It Is Not Just American Politicians That Are Corruptable And Contemptible

We have reviewed many, many contemptible acts and actions that our political class has perpetrated on us and the nation over the past few years. Just a few of their antics include the following:

• When national unemployment was soaring over 10% and major issues facing Americans were going on unsolved, the politicians in Washington worked at getting legislation passed that allowed the Federal government to control the sound volume on television commercials, displaying a very bad sense of screwed up priorities.
• When the Gulf oil spill was it its sickening height and people were losing their jobs and livelihoods and the environment was taking a beating, President Obama was taking multiple vacations, enjoying multiple rounds of golf and made at least two cross country trips to raise campaign money for fellow Democrats.
• With most Americans no longer able to get a traditional defined benefits pension from where they work, members of Congress get a generous pay check, a generous defined benefits pension, a generous 401k-like retirement account, and participate in Social Security.
• With the Federal government spending 70% more money than it was collecting in taxes and fees in 2011, running up well over a TRILLION dollars in additional debt and endangering the financial viability of the nation Congress decided to take a five week vacation, with pay, last August.
• The political class has slandered and demeaned tens of millions of Americans for simply expressing a difference of opinion with the politicians by calling them racists, smelly, un-American, terrorists, barbarians and a host of other slurs instead of celebrating the nation's diversity of opinion and the freedom that should come with it.
• Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was sent to jail for felonies while former Congressman Anthony Weiner went into retirement for pompous, sexist stupidity.
• This administration and the Federal government ran a ridiculously inept gun running sting operation called "Fast and Furious" that resulted in military grade weapons ending up in the hands of the violent Mexican drug cartels and which have been used to kill a U.S. government agent and many Mexican citizens.
• Congress has rigged the process of Congressional salary increases so that they happen automatically and with little fanfare every year, regardless of how incompetently members of Congress performed during the year.

You get the idea. I could go on for a very long while to further verify that our politicians, for the most part, are contemptible. They waste taxpayer money, they focus on very minor issues and never resolve any major issues facing the country, they care more about their vacations and political careers while citizens suffer, and generally do a lousy job of governing the nation, solving problems, and protecting our democracy.

But, misery loves company. Consider how contemptible politicians around the world can also be, as documented in two articles in the January 20, 2012 of The Week magazine:

• Although the Italian federal government has driven the country's financial status to the brink of national bankruptcy, the average legislator in the Italian government earns $20,700 per month. This comes out to almost a quarter million dollars a year. Imagine how much money they would have gotten if they had actually done a good job managing the Italian economy.
• Italian politicians also get free travel anywhere they want within Italy, they get tax free housing allowances, $5,000 a month allowance for secretaries even if they do not have any, and subsidized gourmet dining.
• But the French politicians are not too far behind, on average, making about $217,000 a year.
• If these legislators made the same salaries in the U.S. they would be in the top 1-2% of earners in the country. Imagine how far up the income chain they are in their home countries.
• The Chinese government spends millions and millions of dollars every year by providing luxury cars for thousands of government officials.
• According to the article, Communist Party officials drive $100,000 Audis, police drive Porsche SUVs, and military officials drive half million dollar Bentleys.
• This auto and spending extravagance for the Chinese political ruling class is contrasted with a recent tragic accident where a bus that was supposed carry only nine people crashed with 62 kindergarten-aged children on board because the school could not afford to buy regular school buses. 21 kids died in the accident.

And finally, an article in the January 23, 2012 issue of Business Week that described the basket case that is Iraq, we find that a central government politician can earn up to $22,000 a month while in office. The typical Iraqi is lucky to earn a couple of hundred dollars a month, assuming they can get a job in their wreck of an economy.

An old saying that goes, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." However, I think a better old saying is "power attracts the corruptible." And the contemptible. Seems no matter where you are in the world, it is probably a safe bet that the political class will be more concerned with their personal enrichment and perpetuating their time in office than serving their country's people.

