It's Now Official, Part 2: Political Donors More Important Than Constituents

Yesterday we discussed the travesty and disgrace inherent in our political process where Congressional members are spending far more time trying to raise election campaign funds then they are spending on supporting their constituents and doing valid legislative work. The basis of our discussion, a recent Huffington Post article, revealed the formal process that all Congressional members are held to, down to the details of how many hours every day each member is to spend on fund raising (a lot) and non-fund raising activities (not so much).

One would have hoped that members of Congress were dedicating the vast amount of their time and energy to resolving the major issues of our times. That hope, obviously, would be incorrect. Which explains why our lost war on drugs, our failing public schools, our skyrocketing deficit, and other major issues never get resolved.

The article went beyond this exposure of showing that Congressional members are more focused on their political donors than their constituents. When it comes down to Congressional committee and subcommittee posts, one would have hoped that the politicians staffing those positions would be the most qualified and have the most expertise for each committee’s duties.

For example, one would hope that politicians serving on veterans’ affairs committees had some understanding or experience with veterans and the problems they face. Those that sit on banking committees have some kind of finance or banking experience in their background. Same with highway committees, housing committees, etc.

But again, that hope would be dashed. According to the article, the best members matched to the appropriate committees is farthest from the reality of what goes on in Washington. Consider the following insightful quote from the article

“The quality of a committee assignment is directly related to the amount of dues owed, as black-and-white an admission of the connection between fundraising and policy outcomes as can be found.”

This quote and Huffington Post article introduce a process that I was not aware of. They called it a "dues process" and apparently all members of Congress, from both parties, are given monetary targets that they have to hit and raise money that is funneled to the national Republican and Democratic political organizations.

Apparently, making or missing your dues target determines the quality and quantity of Congressional committee assignments a member of Congress can land. It has little to do with someone’s skills, experiences, or education, it all has to do with raising money to meet your dues target.

And these dues target are not trivial. In fact, they are obscenely high, which probably requires sitting politicians to do much more fund raising and hitting up political donors than actually doing their jobs and serving their hometown citizens. A March 11, 2012 Politico article highlighted how obscene these dues targets were for Democrats in 2011 (as you read them, ask yourself how much energy is diverted to these activities vs. problem solving activities):

• Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer - $800,000 each.
• Pelosi was given the additional assignment of raising another $25 million for the party and Hoyer had to find another $2.5 million.
• Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn was to raise $1.5 million.
• John Larson and Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Xavier Becerra and George Miller (Calif.), and Steve Israel (N.Y.) were expected to give $450,000 apiece OF THEIR OWN MONEY. Which raises the issue of why anyone would want to be a Congressman for an annual salary of $170,00 when in the case of these sitting politicians, according to Politico, they have to put up $450,000 of their own money for dues. Something like corruption smells here in this math.
• DeLauro and Miller were told to raise another $500,000 for the national Democratic Party while Israel has to raise an additional $10 million.
• Vice chairs Joe Crowley (N.Y.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), Keith Ellison (Minn.), Pedro Pierluisi (P.R.) and Allyson Schwartz (Pa.) were to transfer $300,000 apiece (which I am assuming is also their own money), and their goals for raising money ranged from $300,000 for the latter three to $4 million for Wasserman Schultz and $6 million for Crowley.The lists goes on but you get the idea.

These people are expected to fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money and then go out and raise tens of millions of other dollars for their mother ship’s political activities. If successful, they apparently get the plum committee assignments, regardless of their abilities and expertise.

This obviously suboptimal process results in suboptimal legislating. The Huffington Post article discusses this disgrace in detail:

One member of Congress said that the fundraising takes up so much time that members don't even have time to become experts on bills they sponsor. "One thing that's always been striking to me is even the members playing a leading role on specific issues actually could not talk about the issues," said the member, who didn't want to be quoted by name. "They didn't have enough knowledge on their own issues to talk about them at length. I'm probably guilty of that." He recalled one meeting early in his career, where he brought several members together to try to hash out a compromise, just as he had done earlier as a state legislator.

"Staff members were all twitching at the discussion, because their principals were saying things that were just flat-wrong or uninformed or wondering aloud about what the industry practices really were," he recalled. "The staff members of course had a pretty good idea. ... The members were sitting around the table having a remarkably uninformed and unproductive discussion."

Pretty scary stuff that a member of the process thinks that the process results in a remarkably uninformed and unproductive discussion. Which probably led to a remarkably uninformed and unproductive piece of legislation that never resolved the war on drugs failure, the high national debt problem, the lack of a national energy program and strategy, etc.

