“All politicians should be limited to two terms…..One in office and one in prison. Works in Chicago” – a newspaper over the weekend.
Based on everything I have read and been told over the years the Founding Fathers saw elected office as a patriotic public service especially on a national level. In fact they were concerned about elected officials becoming professional politicians. This is evidenced by Benjamin Franklin’s reply to a woman who asked him a question as he exited Independence Hall with the announcement that they had agreed on a final proposed Constitution for our new country. She asked, “What have you given us Sir, a Republic or a Monarchy?” Without hesitation he replied, “A Republic Madam, if you can keep it”. To me this confirms that the Founding Fathers feared the concept of a national government run by career politicians. Every time I read anything about or think about our Founding Fathers I am amazed at how brilliant and far sighted these men were. The fact that such a diverse group of men agreed on a document this significant and Benjamin Franklin’s reply to the question is the evidence. As I wrote this article a comment by Juan Williams in his recent book, “We the People” really resonated with me. It was a reference to our Founding Fathers and what their reaction would be if they could walk the streets of America today.
Every day I am literally stunned when I see the American flag trampled on (here in America!), hear people shout down free speech at our colleges and universities, or hear people publicly say things like what Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said about our Constitution. In a televised interview she advised the people trying to form a new Egyptian government that they “should not use the US Constitution as a model for their new constitution”. This is a life time member of the Supreme Court of the United States of America publicly saying that our Constitution is “bad”! How did we get to this place in America?
I think the answer to my question above is simple. It is that too often money and power bring corruption. All you have to do is turn on the news, look at a newspaper or open up your internet browser to see endless examples of corruption and mismanagement of public funds on every level, local, state and national. In my local paper I periodically see reports of local officials or their staff members committing fraud or outright theft. At the state level it is even worse and on the national level it dominates the news way too often. Unfortunately this is becoming the new “norm” where the only thing that matters to the ideologues on the “Left” and the rhino Republicans is what is in their personal best interest. To these people what is morally and ethically right, is in violation of applicable regulations, and in some cases outright illegal does not matter. Here are a few examples:
Obama’s public denigrating objections to the “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision. This from a man who publicly committed to accepting matching funds (with its restrictive fund raising regulations) for his first presidential campaign but then ignored the commitment and went on to break all campaign fund raising records with no concern for any related ethical or legal regulations regarding campaign fund raising. This included his campaign headquarters refusing to use approved software which would eliminate illegal donations from the same donor or possible foreign donors and the CEO of Goggle staffing, paying for and managing a team of high end technicians to “mine” data and maximize campaign donations and election efforts. Loud public objections to the “Citizens United” decision have now been adopted by every ideologue on the “Left” including Hillary. It seems massive infusions of cash from any source are only OK when it is to their benefit!
A commissioner with the Federal Elections Commission recently ruled that Harry Reid could keep all the money left in his reelection campaign fund and use it to fund a “transition office”. It seems that “loose” regulation of unspent campaign funds is common by the FEC, especially under this administration.
The Bernie Sanders family and “other people’s money”. In the past Berne’s wife and daughter were paid annual salaries out of his senate reelection funds with questionable job titles and duties. Bernie’s wife was also involved in questionable financial transactions involving millions of dollars when she was president of Vermont College.
Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen have been indicted for accepting inappropriate gifts from a wealthy donor. The charges indicate these gifts appeared to be in exchange for special favors from the Governor that benefited the donor’s business ventures in the state.
Obviously this list of examples could be endless with people from all political parties or no real political affiliation, but I think these examples illustrate how broken our political system is today.
What can you do about it? Short term, get informed and get involved. We have ONE chance left in November to keep our Republic, at least what is left of it today. Vote and CHOOSE wisely.
Long term you should support efforts to make significant necessary changes like term limits. Here is a group working to do that, www.termlimits.org. Go there and click on the “Article V”.
Tags: Politics
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