I’m going to build out on this in the next several days and weeks. The reason is simple, this is the cornerstone of DC Business; it has nothing to do with legislation, lawmaking, or the other reference points we retain in the illusion of modern politics. It’s going to get ugly!
CTH often describes the background DC motives with the phrase: “There are Trillions at Stake.” Here we take a look at what that really means, and how DC politics is not quite based on the ideas that frame many reference points.
With people taking notice of DC politics for the first time, and with people not as familiar with the purpose of DC politics, we end up within two different references. Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.
I’ve been talking about this for well over a decade, and we have had this conversation on these pages for just as long. However, in this video Bill Gurley brings some modern receipts. WATCH:
Most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a House or Senate representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past. There is not a single person in Congress writing legislation or laws.
In modern politics, not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.
Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body.
Here’s how it works right now.
Outside groups, often called “special interest groups”, are entities that represent their interests in legislative constructs. These groups are often representing foreign governments, Wall Street multinational corporations, banks, financial groups or businesses, or smaller groups of people with a similar connection who come together and form a larger group under an umbrella of interest specific to their affiliation.
Sometimes the groups are social interest groups, activists, climate groups, environmental interests etc. The social interest groups are usually non-profit constructs who depend on the expenditures of government to sustain their cause or need.
The for-profit groups (mostly business) have a purpose in Washington DC to shape policy, legislation and laws favorable to their interests. They have fully staffed offices just like any business would – only their ‘business‘ is getting legislation for their unique interests.
These groups are filled with highly paid lawyers who represent the interests of the entity and actually write laws and legislation briefs.
In the modern era, this is actually the origination of the laws that we eventually see passed by Congress. Within the walls of these buildings, within Washington DC, is where the ‘sausage’ is actually made.
Again, no elected official is usually part of this law origination process.
Almost all legislation created is not ‘high profile’; they are obscure changes to current laws, regulations or policies that no-one pays attention to. The passage of the general bills within legislation is not covered in media. Ninety-nine percent of legislative activity happens without anyone outside the system even paying any attention to it.
Once the corporation or representative organizational entity has written the law they want to see passed, they hand it off to the lobbyists.
The lobbyists are people who have deep contacts within the political bodies of the legislative branch, usually former House/Senate staff or former House/Senate politicians themselves.
The lobbyist takes the written brief, the legislative construct, and it’s their job to go to Congress and sell it.
“Selling it” means finding politicians who will accept the brief, sponsor their bill and eventually get it to a vote and passage.
The lobbyist does this by visiting the politician in their office, or, most currently familiar, by inviting the politician to an event they are hosting. The event is called a junket when it involves travel.
Often the lobbying “event” might be a weekend trip to a ski resort, or a “conference” that takes place at a resort. The actual sales pitch for the bill is usually not too long and the majority of the time is just like a mini vacation etc.
The size of the indulgence within the event, the amount of money the lobbyist is spending, is customarily related to the scale of benefit within the bill the sponsoring business entity is pushing. If the sponsoring business or interest group can gain a lot of financial benefit from the legislation, they spend a lot on the indulgences.
Recap: Corporations (special interest group) write the legislation. Lobbyists take the law and go find politician(s) to support it. Politicians get support from their peers using tenure and status etc. Eventually, if things go according to norm, the legislation gets a vote.
Within every step of the process there are expense account lunches, dinners, trips, venue tickets and a host of other customary financial waypoints to generate/leverage a successful outcome. The amount of money spent is proportional to the benefit derived from the outcome.
The important part to remember is that the origination of the entire process is EXTERNAL to Congress.
Congress does not write laws or legislation, special interest groups do. Lobbyists are paid, some very well paid, to get politicians to go along with the need of the legislative group.
When you are voting for a Congressional Rep or a U.S. Senator, you are not voting for a person who will write laws. Your rep only votes on legislation to approve or disapprove of constructs that are written by outside groups and sold to them through lobbyists who work for those outside groups.
While all of this is happening, the same outside groups who write the laws are providing money for the campaigns of the politicians they need to pass them. This construct sets up the quid-pro-quo of influence, although much of it is fraught with plausible deniability.
This is the way legislation is created.
If your frame of reference is not established in this basic understanding, you can often fall into the trap of viewing a politician, or political vote, through a false prism. The modern origin of all legislative constructs is not within Congress.
