They waste hundreds of billions of dollars of our wealth every year, they never resolve any of the major issues facing Americans today, they continually put their foot in their mouth with their idiotic statements and positions, and they operate government functions that are bloated and ineffective in delivering quality service to taxpayers. And worse of all, they have rigged the country’s elections processes so that their election and subsequent re-elections are almost guaranteed to ensure their mediocrity continues.
To review the past examples of political class insanity just type in “political class insanity” in the search box above.
So lets get started on what is becoming a multi-day review of their latest incompetence and insanity:
1) One would hope that those serving in Congress would be high in integrity, mature, and unifying influences in order to get some of the major issues of our time resolved. One could hope but as always that would be a false reality. Recently, House of Representatives Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer were arguing over the scheduling of votes to be taken in the House.
After Hoyer criticized Republicans for leaving Homeland Security "twisting in the wind" McCarthy reclaimed his time on the floor from Hoyer immediately and said the voting schedule would proceed as planned: "This House has taken action to make sure the DHS is fully funded … We did our part and I yield back," McCarthy said, before walking away to continue voting.
In pure kindergarten style, Hoyer yelled at McCarthy: "You coward," which C-SPAN was able to get on its live broadcast. Oh yeah, calling a political opponent a coward over a simple scheduling disagreement is not likely to result in a civil and adult conversation on how to resolve any issue.
The Washington Post reported that Katie Grant, a Hoyer spokeswoman, said her boss apologized to McCarthy for the remark, who accepted it. McCarthy's office declined to comment. Any doubt why nothing ever gets accomplished in Congress when they go around calling each other cowards?
2) John Podesta is a political operative that has been doing jobs for politicians for a long time, especially jobs that involved the Clintons and Barack Obama. As a result of playing in political circles, he now finds himself in the middle of a conflict of interest situation.
In 2013, Podesta was paid $87,000 by a reclusive foreign billionaire who is actively working to prevent oil and energy exploration on American land. Today, Podesta is a member of Obama’s staff and is working hard to help the White House block oil exploration on 12 million acres in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This arrangement may have caused Podesta to run afoul of Obama’s high minded but oft broken election promise to force political appointees to disqualify themselves in matters relating to the interests of a former client or employer.
How Podesta does not fall into this conflict is hard to justify since he was hired and paid by Hansjorg Wyss in 2013 just before he got hired by Obama. Wyss is apparently passionate about protecting American public lands from oil and gas drilling. Additionally, Wyss has been a generous donor to Podesta’s Center for American Progress (CAP), having given $4 million to the group during Podesta’s tenure, according to organization's tax documents and filings. Conversely, Podesta has returned the $4 million favor by giving Wyss a seat on CAP’s board.
All kinds of insanity here. Possible violation of Federal ethics rules. Conflict with another empty Obama promise to clean up the influence of outside interests in government. And worse of all, a foreigner trying to manipulate and influence U.S. policy and actions via the use of money and influence peddling. Another Presidency, but the same old money buying influences of the rich and powerful at the expense of Americans.
3) Six years ago or so, Joe Biden made a fool of himself in an interview with Katie Couric. He boldly stated on video that when the Depression started, FDR went on television to reassure the country that everything would turn out alright. Problem is that 1) FDR was not President when the Depression started in 1929 and 2) television did not exist as a communications medium in 1929. This is the type of people that are serving us in Washington, people that either have no clue about our nation’s history or who are willing to manipulate facts to their advantage even if it is a lie or deception.
Well, his boss recently did the same thing, either being ignorant of American history or manipulating it to his own advantage. During a recent live interview on NBC, President Obama claimed that he is the first President to “make some booze” in the White House since George Washington. Unfortunately, George Washington never lived in the White House during his Presidency and thus,never made booze there. Another lie from this President or just plain ignorance? Neither is an attractive trait in a President or any politician.
4) Politicians do not often do the right thing but when they do, we like to acknowledge their behavior. Such is the case of legislation recently introduced in the House by Congressmen Ron DeSantis and Trey Gowdy.
The legislation is named the “End Pensions in Congress Act” and it will do exactly what it says: end the generous pensions for those who retire from Congress.
Given that very few Americans still get traditional pensions from their places of employment, it seems only right that members of Congress, many of whom are millionaires several times over, also share the same fate: forced to save via retirement accounts vs. getting traditional pensions benefits, especially since those pensions are funded by taxpayers who in all likelihood do not have the same option in their lives.
And these Congressional pensions are not cheap for taxpayers to fund. According to the Congressional Research Service, as an elected U.S. Senator or Representative, one can get a Congressional pension after serving only five years once you reach the age of 62. If you were elected to Congress at a young age and put in at least 20 years, you become eligible for a pension at age 50. This has resulted in 617 retired members of Congress receiving annual Federal pensions ranging from roughly $42,000 to $72,000.
So many things wrong with this situation relative to the rest of us:
- Most of us cannot even get a traditional pension, never mind one as rich as these Congressional ones.
- For the few non-politicians that do have traditional pensions, most are probably no where near as lucrative as Congressional pensions relative to the length of time needed to qualify and and receive a pension and the value of that pension.
- These people qualify for these Congressional pensions even though they earned over three times the annual median income of the average American family while in office.
Congressman Thomas Massie: “If congressmen want to save for retirement, they should do so with 401K-type plans, rather than rely on taxpayers to take care of them even after leaving Congress. To tackle out-of-control federal spending, Congress must lead by example.”
Congressman Ron DeSantis: “The Founding Fathers envisioned elected officials as part of a servant class, yet Washington, D.C. has evolved into a ruling class culture. Pensions for members of Congress represent an inappropriate use of taxpayer money.”
This legislation was specifically mentioned in Step 9 in our book, “Love My Country, Loathe My Government,” which called for the end of not only Congressional pensions but all Federal employee pensions. We would go two steps further than this legislation with the following steps, also from “Love My Country , Loathe My Government:”
- Step 41 would not allow any member of Congress who has a net worth of over $3 million to receive a salary while in office. As Congressman Desantis points out above, those serving in Congress should be serving for love of country, not personal greed and enrichment. If you are a person like Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who is worth tens of millions of dollars, you would not receive a salary under Step 41. That money should go back into the Treasury for the betterment of the country, not pocket change for political millionaires.
- Step 39 would impose term limits on all Washington politicians, one and done. Thus, under a term limits political process, no one would ever be in office long enough to qualify for a Congressional pension.
That will do it for today’s insanity but we are far from done on discussing the political class insanity we have had to suffer through over the past month or so. Today we learned that:
- Washington political discussion and debate has degenerated into kindergarten level name calling.
- Despite Obama's promises, Washington is still for sale to the highest bidders including foreign billionaire bidders.
- Biden and Obama are either grossly ignorant of American history despite their advanced degrees or they manipulate facts to serve their needs.
- For a bit of good news, at least two Washington politicians are trying to go back to the past when politicians were public servants and not political royalty.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernmobama,washington post,politifactent.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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