But at one point in our history's past we probably believed, falsely or truly, that our political system, our political class, and our politicians were better, more virtuous than the typical corrupt banana republic. But it is probably a good assumption that this belief is not valid today.

We have allowed our political processes to be hijacked by the political class for their own benefit and not the good of our democracy. Thus, the only way to return to a place where citizens run for office to serve the country and not themselves is to implement some of the steps put forth in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government,"

1. Step 6 - allow only citizens to contribute to election campaigns, banning donations from unions, corporations, PACs, lobbyists' groups, etc.
2. Step 7 - allow citizens to contribute only to election campaigns that affect them, e.g. people in Kansas cannot direct campaign contributions to New Jersey political candidates.
3. Step 8 -  strengthen FEC enforcement capabilities so that politicians finally obey all campaign finance laws.
4. Step 14- stop gerrymandering Congressional districts that greatly benefit incumbent politicians.
5. Step 37 - base annual Congressional raises on an annual customer satisfaction rating given by American citizens.
6. Step 38 - require every sitting Federal politicians to sign off on a annual shared values pledge that would hopefully guide politicians' behavior and would include such traits as integrity, trust, respect, commitment, and teamwork.
7. Step 39 - implement firm term limits for all politicians, "one and done."

Just because our politicians are like the rest of the world's, generally corruptible and contemptible, does not mean we cannot change it. Wouldn't it be nice to finally respect those that are in office rather than tolerating them because they were the lesser of two evils?



We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of our times.

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.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

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

Memorable and Forgettable Political Quotes From 2010

As the year draws to an end I thought it would be a good idea to review some of the mostly inane quotes that our political class graced us with this past year. They are either memorable or forgettable but most of them are a sad commentary about the ineffective people that are currently running all levels of government in this country:

"Now, Congress will have to pay for what it spends, just like everybody else." President Barack Obama, February 13, 2010. Guess this message did not get up to the Capital as the Federal government again spent over a TRILLION dollars more than it collected in taxes, imposing more than $8,000 additional debt burden on every United States household.

"I may be at a point in my career that I am going to do what is right and makes sense."  Senator Joe Lieberman, January-February, 2010 issue of the CATO Policy Report, quoting from the San Francisco Examiner. Why start now, at this point in his long career the Senator might just as well continue to do what is wrong and makes no sense.

"Act like you're at your grandma's house." California Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, Earthlink News, February 25, 2010. Portantino was sponsoring a resolution in the California legislature that would create "Cuss Free Week" in California. This is a state that faces a $20 billion budget deficit, is shutting down government functions and agencies and  laying off teachers and other state workers because of the revenue shortfall but clean language apparently is a higher priority and bigger problem for the California political class.

"Trust in government rarely gets this low." Andrew Kohut, Associated Press, April 19, 2010. Kohut is the director of the Pew Research Center which had recently released its latest survey findings, showing that nearly 8 out of 10 Americans do not trust the Federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills. Mr. Kohut obviously has a flair for the understatement, especially since this lack of trust has been this bad only twice in the past 60 years or so.

"Many women who do not dress modestly - lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which consequently causes earthquakes." Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, Associated Press, April 19, 2010. And these people want to have nuclear weapons. Be scared, be very scared.

"Anytime you see something growing and expanding and there are no rules, you need to regulate it." Pittsburgh Mayor spokesperson Joann Doven, Pittsburgh Tribune- Review, March 1, 2010. Why let the free market grow the economy when government can step in, for no reason, and regulate it to death?

"My fear is that the whole island [Guam] will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize." Congressman Hank Johnson, The Hill, March 31, 2010. These words were actually spoken, on the record,  at a Congressional committee hearing with naval officers. Why was he not worried about Manhattan island, home of millions of more people? Unbelievable.

"We do not anticipate that happening." Naval admiral responding to Congressman Johnson's Guam capsizing fear. Whew, Guam residents can now rest easy.