“we’ll have to pass the bill to, well, find out what is in the bill” etc. ~ Nancy Pelosi 2009
“We rely upon the stupidity of the American voter” ~ Johnathan Gruber 2011, 2012.
Once you understand this process, you can understand how politicians get rich.
When a House or Senate member becomes educated on the intent of the legislation, they have attended the sales pitch; and when they find out the likelihood of support for that legislation, they can then position their own (or their families) financial interests to benefit from the consequence of passage. It is a process similar to insider trading on Wall Street, except the trading is based on knowing who will benefit from a legislative passage.
The legislative construct passes from K-Street into the halls of Congress through congressional committees. The law originates from the committee to the full House or Senate. Committee seats which vote on these bills are therefore more valuable to the lobbyists. Chairs of these committees are exponentially more valuable.
Now, think about this reality against the backdrop of the 2016 Presidential Election. Legislation is passed based on ideology. In the aftermath of the 2016 election, the system within DC was not structurally set up to receive a Donald Trump presidency.
If Hillary Clinton had won the election, her oval office desk would be filled with legislation passed by Congress which she would have been signing. Heck, she’d have writer’s cramp from all of the special interest legislation, driven by special interest groups that supported her campaign, that would be flowing to her desk.
Why?
Simply because the authors of the legislation, the originating special interest and lobbying groups, were spending millions to fund her campaign. Hillary Clinton would be signing K-Street constructed special interest legislation to repay all of those donors/investors.
Congress would be fast-tracking the passage because the same interest groups also fund the members of Congress.
President Donald Trump winning the election threw a monkey wrench into the entire DC system…. In early 2017 the modern legislative machine was frozen in place.
The “America First” policies, represented by candidate Donald Trump, were not within the legislative constructs coming from the K-Street authors of the legislation.
There were no MAGA lobbyists waiting on Trump ideology to advance legislation based on America First objectives.
As a result of an empty feeder system, in early 2017 congress had no bills to advance because all of the myriad of bills and briefs written were not in line with President Trump policy. There was simply no entity within DC writing legislation that was in line with President Trump’s America First economic and foreign policy agenda.
Exactly the opposite was true. All of the DC legislative briefs and constructs were/are antithetical to Trump policy. There were hundreds of file boxes filled with thousands of legislative constructs that became worthless when Donald Trump won the election.
Those legislative constructs (briefs) representing tens of millions of dollars’ worth of time and influence were just sitting there piled up in boxes under desks and in closets amid K-Street and the congressional offices. Legislation needed to be in-line with an entire new political perspective, and there was no-one, no special interest or lobbying group, currently occupying DC office space with any interest in synergy with Trump policy.
Think about the larger ramifications within that truism. That is also why there was/is so much opposition.
No legislation provided by outside interests means no work for lobbyists who sell it. No work means no money. No money means no expense accounts. No expenses mean politicians paying for their own indulgences etc.
Politicians were not happy without their indulgences, but the issue was actually bigger. No K-Street expenditures also means no personal benefit, and no opportunity to advance financial benefit from the insider trading system.
Without the ability to position personal wealth for benefit, why would a politician stay in office? The income of many long-term politicians on both Republican and Democrat sides of the aisle was completely disrupted by President Trump winning the election. That is one of the key reasons why so many politicians retired immediately thereafter.
When we understand the business of DC, we understand the difference between legislation with a traditional purpose and modern legislation with a financial and political agenda.
Lastly, this is why -when signing legislation- President Trump often says, “They’ve been trying to get this through for a long time” etc. Most of the legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in his first term was older legislative proposals, with little indulgent value, that were shelved in years past.
Example: Criminal justice reform did not carry a financial benefit to the legislative bodies, and there was no financial interest funding the politicians to pass the bill. If you look at most of the bills President Trump signed, with the exception of a few economic bills, they stemmed from congressional construction many years ago.
More to follow….
The days of Mr. Smith goes to Washington are over forever!!!!!!
Actually this corrupt system is pretty much what Mr. Smith ran into into that great film. It was already in operation then, though the form was slightly different.
Another good one is Born Yesterday, about a congresscritter bought by a junk magnate.
Very true. It really went into overdrive under LBJ and The Great Society. Probably the worst president we ever had, including the current one.
Don’t count on it. Regardless of the ’24 outcome, this could well be an ongoing battle.
