By John Seiler

Although Washington, D.C. now has some “home rule” by local democracy, the U.S. Constitution actually gives all power over the District to the U.S. Congress. So the feds really run it. The functioning of government in D.C. thus is a clearn demonstration of how the federal government works everywhere. There’s no question of “federalism,” or control by the states, because D.C. isn’t a state.

When I lived in D.C. in the mid-1980, it was infamous for three things:

1. Its murder rate for a while soared above even that of Detroit.

2. There was a joke: “The city warns you when a pothole is ahead. The sign on the road reads: ‘Entering Washington, D.C. Marion Barry, mayor.'” That’s because the city was so ineptly and corruptly run that every road was rippled with potholes.

3. Ambulance service was terrible. The newspapers frequently ran stories about someone injured in a car accident who wasn’t picked up by an ambulance for 45 minutes, meanwhile lying in the road, bleeding out.

It was sort of Obamacare — government-run socialized medicine — 30 years before the actual program was imposed, at is happening now. As in most areas around the country, government ambulance and firefighter unions had driven out efficient, cheap private ambulances, leaving only the socialist government ambulances.

The ambulance system hasn’t improved:

“WASHINGTON — A late ambulance that resulted in what’s been called a bill for nearly $800 has motivated tens of thousands of people to sign an online petition to drop the charge.

“On the night Durand Ford Jr. called for an ambulance, dozens of D.C. firefighters – about one-fourth of the force that day – called out sick.

“It was New Year’s Eve, and Ford’s 71-year-old father, Durand Ford Sr., was short of breath.

“The first call for help came at about 1:26 a.m. A D.C. ambulance could not respond, but a fire engine with a paramedic did, D.C. Fire and EMS says, as well as a truck with firefighters trained as EMTs.

“When a D.C. ambulance could not immediately respond, D.C. called for assistance from Prince George’s County. A D.C. ambulance arrived before the Prince George’s ambulance, about 30 minutes after the first call, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.

“Fire officials say Ford arrived via ambulance at the hospital at 2:26 a.m. But his condition was grave and he ultimately died.”

Then — get this — the city sent Ford’s heirs a bill of $780 for the ambulance service!

They killed him and want to be paid for it. And of course, Ford and his family paid huge federal and city taxes for this “service.”

Just as all of us will be paying massive amounts in taxes and “fees” for Obamacare, but will get socialist, D.C.-style “service.”

What used to be a routine trip to the hospital to get patched up will end up being a one-way drive to the morgue.

By John Seiler

Until recently, Silicon Valley enjoyed the highest median income in the United States. That makes sense. The world’s most vibrant industry is run by 180-IQ nerds who pull down millions and billions.

Not anymore. Now the highest-income area is Washington, D.C.:

“Wealth in Washington, DC has surged to the highest median income in the United States, surpassing even tech mecca Silicon Valley, California.

“With a median household income of $119,134, the Census Bureau reports that Loudoun County, Virginia now occupies the number one spot for the highest median U.S. income. The number two position belongs to Fairfax County, Virginia at $105,797. Arlington, Virginia comes in third at $100,735.”

In fact, seven of the 10 counties with the highest household incomes are in the Washington region.

The “wealth surge” for D.C. occurred even as the rest of the country, including Silicon Valley, suffered the worst recession since the Great Depression.

During good times, D.C. grabs an increasing share of the bounty, and grows and grows. During bad times, D.C. “saves” the economy by “helping” us, as it grows and grows and grows.

But D.C. is just a parasite. All those politicians, lobbyists and bureaucrats don’t produce anything. They drink our blood, draining us of our life’s substance while they get fat and party like a gang of ghouls.

I grew up near Detroit, which used to be the richest area in the country, even the world. It was an industrial powerhouse, “the arsenal of Democracy.” It was an area where even the middle-class was well off; anyone could get a decent job. Now the median income in Detroit is just $26,090 and the city is an example of urban destruction. Why? Because most of its wealth has been siphoned off to D.C.

Top 10 Counties

Here’s the top 10 list of counties by median income:

The only three not from the D.C. area are Hunterdon and Somerset, N.J, where rich folks live; and Douglas, CO, a “horse country” area southeast of Denver.

All seven other counties in the top 10, including the top three, are living high off the hog on your money after they rob it from you.

Bob Hope once joked, “I like to got to Washington so I can be near my money.”

President Obama last year won re-election on a solemn promise to force the rich “to pay their fair share.” Republicans agreed with him with their Fiscal Cliff deal on Jan. 1. But it turned out that “the rich” meant 77 percent of Americans!

Basically, what happened is that, once again, middle-class Americans were tricked into voting for politicians who forced us to give another blood donation, the money not going to “the poor,” but to the D.C. vampires.

You might think that some of America’s richest counties would be right here in California. Santa Clara County — Silicon Valley — houses the world’s computer geniuses. Orange County has valuable beach property and high-tech Irvine. San Francisco has a lot of wealth. So does San Diego County. Santa Barbara County’s average home value is more than $1 million.

Nope.

Here’s the list, from Yahoo.com: 1. Falls Church County, Va. 2. Loudon County, Va. 3. Fairfax County, Va. 4. Hunterdon County, N.J. 5. Howard County, Va.

Hunterdon is next to New York City. But the other four on the list — including the top three — are suburbs of Washington, D.C. This is where the congressmen, presidential aids, bureaucrats and lobbyists live and frolick — at your expense.

Many of our problems here in California exist because so much of our wealth is siphoned off from us for the government 3,000 miles away.

In the West, the most wealthy county still is not in California. It’s Los Alamos, N.M., where the government makes nuclear weapons. So, it’s another place that lives off of our tax money — keeping the rest of us poor.

You would think our state politicians would want less of our money to go to D.C. by shrinking government. Nope. This is a liberal Democratic state. So, they want to ship even more of our money to D.C.

June 6, 2011