"Governor [New Mexico] Richardson has always said that he would consider making good on Governor Wallace's promise to Billy The Kid for a pardon." Governor spokesperson Alarie Ray-Garcia, Associated Press, July 30, 2010. Better to work on a pardon for an outlaw who died about 120 years ago or spend time and government resources helping LIVING New Mexico citizens cope with high levels of unemployment and other contemporary issues? Another atrocious instance of bad political priorities.

"Every boundary of decency has been crossed." Retiring Congressman Bart Stupak, Parade Magazine, November 7, 2010. The Congressman was lamenting the hateful and poisoned atmosphere in Washington where words like baby-killer, racist, knuckle dragging Neanderthal, a__h___, un-American and debasing phrases are thrown around to describe any American who dares to have a different opinion from the speaker of the insults.

"We all have a responsibility where appropriate to seek forgiveness." One term Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Earthlink News, November 17, 2010. Spoken as the Governor, his staff and the Florida parole board wasted government resources and time working on a pardon for Doors lead singer, Jim Morrison, who died almost 40 years ago, despite the fact that Florida is facing devastatingly high unemployment and home foreclosure rates. More bad priorities from your political class.

"Every American has likely experienced the frustration of abrasively loud television commercials. While this may be an effective way to grab attention, it also adds unnecessary stress to the daily lives of many Americans." Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Associated Press, December 3, 2010. The fine Senator was the Senate sponsor of a useless Federal government bill that would restrict the sound volume of television commercials. Would not the Senator's time and his staff's time be better spent on reducing unemployment in the country, fixing our failing public schools, getting the national debt under control, etc.? I think solving these issues might go much farther to reducing "unnecessary stress" in "the daily lives of Americans" then reducing the sound volume of TV commercials. Has no one in Washington every heard of the Mute button or DVR technology?

Best Political Quote of 2010: "Do you know how many political and economic decisions are made in this world by people who don't know what in the living daylights they are talking about?" Former President Bill Clinton, Associated Press, September 21, 2010. Stating the obvious has never been so eloquent.

Runner Up Best Political Quote of 2010: "We have managed to acquire $13 TRILLION of debt on our balance sheet. in my view, we have nothing to show for it." Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, Washington Post, September 3, 2010. And whose fault is that?





Our recent 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.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

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

Quotes and Notes From Your Political Class

It's always fun following our political class because you never know what they will say or what they will do that either makes no sense, is embarrassing, or has very little impact on the average American. Consider some of their recent escapades:

- "Stating The Obvious" - Former President Bill Clinton was quoted in a September 21, 2010 Associated Press article: "Do you know how many political and economic decisions are made in this world by people who don't know what in the living daylights they are talking about?" Talk about stating the obvious. Given our continuing domestic economic situation and the fact that the political class has not solved a major issue in decades, I would say Mr. Clinton nailed this one perfectly.

- "And Who Is Responsible For This Mess?" - Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado was quoted in a Washington Post article on September 3, 2010: "We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet. In my view, we have nothing to show for it." The article went on to say that the good Senator voted "yes" on the economic stimulus bill, the health care overhaul bill, increased education funding and other bills that a Democratic Party-controlled Congress passed on his watch.

The economic stimulus bill has gotten us 9.8% unemployment while wasting hundreds of billions of dollars, the health care overhaul bill is already coming apart and as is its prediction of reducing the national debt, our public schools for the most part do not educate, and no major issues have been solved for the $13 trillion. Looks like the Senator's keen insight is very compatible with Bill Clinton's experience.

- "Now You Tell Us" - A quote from retiring Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd appeared in the December 6, 2010 issue of Businessweek magazine: "Powerful financial interests, free to throw money about with little transparency, have corrupted the basic principles underlying our representative democracy."  This quote is from a U.S. Senator who chaired the powerful Senate Banking Committee. During his tenure, he was one of the largest recipients of campaign donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the largest financial entities that he was supposed to be overseeing. To add insult to injury, Fannie and Freddie were, and are more so now, government entities that should not have been involved in any kind of campaign funding modes, lest of all with the one person who had Senate oversight responsibility for them. The Senator's words would have had a lot more meaning if they had been spoken during his Senate tenure, as he returned the money he received from Fannie, Freddie, and other powerful financial interests.