It will be an ongoing battle. I have been telling people for years,,,communists don’t take no, for an answer. It will be a fight to the end.
No, only a lead high velocity injection can “cure” someone infected with Conmunism.
But, even if you COULD mass-innoculate, and so deprive the virus of a ‘host’ somehow it would STILL show up again, within a generation.
Mr. Smith who Goes to Washington ran into the same construct as when Mr. Trump Went to Washington, in the 1939 movie. The lying rotten media that support, graft, political corruption and dirty tricks of backstabbing politicians.
That movie was a Hollywood script that could not be written today that portrays the corrupt nature of the Washington District of Corruption. It would not be “allowed” by the globalist Uniparty. Rich Men North, South, East and West of Richmond would do their damndest to stop any exposure of their modern corruption empire
It is much worse today due to the Communist take over of most every institution in this country that was outlined in the book The Naked Communist and the nearly completed 45 goals of Communism read into the Congressional Record of 1963.
I pray that millions more people of all status in life will wake up to this Grubermint scam of globalist vs freedom loving everyday people. However, how do you wake up millions of people of the Party loyalist mentality, who don’t know they are asleep?
I’m not sure you can, apart from providing a clear line of demarcation by breaking off and starting that Patriot Party.
“,…how do you wake up millions of people of the Party loyalist mentality, who don’t know they are asleep?”
Open your eyes, and take a look, because that is EXACTLY what is happening.
Firstly, it took R party loyalists, to recognise and accept the reality, that ONE of those KEY goals of Conmunism, read into the Congressional record, the Infiltration and control of BOTH parties, had happened.
Now, party loyalists of the D party, are also awakening to this reality.
So, the answer to your question, is “elect DJT as POTUS, in 2016”.
we citizens need to keep our eye on the ball
the communist/marxist/socialist evil types
have always been there and always will
we became complacent in the umbrella of
making a living, taking care of our families
and believe the media
Now they’re all perverts and communists.
So, basically, we can’t vote our ass out of this mess. Damn, where have I heard that before?
Exactly.
I’ll be voting for PDJT in 2024 and after that I’ll only vote in local referenda. No more candidates for office, local, state, or federal.
I WILL Vote for PDJT in 2024, and for ALL down ticket offices, I will vote AGAINST the Incumbent, and so FOR the Challenger.
Great warmup. Can’t wait for the next installment.
I am definitely looking forward to…the rest of the story.
The pharmaceutical oligarchy has wreaked havoc in this country. They are responsible for this whole transgender issue going on right now. For the last decade they have spent $Billions enabling that slippery slope and they wrote the last gay marriage bill
“A transgender person, especially a kid, is a medical patient for life.”
“Pharma” – Greek root = sorcery / poison.
Objective – Healing or profit? Profit – love of money is the root of ALL evil.
Evil doers who are worship or controlled by Satan worship Baphomet – original transgender.
By pushing this extreme agenda and supporting it, they are profiting thru poison and sacrifice.
If people would just stop eating processed foods, or giving them to their children, the pharma industry would shrivel and die.
Not if you’re still giving the children all the vaccine poison that’s required scheduled by big pharma (to attend school).
Just think how SIDS & autism would decrease if parents didn’t accept the coercion to do THAT to their babies. Plus cancer and other sicknesses later in life.
There is no ” thing ” as transgender. Born male or female. End of story…
I’m always amazed at how they hid what they were doing and for how long. It’s always been about the money. Just follow the money trail. I hope we have the strength to see where it all ends and who holds the strings. Now it is making more sense that the conservative wing has been in quicksand and nothing has been accomplished since January. And the need for all the recesses and “fact-finding” vacations-to pick up the money and goodies. They have all sold their souls.
Thanks for the blast of ice cold water Sundance. We needed it.
My opinion…as a result of alternative social media we are exposing the lies and corruption. We suspected it, we talked about it but now some brave “mules” that are exposing them. They provide us with undercover video and whistle blowers and deep dive investigations.
“Symbolism will be their downfall.”
“Sometimes you just can’t tell people, you have to show them.”
DC politics is Nepotistic! Greedy and manipulative. Pay to play! They make it look quaint and caring like your Grandma! Not so much.
A bill meets an executive order…
Short Version:
Most in DC sell their soul for power and money and by doing so they sellout the American people who they are suppose to represent first and foremost and the few who don’t, most end up being blackmailed or leveraged to comply with the far left.
