When The U.S. Government House Sits For You

   You and your family are going on a long-awaited and much deserved weekend trip. Everything is taken care of, the camp site is reserved, the gas tank is full, the car is packed, you even have a house-sitter because you were told that it's dangerous around here and you need someone to protect you and your family.

   Three days later, you're all back home, all tuckered out from your trip. You pay and thank your house-sitter and immediately hit the sack. After awakening the next morning you sit down to breakfast, you ask your wife for some scrambled eggs and bacon, she opens the fridge and sees that there are no eggs there.

   She says that there were two dozen eggs there before they left, maybe the house sitter ate them all, but two dozen? Maybe the sitter had company over, but that can't be true because she was given strict instructions that nobody was to be in the house but her. So you just ate cereal for breakfast.

   Three months later your wife's Aunt Matilda dies and your family has to go out of town to attend the funeral. you'll be gone for four days, and you are still being told that danger lurks all around, so you call up your house-sitter to come watch and protect your home and possessions. This time without trying to sound scolding, you firmly state that you expect nobody else to be allowed in the house. She agrees and you and your family head out.

   When you return home you again pay and thank the sitter for protecting your home and go to fix yourself a nightcap before bed. You open the cabinet and notice that the brand new bottle of Chivas is half-empty and there's no sign of the bottle of vodka that was there. You ask your wife if she drank them. "Of course not," she replies, maybe the sitter drank them. You know that can't be true because you specifically told the sitter that she was not allowed to drink any liquor there, yours or otherwise, you decide to call her and ask if she did indeed drink the liquor.

   "No," she boldly states, I most certainly wouldn't do something like that. Perplexed, you let the matter rest, swallow your drink, and head off to bed. It continued to bother you that someone you had put your trust in, someone you paid for security, may have intentionally gone against your wishes, taken your money, and broken your trust. But how could you prove it, when you suggested to your wife your suspicions she rebuked you, saying our house-sitter would never betray us like that, she swore to protect us against the evil things lurking all around, you're just imagining things.

   Not wanting to be the recipient of more hostility like that, you let the matter drop. Summertime arrives and your vacation to Disneyland is at hand. Everything is in place, but you tell your wife that you're not sure you can trust your house-sitter, she tells you that this is the only house-sitter you have, and you need to believe in her. You don't have a choice, this is your house-sitter, like it or not.

   This time you are determined that there is no misunderstanding of the rules, and after thoroughly explaining what you expect from her, your sitter tells you not to worry, she has only your best interest at heart and that she knows that she is answerable to you, and only to you. You and your family head to Disneyland, after five days of fun there, your son gets very sick and you decide to cut your vacation short by 2 days.

   As you prepare to pull into your driveway you notice a strange car already parked in your spot, parking in front of the house you immediately get out of the car and head for the house. When you open the front door you are shocked to see your house sitter sitting on the lap of a man you don't know, next to them sits a bottle of liquor that was previously in your cabinet, strewn throughout the house are dirty dishes and glasses, the door to your bedroom down the hall is wide open, and you can see that it has obviously been used recently.

    As you stand there taking this all in the only thing you can say is "Why? Why do you treat us this way?" We believed in you and trusted you. You told us that you would protect us from the unseen evil that lurks all around. You swore that you would abide by the rules, and now I find you like this. Your house-sitter immediately jumps up and says, I was protecting you, two days after you left a house in the area got burglarized, then yesterday the news said that the burglar might still be in the area, so I called my boyfriend to come over.

   I know you said nobody else was supposed to be in the house, but after all, I needed to break the rules in order to protect you. My boyfriend said he would come over only if I gave him food and let him drink your liquor, so what else could I do? I knew if your house got burglarized while you were gone that you would say that I wasn't watching out for you good enough. I think you should thank my boyfriend for making sure your family was safe from the invisible evil. I know I lied to you and did things that I swore I wouldn't do, but be honest, don't you feel a lot safer?

   Our government is the culpable house sitter,  it is doing things in secret and in full view that we understandably don't approve of. It uses the well worn excuse of "protecting us from evil" as its rationalizing the destruction of our rights and freedom.

   Transparent oversight is needed to keep in check those people who would eagerly abuse the power afforded them. Keeping our elected officials feet to the fire is the ONLY way we can accomplish that.

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