- "Light My Fire" - The Associated Press reported on December 9, 2010, that soon-to-be ex-Governor Crist of Florida has been successful in getting a pardon for Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors. Morrison was arrested about forty years ago for obscenity during a Miami, Florida Doors' concert. He has been dead for almost as long so it is not as if Crist was bringing solace to an old man. The Florida economy is in the dumps with higher than average unemployment and probably almost as many homes in foreclosure as there are on the market for sale.

But these family affecting crises can all wait as a politician works on a completely useless piece of work. Just like the recent passing of Federal legislation that regulates the sound volume of television commercials, where do you think the pardoning of Jim Morrison would fall in the top priorities, concerns, and issues facing the typical American family? I doubt it makes the top 100 but it somehow lit Governor Crist's fire, to the benefit of no one in Florida.

- "Assault With A Deadly Bicycle" - Reason magazine reported in its January 2011 issue that the town of Black Hawk, Colorado has banned the use of bicycles on most of its city streets. The local town council felt that there could be possible collisions between cars and bikes on the town's narrow streets. Is this a big problem or top priority of Black Hawk residents? Probably not since, according to the article, there has never been a bike/car collision in the town.

- "Who Ever Reads The Fine Print Anyway?" - According to  New York Times article on July 7, 2010, when President Obama was signing the voluminous financial industry regulation bill, he said: "If you've ever applied for a credit card, student loan, or a mortgage, you know the feeling of signing your name to pages of barely understandable fine print." If he cannot understand what he is signing, how confident does that make the rest of that he and the rest of the political class know what they are doing? (See Bill Clinton's observation above). It recalls the infamous Nancy Pelosi quote that we would not know what is in the health care reform legislation until we actually passed it. (Clinton is looking smarter and smarter by the minute).

- "Talk About Gun Control" - Not to be outdone by the American political class, Reason magazine reported in its January, 2011 issue that in Queensland, Australia, they really take their gun control seriously. They are considering a statute that would require all TOY guns to be licensed. Those who fail to license their TOY guns would be subject to $4,500 in fines and... if they do not lock up their TOY guns they would be subject to an additional fine of up to $750. They are almost as good as working on inconsequential stuff as American politicians. Bill Clinton did mention politicians around the world not knowing what they were doing, looking smarter and smarter, Bill.

These are funny stories and quotes but also pathetic commentary on what and how our political class works today, to the benefit of no one but themselves. Maybe they should take a few notes from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" to get focused:

• Step 1 - this step would downsize government by 10% a year over five years, hopefully reducing the amount of garbage our politicians work on but get them focused on real issues and not stuff like banning bike riders or pardoning dead rockers. At the very least, even if they accomplish nothing with this limited to do list, we would save our tax dollars.
• Steps 6, 7 and 8 - these steps would revamp and re-democratize our election processes so that people like Senator Dodd would not be "tempted" by "powerful financial interests."
• Step 36 - this step would require all members of Congress and the Presidential administration to take and pass a course on basic economic theory to try to address Bill Clinton's insight above. How much damage would the course to, given the economic track record of those in power today?
• Step 39 - this step would impose term limits on all Federal politicians so that we have a reasonable chance of getting rid of the bad ones before they decide that regulating the sound volume on our television commercials is a top priority or we end up with politicians that do not even know what is in the legislation they are passing.

Notes and quotes, makes me sad and mad that we have to put up with them, despite their comic relief.




Our recent 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.