Members of Congress are so distracted into raising ungodly sums of money that pervert our democracy that they themselves end up being unremarkable, uninformed, and unproductive. When a Democratic Congressman confronted Pelosi in a meeting, stating that the dues process and levels were unreasonable, she simply replied that they were not doing enough to raise money. Never mind that not only are the dues levels unreasonable, the whole process and focus on raising money to the detriment of everything else is an abomination.

As a closing to the today’s and yesterday’s exposure of what really goes on in Washington, think about the image the following describes, in the words of a current Washington politician:

 U.S. Senators do not bother going to their party’s headquarters or the rowhouses near the Capital building to make fund raising calls since it is against the law to make fundraising calls from their offices: “But they [U.S. Senators] go outside and sit in their cars and make calls.

Yes, your U.S. Senators, some of the most powerful people in the country and the world, go sit in their cars and grovel for money from political donors over their cell phones. What an obscene and disgraceful image. Paying dues, raising money. Making calls, raising money. Attending fundraisers, making money. With a little bit of uninformed legislating thrown in. No wonder we are in such sad shape as a country.

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.loathemygovernment.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.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Politicians Say The Darndest Things, Featuring Hillary, Holder, and Others

Yesterday we reviewed how out of touch with reality Congresswoman Diane Wasserman-Schultz has become when she recently commented that the economy "has turned the corner" to recovery. We pointed out that unemployment was still at 9.0%, probably over 20 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed, the country's national debt was approaching $15 TRILLION, and all consumer and business surveys indicate a growing pessimism about economic conditions. Despite the evidence, she fell into the category of "politicians say the darndest things" with her assertion that the economy has turned the corner to recovery.

But she is not alone since politicians and government officials in all parts of our government continue to say the darndest things, indicating their inability to connect to reality, accept blame for their missteps, or really do not know how to resolve a problem or issue. While the kids on Art Linkletter's TV show long ago were cute and adorable when they said the darndest things, our government officials are the polar opposite of cute and adorable, falling more into the pathetic and useless category.

Thus, to prove the Ms. Wasserman-Schults is not alone, consider some of the recent statements from others within our political class:

- We did a post to this blog on April 8, 2011 entitled, "Could The Mexican Drug Cartels 'Red Dawn' The United States?" It hypothesized whether or not the very powerful and increasingly violent Mexican drug cartels could come over our border and drive up through the center of the country, causing chaos and death as they went. 

It was based on the movie "Red Dawn" from several decades ago which had a similar storyline, namely the Russians invade the U.S. and spilt the country in half. This post also referred to an actual World War I strategy of the German Kaiser where he had hoped to ally Germany with Mexico and support a Mexican invasion of the center of the U.S., a strategy that never materialized. This "Red Dawn" post has been one of our most popular posts.

Flash ahead now to last week where U.S. law enforcement uncovered an Iranian plot to blow up the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C. Apparently, the schemers were going to blow up the ambassador via a bombing at one of his favorite restaurants, a bombing that, if successful, would have resulted in many many deaths and injuries to others. The plot was being put together in Mexico and has brushed up against the potential of Iran allying itself with the lawless and powerful Mexican drug cartels, a similar potential for danger we pointed out back in April.

So what did our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have to say about the plot, as quoted by the Associated Press:  "The idea that they would attempt to go to a Mexican drug cartel to solicit murder-for-hire to kill the Saudi ambassador, nobody could make that up, right?" 

Well, yeah, we made up something similar right in this post back in April. If we could imagine chaos and potential for terrorism coming out of the lawless drug cartels, are you telling me that the entire State Department under Hilllary could not foresee the same thing? Given that they could not foresee the obvious, it is doubtful they had contingency plans to deal with this scenario.

Thus, we have caught Hillary saying the darndest thing, a prime example of our politicians again not anticipating and planning for potential crises. Out of touch with reality, out of touch with the dangers and issues facing the country, a darn dangerous position to be in.

- History has proven that when an illegal or stupid act is done by a politician, it is usually not the act but the lies after the fact that get the politician in trouble. Attorney General Eric Holder finds himself in that situation today. The ATF organization, that organizationally resides within Holder's Justice Department, operated a severely botched, illegal, and irresponsible gun running sting operation in Mexico called Fast and Furious over the past year or so.

This operation probably broke numerous U.S. Federal laws and probably violated several international treaties on gun running. This is very serious stuff. But Mr. Holder said the darndest thing in front of a Congressional hearing back in May when he clearly stated that he had not known of the operation until a few weeks before the hearing.

