Republicans & Conservatives: Archives

Good post! Wish I could say I was surprised.

It goes beyond congress though. After the funeral, one commentator rather impolitely noted that President Reagan increased his wealth while in office more than any other president. His buddies managed ‘real estate’ transactions for him in a blind trust in California. Look closely, and the source of many president’s & congressman’s wealth is unseemly; the Kennedys through shorting the market and bootlegging; Bush’s fortune can be traced to collaboration with nazis businesses; and so on.

Not surprising, J, but way interesting. What were you guys saying last week about foxes and hen houses?

And going back a bit further, to abstinence-only education in the schools - I’ve sometimes wondered if it would make sense to test those programs out on senators and congressmen first to see how effective they are.

What saddens me most is the first comments are what I imagine to be a widely held opinion. I remember when I was younger and watching some comedian on the teevee who was joking about the incompetence and corruption of some politician. Of course, the audience laughed and laughed. And I thought it wretched that the people would stand for this let alone laugh at it. (Recent studies show that humans laugh most often during uncomfortable situations.) But there you go. That’s what we’ve got. Any ideas on how to fix it?

And remember: corruption is the problem, not government (well, maybe a little).

This is a great post, by the way. Thanks.

I say we invade ban the lobbies. Come on, is it really restricting free speech? We all should have equal access to the government. When you allow these cliques of “special interests” to pool their resources and start vigorously petitioning the government with those resources, they magically get to be heard “twice.” Once at the voting booth, and then the rest of the year with “educational” conferences. (It’s a safe bet that any “educational” policy forum in Vegas comes with complementary “companionship” upon request.)

What do I get? Well, my representatives are only a few mouse clicks away. And I know they read my email because I get a form reply saying they did. I guess I could always call to make an appointment to call back to arrange a meeting. That rarely works out though. And all I really can offer is a “catered” picnic of “homemade” sandwiches and “strong” coffee.

And then there’s election day. *sigh*

All the more argument for a decentralized, state-based approach to government. That way if the local Mayor gets a few extra bucks off of his heffers at sale, or if the governor makes a mil or two off a plant relocation, then the overall impact to the country is mitigated.

Supersize the power in Washington, and you get the supersized crooks like these Senators. Didn’t someone once say tha power corrupts?

Good topic, Matthew.

The linked article you provided spells out just how corrupt our leaders have been _allowed_ to become.
I agree with Joseph Briggs - and feel the same frustration over the fact that we average citizens aren’t able to communicate our disapproval to our represenatives on this issue.
The special-interest lobbyists have definitely got to go, or, as Briggs implied, maybe those who are most concerned with this issue might consider starting an underground network of people who would be capable of posing as, or who have the credentials to actually get hired as, lobbyists, with the intent of throwing a monkey-wrench in the proceedings. If this was done in conjunction with journalists or newspapers, or with a film crew (along the lines of ‘The Yes Men’ *) that would completely uncover the whole shamefully greedy story merely outlined by that USAToday reporter, it could make a big splash, and possibly, get a lot of results.

* For anyone who hasn’t heard of it: ‘The Yes Men’ is a documentary which was made by two political pranksters who actually got away with attending global conferences while posing as representatives from the WTO.

IF the american people would have the intenstinal fortitude to hold people accountable then maybe we would truly be able to LIMIT THE SIZE AND SCOPE OF THIS GOVERMENT AND REIN in the spending and controls they attempt to legislate upon the masses. Then some of this corruption will go away. But then again we think government solves our problems in reality they really know how to screw things up. If there is no morality then who is to say this is corruption anyway?

This is a tough one. If most people in high positions have attended one of 40 schools across the US, they just know each other throught friends and family and marriage and the society pages and endless fundraisers that we enjoy and endure. So you can almost smell the smoke from any “fire” from london to paris to hong kong to philly. It’s not necessarily corruption and of course it is corrupt. If people are indiscreet…. I can’t imagine turining in a friend’s husband or son or sister in law. I never would and I suspect they would cover me too.