Please visit the following sites for freedom:


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

Hurrah! Congress Finally Solved A Problem! Or... A Sign The Apocalypse Is Upon Us

We can all rest easy now. According to a December 3, 2010 Associated Press article, our political class and the Congress they run have finally come together in a momentous manner to solve an issue facing all Americans. Would could it be, you say:

1. Did they finally win the War On Drugs that plagues our country? No, still working on that one since the late 1960s.
2. Did they finally come up with a comprehensive energy strategy that protects our national interests and defense and helps save the environment? No, still working on that one from the mid 1970s.
3. Did they finally find a way to fix our failing public school systems? No, still working on that one, a problem that was identified in the early 1980s by the Reagan administration.
4. Did they finally find a way to solve the illegal immigration problem and come up with a strategic plan to deal with immigration? No, still working on that one which has been around for decades.
5. Did they finally find a way to deal with the fast approaching financial insolvency of Social Security and medicare? No, still working on that one even though they have known about the aging of the baby boomer generation and its impact on these entitlement programs for decades.
6. Did they finally find a way to get government spending under control? No, still working on that one and moving in the wrong direction with the Presidential commission On Debt Reduction failing miserably to garner enough votes to move their recommendations to Congress.
7. Did they finally find a way to bring home our troops that are so widely, expensively, and foolishly distributed around the world? No still working on that one also.
8. Did they finally find a way to create more jobs and reduce the unemployment rate in this country? No still working on that one and also moving in the wrong direction with the statistics announced today showing that unemployment is rising and private sector job creation is a fraction of what first time unemployment benefit filings are.

No, unfortunately, Congress made little progress on most of these issues today and in a few, actually lost ground. However, we can thank them for passing legislation that would prevent television advertisements from being louder than the shows they are embedded in. The bill was sponsored in the House Of representatives by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo of California and in the Senate by Sheldon Whitehouse. These are two real life politicians and their staffs working and wasting resources on an issue that pales in importance to some of the problems listed above. If you surveyed every household in America and asked them to rank the issue of television commericals' sound volumes, where do you think it would rank? Would it make the top 50 issues facing American households today? Would it make the top 100?

What a pitiful issue to be working on. I would bet that most of America does one of the following when a television commercial comes on:

• They mute the sound with their Mute button.
• They use their DVR to fast forward through the commercials.
• They leave the room to get something to eat.
• They leave the room to do something else.

It would seem that these four options, all within the control of the person, would more than neutralize the impact of higher sound volume of commercials. Why do we need dozens of  Washington people working this nonsense when other critical issues go unattended and unsolved? And now the President will get involved and waste some of his time to sign this bill, even though the problem of the Bush tax cuts is not yet resolved and our service people are still dieing and getting wounded in two wars and our government apparently cannot keep a secret (i.e. Wikileaks) and a whole set of other issues might be better served by the President than taking even five minutes to enact this legislation.

What is really pathetic is a quote in the article from Senator Whitehouse: "Every American has likely experienced the frustration of abrasively loud television commercials. While this may be an effective way for ads to grab attention, it also adds unnecessary stress to the daily lives of many Americans." I would bet that not being able to find a job is  more stressful than the sound volume of TV commercials. I would bet that seeing my child not get a good education in our public schools is more stressful than the sound volume of television commercials. I would bet that having a loved one become addicted to drugs is more stressful than the sound volume of television commercials. Fix these real problems and Americans would be able to cope with the stress of high commercial sound volumes.

So I guess I should be happy that Congress finally agreed to do something. But I am not happy, I see this as another sign that the apocalypse is upon us. It helps verify the suspicions of many Americans that the political class does not know how to solve the big problems facing the country and American families today. Thus, to justify in their own minds that they are important, they work on trivial matters that have absolutely no bearing on our general welfare. It's that old cliche that the political class is only good for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic rather than getting up in the crow's nest looking for the much bigger icebergs floating out there that could really affect our voyage.

This is one of the biggest priorities of "Love My Country, loathe My Government." We need to implement Step 1, whose main thrust is to greatly downsize government so that it works on fewer but more important problems and provides an added focus to those problems. If Step 1 was properly executed, the political class would not be working on trivial matters like the sound volume of television commercials since the funding and resources to do so would have been eliminated or switched to the national drug problem, the public education problem, the immigration problem, and only a handful of other important, national issues.





Our recent 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.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

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