PT has exposed the UniParty Globalists for who they really are and more and more Americans are beginning to see that most Republicans are not much different than Democrats (thus the UniParty) in that they really don’t care about the American people or our Constitution or the rule of law and only money, power and control of everything.
Which is why I believe we will see a new party emerge called the Patriot Party or the American Party which will evolve from the MAGA movement and those who see the UniParty as the corrupt frauds that they are.
Can’t serve God and Mammon! New Testament 2 commandments. 2nd – love you neighbor (constituents) as yourself.
Gotta pick a side.
It is clear to me most if not all in the DC corruptocracy have chosen, BK. That we can see them and they know we can see them is a complete irrelevance to them.
Archbishop Vigano has so stated many times that we can no longer stand on the sidelines. There are still millions who do not realize this is a spiritual war. And while we might have to fight the battles against the other side individually, rest assured we have permission to do so.
Perverts get a sick thrill when they know other people are watching what they do. If they think nobody will intervene to stop them they actually seek out opportunities to show off their evil. That holds true for sex perverts and political perverts.
Now its Lucifers Children vs the Patriots of Light. Those are the only choices.
A Republican form of government was designed only for a moral people as you know, Mike.
I could expand on this, but I’m sure you already know where I’d be headed.
I would like to see someone write a hypothetical Resume for a member of Congress, as it really exist. I think it would leave most bug eyed!
Good idea… We need the best to take up the challenge!
I nominate Babylon Bee, whose fabulous satirical headlines and articles have increasingly come to mirror reality, which I’m certain is not what they intended 😁
It would be a doozy! And more than likely accurate.
I have to admit ,Your comment got me to play Bob Dylan’s song ” Gotta Serve Somebody”
Sundance, Thank you for providing the definition of
-The Swamp
Needs to be expanded to the other two branches before it can be a complete definition.
Those are the insurers
The insurers and the financiers. I would say “bankers”, but Blackrock isn’t a bank, neither is $0r0$, but yeah the enslavement of man, thru CREDIT.
Yes, thank you Sundance for this post and so many like it.
Once the convicts take over the prison they don’t like to give it back.
Mr./Mrs./Ms. Smith was spotted by the AA and Single A Scouts at the County/City level by party operatives. Long before Washington they have had a Master Class in how to go along to get along, plus the theatrical themes and taboos that match the machines that found them. There are a few outliers to this system, but not many anymore.
Nobody does anything without benefit to themselves and that is why it’s unrealistic to expect politicians to put in effort to please people who cannot reach them through the ballot box.
There is a solution, only nobody likes it. And that is for us to donate to politicians so that 150 million voters sending hundreds of dollars each will overwhelm these corporate special interests. That is why they laugh at us when we proudly proclaim we toss their fundraising requests in the trash. We expect service yet we ain’t paying for it. What can we expect?
That is a g00d beginning but I think that it is deeper than that.
These politicians would also like to enjoy being able to travel on the private planes of rich men, dine in fine restaurants while having the rich men pick up the tab, accept gifts of clothing, jewelry, and artwork that rich men paid for, traveling around the world on “fact finding” missions paid for by the tax payers, establishing “foundations” through which they can funnel bribes, and being paid to write books and collect speaker fees.
We, the little people, cannot offer them those perks. They enjoy hobnobbing with the elite and not having to rub elbows with the unwashed masses.
I will not try to outbid corporate donations, rich men donors, and the entire Lobby Industry in DC. Too many people are making too much money for them to ever give a d@*n about us.
When the real President Trump was elected, the grift and quid pro quo activities of congress came to a screeching halt.
Perfectly explained Sundance!
Wasn’t a law regarding corporate campaign contributions changed in the early 1970s that enabled this construct? I think I remember thinking “Something doesn’t smell right about this” even thouh I was politically illiterate.
Yes, for many decades Americans would respond to pollsters that getting money out of politics was their top priority. Instead, over the years, bribery was legalized. We call it lobbying, which if it was only speech and done in public would be lobbying. But it became pure purchase which eventually devolved into total control and writing of legislation. At the same time, a monopoly on media was created that devolved into the propaganda machine we have today.
