It has often been said that a Camel is really a fine, high bred, Tennessee walking horse which was designed by a Southern Baptist committee.  People tend to start out with good intentions and ideas but before a committee is finished with the task, it will somehow, and in some way, find a way to completely mess things up.  The problem stems from the fact that everyone on the committee feels that they must contribute something to the deliberations or else they were nonfunctional in the whole process.  There is also the ole’ ego thing going on.  Most committee members are not willing to submit to the suggestions and ideas of others without feeling that they too, must be heard and if their suggestions are not included in the solution, then their ego is bruised in some devastating way.  This situation is what the American people are presently facing with the Congress of the United States.  Everyone there thinks that they just have to be heard and that they must prove their presence and worth by writing some outlandish piece of legislation or else being the loudest spokesperson on a committee.  Our Congress is producing a lot of Camels these days.  Sadly, the same model is followed in various states with their own state legislatures.  They deal with somewhat smaller issues overall, but they still operate on the committee principles which have devastated lawmaking on the national level.  One has to wonder how in the world a group of senators and representatives, whether national or state, can take some of the common sense issues of the day and turn them into a “camel.”  A few examples will help us understand this somewhat better. 

Take for instance, the issue of same sex marriage.  Now, this is a no brainer for common sense people.  Everyone with a grain of intelligence can figure out that marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman.  God designed it that way and anything God has designed just can’t be improved upon.  But, it seems that on this one, the Federal Government has had a lot more sense than the state governments have had.  It has largely stayed out of this argument and I pray that they will remain on the sidelines permanently because if one thinks the states have confused the issue, then just wait until the Federal legislature gets through with it.  The real demon is political correctness.  Just don’t hurt anyone’s feelings by telling them that what they are doing is wrong.  Design a way to make them feel good about themselves.  Redefine the family so that any group of nitwits living under a particular roof can expect that they will be treated the same as a legitimate family would be treated.  Then when people with one modicum of common sense and decency look at the resulting group of people that society has defined as a family, they will be able to say… “Yup, It’s a Camel!”                              

Write laws to make it legal for unmarried people to have all the benefits of marriage as far as society is concerned.  And, as for marriage, make sure that the committee approach has its day with it as well.  Get some judges to declare what society will be like in spite of what the people say.  Find some apostate minister or some idiot judge who will actually unite two men or two women in matrimony.  Make sure they wear white for the purity of their union and don’t forget the kiss to seal the vows, followed by a full reception at which a multitude of secular minded people will sip champagne and congratulate the new “couple.” In other words, take something as simple and common sense as marriage and when the committees get through with it you will find a monster standing in front of you.  And, you will be saying….  “Yup, It’s a Camel!”  

One of the best examples of how Washington can confuse and convolute an issue is Medicare.  This was supposed to be a way to provide medical help to people who were not as fortunate financially as others.  It was also suppose to benefit people who had reached 65 years of age.  So, the “fine Tennessee walking horse” was to be something which would be a benefit to millions of people providing for them the possibility of medical coverage.  As it turns out, after the work of Congress, it is of little benefit at all.  One has to buy a supplement to go along with the Medicare which will cover what the program no longer covers if it ever did.  All in all, one pays about as much as they would have paid for a private health policy after they pay for the Medicare coverage and then the supplemental insurance.  All that has happened is that the Federal Government has gotten their fingers into that vast resource of funds which is expended in the medical field and they are now in the process of messing it up so badly that we are going to have a shortage of doctors in only a few years because so many of them are getting out of the medical field due to the “Camel” the whole process has become.  As we look at what was initially dreamed up….the fine Tennessee Walking horse, and compare it to what the Federal Government has turned it into, we would be correct in stating….  “Yup, It’s A Camel!” 

And, Social Security…my, what a confused disaster it has become.  Your Social Security money…and I say “your”…was suppose to be kept safe by the government.  In fact, you were promised that it would be protected.  But, it has now been spent on other things to the point that Social Security will not be viable in only a few years.  So, now the result of all this misuse of funds is that they have come up with the “sliding scale” of when a person is old enough to participate.  This is an effort to make the funds last longer.  But, at the same time our lawmakers have said that illegal aliens can tap into the resources.  People who have nothing invested can get a check just like you do although they have put nothing into the system and are actually here illegally.  So, someone has said: “I know what to do?..….let’s fix it so we can tap into the private sector’s retirement plans.  There are billions of dollars lying out there.  There is a sea of money just waiting to help us out on the Social Security crises.”  Friends, your IRA and other retirement vehicles are in danger.  Watch out, they are designing another “Camel” and they want to use your private monies to do so. 

The illegal alien situation is a perfect example of what a “committee” of Senators and Representatives can design.  “Let’s let them come in. We need the help with the work that Americans will no longer do.  Uh oh, too many are coming in. Let’s build a fence.  But, that isn’t working so let’s put patrols on the fence.  But, let’s keep it small. Let’s don’t put troops there and do it right. This thing is out of control.  We can’t handle all of them coming here to work. I know what!…let’s just make all of them legal and then we won’t be faced with the problem of illegal aliens.” Now, about that fence…common sense people declared that it would not work.  The politicians were in need of doing something…anything at all…and a fence looked like a good idea to the Camel designers.  Some fought the idea, but…it’s a high fence and, wide too.  But, it is full of gaps.  It doesn’t run the length of the border.  This is another example of “Camelizing.”  Then the same people who create the problem realize that there is something very valuable here.  So, they arrange things so that these people who have nothing invested in America can vote and determine the future of this nation.  Of course, they will vote for those who make it easy for them to be in the country without ever becoming a citizen in the prescribed, legal way.  All in all, this thing with the illegal aliens is something of which one could exclaim…… “Yup, It’s A Camel!” 

One other example will suffice to make this writer’s point.  The $700 billion dollar bailout of the financial institutions, as well as the billions of dollars to be spent on “bailing out” others such as the auto industry, is a “camel” in the process of being created.  Congress is in charge of discussing this and deciding what to do.  After everyone adds his own little idea to the process, this too, will become something that will not work.  It won’t be $700 billion dollars in the long run.  It will be trillions of dollars spent to fix a system that is rotting away under the weight of corruption.  It is absolutely insane for those who assured the congress in sworn hearings that everything was all right with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be sitting in on the committee, even chairing it, which is grilling those who are coming before them for help.  Those individuals should be prosecuted for lying to the congress and to the people.  And, to top it all off, these men accepted huge sums of money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Something is terribly wrong here.  Watch very carefully and you will observe as out-of-touch politicians put together something that common sense people will observe and mutter to themselves…..  “Yup, It’s A Camel!” Congress itself has become a Camel and it is doing what Camels do…breeding more Camels of like kind.  It is time to turn the whole lot out to pasture and start all over again with some fine Tennessee Walking Horses.    

William F. Harrell