The American consumer is often sold a bill of goods through advertising, much of which is borderline false. An example are shampoos and other hair care products. Not only does the consumer pay higher amounts for a 'name-brand' product which will do no more than cheap vaieties, the consumer also pays for the advertising that led them to buy the product.

Hence, the company has it made. It jacks the price up to pay for the advertising which misleads the consumer and jacks the price up again by making claims of the product's exceptionability.

Wise people when they discover this, will read the ingredients, compare the products, and pay the smaller amount. That is a simple example of the Search for Excellence.

As with any product, we should be doing a search for excellence in regards to the people we have placed, or will place, in Washington, D.C. Why settle for less when we can have more for the same money?

Just because a politician has been around since dirt doesn't mean that he or she is the best we can get. It may just be that the voters have been sold another bill of goods, goods that we are stuck with for years, rather than moments, relatively speaking.

Why keep a politician who is known to have lied, been part of rather shady deals, misled voters, and kept winning their places in Washington by misrepresenting their opponents or themselves? Isn't that rather like keeping on buying a product that you know doesn't do the job for you?

'Doing the job for you' is the operating phrase. Politicians that respond to special interest groups and any influences other than meeting the wants and needs of the public are not doing the job he was elected (hired) to do.

This type is doing for himself and making as much of a killing as he can, filling his coffers by any means he can. The high salaries and retirements just don't seem to be enough even though salaries are 13 times as high as what most people earn (not per capita but the practical average incomes in most communities).

Retirements increase disproportionately. How would you like to earn several times your ending salary a few years after you retired? Well, our Washington politicians do just that.

It doesn't matter to this type that he misrepresents himself when convincing his constituency that he believes in commonly accepted family values, such as being ethical, moral, and abiding by the civil and criminal laws of the nation.

This type doesn't suffer from the same guilt many of us would if we were to lie or steal to get what we want, commit moral turpitude, treat other people unethically, and, figuratively speaking (we hope), cut other people's throats to further their own careers.

Nay, instead, they glory in their own graftiness and behind-the-scenes-stab-the-public-in-the-back while they plan their next moves to increasing their riches by conspiring with special interests groups and other lobbyists who have something to offer them.

They profess to truth and justice but, if the truth be known, it either is not in their value system or it never shows itself in any meaningful way. Otherwise, Congress would have taken it upon itself to rid Washington and our nation of politicians who have been proven to lie, behave unethically, or violate criminal laws.

The term 'unethical' seems to cover everything besides just ethics. It seems to be a tone-down word for behaviors of those politicians who have committed misdemeanors and, maybe, felonies, of all types.

Those transgressions include, but are not limited to, misusing government funds, misusing contributed funds, illegal campaing funding schemes, padding expense vouchers, and lavish entertainment costs at the taxpayers' expense.

Speaking of unethical, it is unethical, for example, to lie to or about another person. We even have civil legal recourse as we have termed it `slanderous' to do so. Ethics and being ethical pertains more to right and wrong in conduct.

However, when money is taken and used for other than its intended purposes/s illegally, it is stealing. Also, stealing of funds is a criminal matter while ethical violations are a civil matter and, based on what the writer has read, rather hard to prove in a court of law.

Politicians calling 'misusing' (another nice term for stealing) of funds 'unethical' is an attempt to put the act stealing on a lesser plane. Why not stop toning it down and bluntly state the fact that the money was taken and spent illegally which is stealing?

That, however, would result in a criminal trial in which the act of stealing could be easily proven, unlike the above ethical no-no. No wonder the supporters of Gingrich wish to call it an ethics violation and avoid the courts. The investigation might reveal far more than any politician in Washington would want.

The writer wonders would happen to Washington if we did enter into a search for excellence just as we often do with the products we buy?

What would the result be if we forced every politician who has been proven to have lied put on the backstreets where they belong? What if we quit 'buying' their bill of goods?

What would happen if we demanded a complete background and activity investigation of every politician in Washington?

What if we started with those that screamed the loudest, such as Gingrich, when the FBI files showed up in the White House?

Hmm, does anyone else find it interesting that there is a very plausible explanation for Gingrich being irrate over the files being in White House, other than invasion of privacy or whatever?

Could his outcry against the files have been because of the fear of the files revealing other of his rather unscrupulous activities? Something to think about, isn't it?

We know politics is a dirty business. Why is that so? Why does it go on, and on, and on? Why don't we stop it? It is our country and we do not need to have 'shady', slick-talking characters representing us in Washington and to the rest of the world.

WE could begin a search for excellence. We might think of it like the process of throwing out the products from under the sink or out of our closets and garages that didn't do as advertised.

True, we might clear out most congressional seats but isn't that better than continuing to allow politicians to do as they will, regardless of the effects on the American public and the destruction of our characters in the eyes of the rest of the world?

Why not put a stop to the madness in Washington once and for all time and get the best products that do as they say they will, that meet every claim of the advertisers? And, you know who the advertisers are.

Just a thought, Ladies and Gentlemen, but wouldn't it be great if politicians were like Pinnochio? Does it not make one wonder how many would have a hard time turning around in a crowd?