I can’t recall a specific law, but every “reform” made the problem worse being chock full of loopholes. Now we’ve got our elections being run by Zuckerberg, our courts ruled by Soros, our healthcare by Pfizer, and “our” representatives supporting everyone and everything except the American people. I recall different industries being financialized over the years, such as medicine in the ’80s. Every Congress since reliably results in us getting poorer and those running the rackets getting rich beyond decency… or “democracy.” For them it’s a kleptocracy if they can keep it.
Thank you Sundance!
An excellent synopsis of the Mafia like government construct.
Devastatingly True!!
MAGA 2024
The answer is:
1) massive Federalism and nullification by the States (think sanctuary cities)
2) small ‘s’ secession
3) large ‘s’ Secession
Judge Napolitano has a video on #2 and #3 on his youtube channel. BTW, no permission required!
Unfortunately, Abbott, DeSantis, Noem, Huckabee, et al are all scum. Abbott, in particular, should be railroaded out of Texas.
Hillary tried getting national, taxpayer-funded government healthcare passed by working in secret and hiding what it was really all about. . . . . and she got caught and failed miserably.
0bama got it passed by arm- twisting and simply lying about it.
They were celebrating in the streets and Biden declared “this is a big ‘fookin’ deal” during the signing ceremony.
Then Trump & a Republican Congress (after failing to repeal it ab inito), finally neutered it by killing the mandates which would have FORCED Americans to fund the government takeover and bureaucratic Frankenstein monster which came with it.
Now you don’t hear democrats mention it much any more because – without the steady stream of confiscatory taxes flowing into government coffers – 0bamaCare is just another bloated, wasteful & redundant program.
It was ALWAYS about the money and was NEVER about improving healthcare.
While Obama campaigned on general concepts, he had Nancy and Harry working in secret on details and they kept it all secret until it was voted on.
Thank John Roberts.
Also, the mandate continues. All that’s changed is the fine for non-compliance has been set to $0.00. Republicans did this as a sop, they certainly do not want to undo the Democrat’s work.
Federal control over healthcare started with creating the FDA, which actually has NO legal or Constitutional authority.
I laugh when people say Obamacare put the Govt. in charge of health Insurance.
Companies (Big companies) provide health Insurance to their employees, and then take it as an expence (tax write off) ,…so WHO is actually “paying for” that health coverage? The U.S. Govt. which regulated what coverage was required, etc.
In other words, “WE” have had Gov. funded health Insurance, since they enabled companies to “offer” health ins. as a benefit, and of coarse thats when healthcare costs began a steady greater than inflation increase.
Obamacare was not really about money. It was about CONTROL.
I think this is one of your most important writings SD.
This easy to read/follow breakdown of how our system is now structured is a must read for basic understanding.
I will pass it on to everyone I know.
When I graduated from high school in 1963 most going on to college went because a career in business paid more than a career in government. I lived in San Antonio which had the largest concentration of military and government bases in the US so many government jobs were available. None of my peers wanted to work in government – didn’t pay as well.
That has all changed. Government jobs are now the place to be
I grew up, same era, in DC and it was even so there among ppl I knew. many of the guv jobs were manned by transplants from surrounding states, if only as a stepping stone. the lure of the nation’s capital back in the day.
Same can be said for nonprofits at the time, the pay was less back then but there was more job security than the private sector! But no longer the CEO of the American Red Cross salary and benefits amounted to $103 million in 2019 and most executives make more than $150,000! Why I don’t donate a penny to the American Red Cross!
i Watched Liz Dole go from Sec of Transportation under POTUS Reagan to Sec of labor under POTUS HW Bush to
The RED CROSS. i Quit Giving to The Red Cross when I SAW The ” OVERHEAD ” to run the Organization in the late 1980’s.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/fun-with-overhead-the-red-cross-and-its-claims-to-efficiency/
Go to University, graduate with Student loan debt.
Go to work for the gummint, municipal, county, state or Federal and your requirement to pay on your student loan debt is put in abeyance.
Work for Gummint, for 10 years, and your debt is “forgiven” entirely!
Wanna bet WE “forgave” Fauxis $100,000 student loan debt, and Stroxz, and Page, Comey etc.?
But, but my representatives are different. They are honest and in office doing what’s best in my and my districts’s interest. Your’s may be corrupt but mine are upright…….and THAT’S the general consensus, the country’s basic problem.
End full time congressional jobs. They should be part time and no permanent residence in DC
Earlier this week, I noticed an “All-In” 3-day event, taking place on the campus of UCLA. I had to search online to learn what”All-in” was about, and found limited information. Some wonkish business and technie confab, where the attendees are made to feel like “hip” insiders, with their large photo ID passes and “curated” activities.
