become candidates to "do good", to "help others." But, like an apple, in time they begin to rot, and begin to see things very differently when they are given the power to allocate a million here, and million there. Well, why not take a million into my pocket, they think, and some politicians, the headlines and court documents prove, have done just that.

The large banks handle as much money as most governments do, yet it is unusual for a bank to loose a dollar. While (fortunately only a few of) the government's leaders, officials and employees -- not to be confused with: the government, an inanimate entity -- misappropriate, loose, waste, or according to some reports, defraud the public of millions of dollars. How can that be? Simple. The banks are organized to track money, whereas most governments are, let's face it, organized to facilitate corruption and fraud.

The solution is simple, and obvious. The honest leaders of society must reorganize and restructure the government, in our case New York City's government, to work as honestly as banks do.

What do banks have that the government does not have? Banks employ procedures, control mechanisms, and technology, such as video surveillance cameras, which the government does not, at least in the places where they will block acts of corruption on the part of elected officials, especially. And they are able to get away with this arrangement by pretending the electeds are saints, despite the fact that the facts prove otherwise. We cannot hope a newly elected official will do what is right. We must wise up and, like the banks, place security guards at the entrance of the vaults.

What's my story? Disgusted with the way Queens' politicians conduct the people's business, I am entering politics to clean it up. Unlike the majority of candidates, I am not entering politics to make a killing. That is why I have developed, and decided to install, a series of mechanisms that can be relied upon to keep "my self" honest, because I know I will be tempted to take a million dollars into my pocket and deposit it in a Swiss bank, and not tell anyone. And if that day ever comes, and even before that day may come, when and if I am tempted to take ten dollars, I want to have a webcam on my ass so I will not dare take anything that does not belong to me.

And we we have to install technology that will make our house, our home, our borough -- Queens, secure! Theft proof, corruption proof, fraud proof, deception proof.

Carlos Fabara
Candidate for the NYC Council 21st District
www.QueensTalkRadio.com
carlos@carlosfabara.com