The Corurption and Hunger Games Mentality of the Political Class, Part 2: First Class Travel For Second Class Politicians

This is our second in a series this month that examines the many examples and various forms of corruption and Hunger Games mentality that infect the political class in Washington. Yesterday, we examined the corruption of the constantly moving of Obama Care dates and deadlines and how that corrupted one of the definitions Webster puts forth on corruption: Corruption: d : a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct. Given the many, many unilateral and un-Constitutional changes Obama has made to the health care legislation, it is certainly not pure, correct, or in its original form, making his actions a form of corruption.

For reference today and in the forthcoming corruption posts, we will review political corruption along the following lines of the corruption definition from Webster:

a : impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle : depravity 

b : decay, decomposition 

c: inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery) 

d : a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct 

Today we will focus on the world wide travels of the First family and other Washington politicians in the context of impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle, depravity. 

Before we get into the details of the political depravity and abuse of tax payer wealth, how the Washington elite treat themselves like royalty while the rest of the country suffers, similar to the “Hunger Games” mentality, consider the state of the country and what it means to regular, non-Washington Americans:

• Over twenty million Americans are unemployed or under employed.
• The number of long term unemployed Americans sets a new record every month for its high levels for consecutive months at such a high level.
• About fifty million Americans receive food assistance every month from the Federal government.
• Over three hundred thousand new Americans apply for unemployment benefits every month.
• Rather than treat and help drug addicts, we lock them up for possessing minimal amounts of drugs and self abuse of drugs.
• Many of our largest cities are havens for homeless Americans.
• The Washington political class recently reduced the pension benefits of our brave servicemen and women as a budget cutting scheme.
• Our national debt has soared well past $17 TRILLION, burdening current and future American generations with a very heavy debt burden to carry.

In light of these burdens that regular Americans face everyday, consider some of the acts of impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle and depravity that Obama, Biden, and other Washington politicians treat themselves to despite the eight existing American maladies listed above [Note: the first five bullet points below come courtesy of a recent Independent Journal Review analysis]:

• With 31 international trips for a total of 119 days abroad, President Obama has now traveled more than any other President before him.
• Air Force One Costs over $228,000 per hour to fly.
• The President often travels with a 900-person, 45-car, 2 Air-Force Ones, 3-cargo plane entourage.
• The 13-hour visit in South Africa for Mandela’s funeral cost an estimated $11 million (including 127 hotel rooms and not including the flight costs).
• Annual costs for supporting the White House expenses exceed $1.4 billion.
• To give an example of how out of control this spending has been within the Obama Presidency, travel expenses for the royal family of Great Britain was less than $9 million in 2012 and the cost to maintain them annually is about $55 million. Plus, the properties owned by the royals generate more than $200 million in rent, so when you include that revenue stream, England actually makes money on the expenses of the British royal family, something America does not enjoy from the Obama royal family.
• The First Lady’s current “non-political” trip to China, a trip where she took her daughters and her mother along on taxpayer expense, likely also costs millions of dollars, a lot of which is caused by her stay at the Westin hotel in Beijing, a hotel suite that is costing the American taxpayer $8,400 per night. 
• In a bit of irony, Vice President Joe Biden, a person who was actually elected by the American people, who actually has a real government job, and possibly actually works at that job, (compared to Michelle Obama who was not elected to any office, does not have a government job, and does not work at a government job), was not allowed to stay at this same hotel when he was in Beijing because… wait for it… it was deemed too expensive.
• Since President Obama has become President, the First Family has taken vacations to Hawaii every holiday season for at least several weeks, has vacationed in Ireland, has vacationed in Kenya, and in many expensive places within in the United States.
• In addition, the First Lady has taken vacations to at least Spain, Mexico, and Aspen, Colorado without the President. 
• In the first three months of 2014, the First Lady has been on vacation for parts of EVERY month of 2014 including Hawaii, Aspen, and now China, on taxpayer expense.
• The President has flown off to Florida and California in the past two months for golf vacations, on taxpayer expense.
• Last year, the Vice President’s trip to Europe for only two days cost the American taxpayer over $1 million just in hotel rooms.

You get the idea, while America suffers, the political royalty in Washington party on and vacation on in the most extravagant and frequent ways possible, illustrated the impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle : depravity definition of corruption.

The China trip by Michelle Obama is particularly galling in its corruption. It is no doubt a personal vacation since:

• She took her kids and mother along.
• She is not allowing any press coverage of her trip despite it being paid for by the American taxpayer.
• The only photo that has been made public is her and her kids at the Great Wall of China, certainly a vacation and tourist spot.
• Doing a few short presentations about kids’ health does not justify the millions of dollars being wasted and burned through on this trip, that is purely a bad charade at importance.

If Obama and the rest of the Washington political class were leaders and truly non-corrupt, if they truly had empathy and compassion for the rest of America, they would not be wasting money like this. The Obamas and a record high number of Congressional members are millionaires, they should be making the sacrifices that lead the country, not sopping up every last taxpayer dollar they can justify spending for their own benefit, enrichment, and comfort.

It is not just the Obamas that have this corruption affliction. Consider the highlights of a recent news reports which talk about a Congressman who does not have the corruption affliction and who wants to rid others in Washington of the affliction. Congressman Paul A. Gosar is trying to prohibit Members of Congress from flying first class using taxpayer funds. 

Specifically, the Congressman has submitted a proposal to the Committee on Appropriations for specific language to be included in the Fiscal Year 2015 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act that would prohibit this practice, forcing every member of Congress to pay for first class treatment if they want it, relieving the citizens from doing so. 

The proposal reads as follows:

Members of Congress are servants of the people and should not be considered a privileged class. Luxury airfare accommodations utilizing taxpayer monies would seem inappropriate in any fiscal climate but at a time of soaring deficits and with a federal debt in excess of $17 trillion such expenditures are especially wasteful. If federal restrictions prohibit members of our military from traveling first-class, this same standard should also apply to Members of Congress.

Kudos to this Congressman who gets it, who recognizes the Hunger Games mentality of Washington and is trying to do something about it, unlike the Obama family and the other 500 or so members of Congress. This is how you get the $17 TRILLION national debt under control: one first class flight at a time (along with hundreds of thousands of other wasteful government spending items).

Ask yourself these questions:

1. How many more unemployed Americans could undergo job training if Washington did not waste so much money on themselves and their vacation travels?
2. how many homeless could be sheltered if Washington did not waste so much money on themselves and their vacation travels?
3. How many hungry could be fed if Washington did not waste so much money on themselves and their vacation travels?
4. How many drug addicts could be helped if Washington did not waste so much money on themselves ands their vacations travels?

Webster must have had the current political class in mind when he put forth his first definition of corruption: a : impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle : depravity. More and varied corruption tomorrow.

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