It seemed more like a singles events, masquerading as “networking.”
So essentially our Representatives are lobbyists with voting privileges.
Bingo. You summed it up nicely for us Rowdy appreciate that have a great day
R.D.
No, lobbying requires some effort.
More like cashiers, agreeing to vote for legislation, and then having brother, sons, hubby make investments, based on the inside info.
Lobbyists are the pimps. Politicians are the prostitutes.
Fascist corporatism, with people like Soros fund the legislation to tare US to shreds and it working at break neck speed
People wonder why there are calls to burn it all down (figuratively speaking) and start over.
All federal legislation should be single issue. Paragraph 1 should be a clear reference to the section of the Constitution that gives Congress the power of the subject of that legislation. None of this “Interstate Commerce Clause” laziness – a clear and direct reference.
I agree. None proposed and voted on should ever, ever be as thick as a Harry Potter novel!
Matt Gaetz is pounding out the single-issue-legislation message loudly, frequently, and in high def.
Drop the “figuratively speaking”.
And drop the fantasy of how it “should” happen, cause it ain’t GONNA happen that way, until we first LITERALLY tear it all down, and THEY are NOT going to go, just cause we tell them to.
So true dutchman.
Many fine suggestions here about what should be done and what needs to be done.
Without a huge change and depending only on the process as it stands now, these ideas will never be implemented.
They will be talked about and talked about passionately by some “conservate” elected member of congress.
Talked about and written about and these elected reps will do the TV news talk show and preen and strut and talk some more.
But nothing will ever be done.
Like our Founding Fathers and Mother who rebelled against their own British government we are in the same situation.
The original American Patriots were first born and bred British citizens.
They loved their King and Country and really did not want to leave, they had high hopes of the Colonies becoming a legitimate part of the British Parliament with their own representatives.
They finally had to face the cold hard truth that the Briish leaders were always going to consider them nothing more than the same thing as the low level peasants of India and Africa, just another British owned piece of land with no rights or priviledges.
They had always thought of themselves as full blown British Citizens with all the rights and priviledges that went with it, the truth was hard to swallow but swallow it they did.
Even more Truth is that with the British, only the nobility had rights under the Magna Carta.
Everyone else was and is a ‘subject.’
There is a difference between a citizen and a subject.
Speaking of trillions at risk:
Is this true?
This is dated 2010 and written by Sharyl Atkinson. So, I assume it’s true, but it is 13 years old. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/family-to-receive-15m-plus-in-first-ever-vaccine-autism-court-award/
Greed destroys everything it touches.
Don’t forget how they fund their campaign committees.
To get a seat on a congressional committee, you must donate to the campaign committee. The greater your position, the greater the contribution you must make.
And they don’t use personal finances and it is illegal to use your campaign funds. But, they will gladly introduce you to people who care about the committee you want to join and are willing to donate the funds you need.
Very complimentary to the system you describe, trapping politicians into relations with all those lobbyists, making them dependent on the lobbyist donations.
Washington doesn’t want any Mr. Smiths.
Next, let’s hear about how staff are chosen for Congress and for the committees.
The entire thing is a mostly closed system with massive inbreeding. People moving in and out of various positions, getting spouses doing the same. Making massive money serving the corruption while calling themselves ‘honorable’.
Yes, let’s talk about staff. When my particular Mr. Smith went to Washington, it turned out that his staff did all his thinking. When I contact him about concerns, he responds that his staff says they’re unfounded, based on misinformation. For example, the WHO so-called treaty contains nothing nefarious. Apparently his staff has never even heard of PDJT as they’re absolutely mum on that topic. I am curious as to who this staff is that actually run our elected representative while he poses for pictures and knows nothing.
Well, when the run for election, they only parrot the opinions their handlers tell them to campaign on. Makes perfect sense to keep handling them after they win.
I love the word “handlers” — I think of puppets with their “handlers'” hands up inside. That’s the way I will always look at “Congress” men and women now. And, of course, all of those challenging President Donald J. Trump in the primaries and all throughout the country.
In addition to ‘getting spouses doing the same’, they groom/advance their offspring for future MSM careers to optimize and control coverage.