But this raises some darn serious issues:

• Are we to believe that such a major operation was not known to the top person in charge, namely Mr. Holder? This was not a one time, small gun sting. This operation moved thousands of high powered, military weapons into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. The only explanation, if this is true, is that Mr. Holder is quite incompetent or he has no control over his own organization.
• But he probably did know what was going on since the Congressional committee investigating Fast and Furious has uncovered emails send to Mr. Holder in 2010. These emails updated him on the operation, almost twelve months before he publicly stated he had just found out about the effort. Those darn pesky emails can be such a pain.
• And finally, in a March interview, President Obama talked about Fast and Furious in a taped interview. Are we to believe that the President, Mr. Holder's boss, knew about Fast and Furious months before Mr. Holder stated he found out? Seems darn improbable.

- Nancy Pelosi is so precious since she never stops saying the darndest things. The Republican House Of Representatives just passed legislation that is likely to go nowhere but it certainly plays to their base of voters. The legislation sought to legalize an Obama administration executive order that prohibited the use of Federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or the life and health of the mother was in danger. The Republicans hoped to pass the legislation since they know that a Presidential executive order can be repealed at any time

However, before the legislation even reached the voting stage, Nancy Pelosi was off on a ballistic rant about how this legislation would result in pregnant women being left to die on hospital floors: "Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers do not have to intervene if this bill is passed. It’s just appalling."

Ms. Pelosi stated this orally at a press conference and also stated it in an official press release. However, she apparently did not read the legislation's actual words since it explicitly states exactly what is in the executive order that medical treatment and an abortion cannot be denied to victims or incest and rape or when the life of the mother is in danger.

Just to be sure, I actually downloaded the proposed legislation. About two pages into the bill you can find the words which verify that Ms. Pelosi is completely wrong and that pregnant women will not be left to die on hospital floors. Darn maybe she should have read the bill first before looking like an idiot.

Given that she did not read this bill which is only a handful of pages long before coming off like a fool, it makes you wonder if she ever read the 2,500 page health care reform legislation.

- One of my recent favorite political class statements comes from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, as reported by Mike Lillis writing for the Hill on October 22, 2011: "The American people have every right to be angry and disappointed at the performance of Congress. Of course, the American people have also elected people with hard stances, so that to some degree, the American people are realizing the results of their votes."

How could we have been so stupid! It is not our politicians' fault that they are incompetent, it is our fault for electing them. It is so obvious. If we had just elected better people to Congress, Congress would perform better.

Mr. Hoyer seems to overlook a few things:

• The political class controls who runs for office so we really never have a real choice who to vote for. We are stuck voting for the same tired candidates that people like Mr. Hoyer put on the ballot.
• If  Mr. Hoyer is right and we elect the wrong people to office, maybe they should resign for the good of the country or better yet, maybe Congress should impose term limits on themselves to make sure incompetent people do not stay in Congress forever.
• Mr. Hoyer also forgets to note that many of those currently in Congress have been in office for 10, 20 or more years. They are now officially part of the problem since they have not been part of any solutions. They should do the noble thing an just resign and go away so that us ignorant voters do not continually re-elect them.

Blaming voters for our politicians' incompetence because we voted them into office. Darn original on Mr. Hoyer's part but also pretty inane and stupid.

- But we also get some pretty darn entertaining statements from government bureaucrats, our political class does not have a monopoly on inane comments. Consider what David Vladeck, the head of the Federal Trade Commission recently stated relative to a $25 million settlement with Reebok and Reebook's claims that it's toning shoes firmed users' buttocks: "This settlement is...to remind advertisers big and small that they must have adequate proof before making claims." (Source: Business Week, October 3, 2011)

Think about this statement and effort in light of the following:

• Medicare loses at least $60 billion a year through waste, fraud, and criminal activity.
• Medicaid loses at least $30 billion a year through waste, fraud, and criminal activity.
• Social Security probably loses $70 billion or so a year through waste, fraud, and criminal activity.
• The IRS fails to collect about $200 billion a year in personal income taxes because of fraud and criminal activity.

So, rather than take government resources and put them on this problem of collecting over $350 billion that is lost every year via government incompetence, we fund government organizations like Mr. Vledeck's that are worried about whether Americans' buttocks are actually getting tightened up.  Sounds like a darn bad set of priorities.

Every time a politician says the darndest things and tries to explain something it usually makes the matter worse since it reinforces the growing perception that we are severely underserved by a naive, pompous, and out-of-touch set of politicians and government bureaucrats. Not cute, not adorable and certainly not effective.


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 http://www.loathemygovernment.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:



http://www.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com/