DC apparently doesn’t want any more Mr. Trumps either, judging from the way DC has acted in the last 7 plus years…
OK. So we know it. But “knowing” does not change anything. What is the remedy (and please, do not tell me it is voting new people in).
Military Tribunal and even this is a maybe. Then again, moving is always an option.
Moving where? I already moved and could not be happier in Texas (it has its own “Bush” clan problems. But at this point there is no place to go.
Knowing ISan important first step, which leads to WILL.
WE must have the WILL, some might say resolute detirmination, to make the difficult decisions, and actions neccesary to change.
Same as with an individual; whether its a lousy job, marriage, or addiction we continue for as long as we can, resisting change.
Until a CRISES causes us to realise the status quo is no longer tolerable. THATS the “knowing” first step, that then, often painfully and messily, leads to the WILL, the resolute DETIRMINATION that CHANGE must occur.
And, WHO’s behavior can we change?
Only OUR OWN.
“Lord, grant me the courage to change the things I can (MY behavior),..
The wisdom to accept the things I can not change (anybody elses behavior)
And the Serentity that comes from knowing the difference.
Goes back to my original statement. Will to do what? Voting at this point is an illusion.
And it literally starts at the local level with your school board, city council or judges. All funded and controlled by money and special interests.
So says the magnificent, indomitable Catherine Austin Fitts as well.
George Carlin on Lobbyists and the Big Club
(4:24)
Just never gets old.
I wonder what Mr. Carlin knew about the international cabal operating above and outside the control of all the national governments.
I miss George Carlin. The nation needs his wit and wisdom
He is right and it is time we started our own club.
The only solution to the current financial crisis facing our Republic is to drastically reduce our Government.
Ron Paul (Rand’s father) had a plan to do just that .
Specifically, he wanted to eliminate the departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Interior and Education. He would not fire these workers but allow them to retire or look for another job.
In addition, he would not give out foreign aid and bring our troops home from around the world.
He was famous for saying lobbyists would find it difficult to go after the loot if there wasn’t any.
Ron Paul is the only libertarian I ever voted for once let alone twice.
I always found it interesting how Ron Paul was marginalized and made out to be a kook. Shysters don’t like truth tellers.
There’s many so-called solutions to the cancer that is Washington DC. Anything involving intellect, civilized law enforcement or “voting” has a small chance of success. Other solutions like nuclear war, Cloward-Piven Revolution, or BRICS seems to be gaining in probability. IMO, I believe The Fourth Turning will leave us without a central government where our big concerns turn to gardening, bicycle repair and the production of potable water; all thanks to p9liticians!
I agree
notice that Washington doesn’t
I think what we need to realize and Sundance is pounding the point
is that almost none of them are in it for the country and the American people
we have to get over the good cop/bad cop behavior of the two parties
and realize that they are mostly all only in it for themselves
and collude to deceive us
thanks Sundance
I love reading your posts
ditto; my go to site several times daily
also, I appreciate many of the comments
very educational
Yeap that bottom cartoon is not funny but it is current reality.
Yes WE Can:
Compromise:
getting comped for a promise
Compromising:
activity
Compromised:
Yes THEY Are
AOC went from a tavern wench wenching for quarters to a millionaire where she is today. I’m looking forward to her lobbyist funded book coming out: “How to change the oil in your Tesla and save money. “
AOC likes giving everyone a charge. And, she has already discovered the drain plug for the oil.
The different cabinet departments (and especially large agencies within those departments) can be thought of as profit centers. Senators are profit centers as well.
Large defense contractors set up business profit centers in this way. The NRO – once the most secretive agency in DoD is literally ringed by defense contractor office buildings. Just one simple example. The goals is to capture the bureaucracy, like how Pharma controls the FDA and CDC. They force the vaccine and money is pumped into the companies. Not hard to understand.
The problem is that most people DO understand that the government is set up to reward their friends and companies organize to extract money from government. They don’t even live on tax revenues these days. Just print more fiat currency. People have just given up on being able to do anything or they profit from it and don’t want to rock the boat.
i recall reading this 5-7 years ago. as true now as it was then, no doubt.
An interesting article: https://darkfutura.substack.com/p/rebooting-america
Wondering if some of these topics will be covered in your further articles Sundance.
I pray for a solution that doesn’t include all out chaos and loss of life.
Discussion of the following ideas in the above referenced article, pros and cons:
I thought the discussion was interesting and along the same lines as Sundance’s – pointing out the obvious problems we have and what we could potentially do about them. We certainly are in a pickle. Our government no longer represents us. It just bleeds us to death, then bludgeons us over the head while parading around as proud government employees who don’t work for anyone but themselves.
1. Can only be changed by an Amendment. Current age and term limitations, or lack thereof, are enshrined in the articles of the Constitution. No law can change that.
2. Doable with rescission of campaign finance laws and make it all illegal.
3. Must be done. Congress abdicated that in 1913.
4, 5 & 7 – doable.
6. MUST HAPPEN no matter what.
8. For government service, particularly with anything with a clearance, you CANNOT serve two masters.
We are so effed-up. Truly, the Republic is now a facist criminal state.
I forget who it was – maybe a comedian – but he advocated that elected officials had to dress like NASCAR drivers and have a patch on their cloting for any lobbyists that were effectively sponsoring them.
Re: your list above, Citizen.
Twomey (PA) is out of this particular game. He did not run for re-election in ’22. But you are certainly correct that he has been one of Mitch’s guys / gals ready to deliver the goods whenever, wherever, and however McConnell required.
In Toomey’s stead, we Pennsylanians got the remarkable showman Senator John Fetterman (D), now boot licker extraordinaire for the other UniParty wing manipulator, Chuck Schumer.
I have no idea whether he was elected or selected.
He seems not to care.
This should be on the cover of The NY Post, Epoch Times or any other mainstream rag!!!!
Burr is gone, thank God!
Are there any liberty, Constitutionally-minded people who are currently working on “bills” to be voted on, debated or presented for the next conservative President?
Actually, are there any real politicians in DC that care about us, or is everything about the “indulgences” and the money?
Do they ALL need to go or what?
Yes thay all need to go .
Have a nice day Kannada
R.D.
Have a nice day Jann spellchecke can be really funny sometimes
R.D.
If you have to ask,…
Go back and read the above article again.
Of COARSE they ALL need to go.
Wouldn’t it be wise for all Americans to just stop giving away all your hard earned money to special interests groups and charities Dry up their money supply so they can’t afford to pay their lobbyists and their rent in DC
Yep, you find the companies, their connections, and boycott the goods. Whether it be a specific brand of gas station, or bottled water. Send them all under.
It’s the monetization of the legislative process at the cost to taxpayers enriching the DC club.
Millions spent on campaigns for positions that pay on face, exponentially less in salaries. A global swindle in our face.
Term limits, especially for staffers, and no lobbyists.
Term limits of the elected Talking Heads will not bring change. It’s the entrenched bureaucrats that are running the machine.
Thank you. Excellent article.
I saw MTG pushing a bill to REQUIRE AM radios in cars?!? WTF?! It’s a good idea to own an AM radio, but we don’t need government law to make that happen….
I’m sure that’s because they are trying to eliminate AM radios in cars now.
Their biggest strategy is their greatest weakness. We have not yet embraced our best weapon: economic sanctions.
Sundance knows of what he speaks. I have a few friends and acquaintances that are employed full time in the lobbying and selling areas. Also the legislation writing area. All of them are highly compensated and live very well. All of them are also lawyers. This is all they do. They are not bad people (although some surely exist within this system), they are just doing a job as far as they are concerned. I like them all, but would prefer to see them employing their impressive talents elsewhere. And yes, I have told them that. In addition, much of the legislation going to congress was indeed drafted long ago and is just sitting there for when the time is right. Obamacare is a good example I believe.
They all believe the constitution is merely a suggestion.
“The important part to remember is that the origination of the entire process is EXTERNAL to congress.”
JMO.
Yup, COW, the 3 political, American crime families, aka America’s Mafia, was a gang within the federal government.
They populated the federal government’s 3 branches: executive, judicial and congressional with their extremely loyal “stay-behinds.”
(note: COW, acronym for “clinton/o-bummer/w”)
________________________
The three, American, crime, families COW (clinton, o-bummmer, W) spanned a quarter of a century of America’s history. Up to a half of a century if you include papa bush.
In an ideological sense, the 3 ex-presidents were “brothers” ……. “brothers” of the globalist-ideology …… open borders, super-sized international corporations, etc.
They populated the federal government’s 3 branches: executive, judicial and congressional with their extremely loyal “stay-behinds.”
After 25 – 50 years, the 3 crime families had full control of the federal government. They could call up judges and stop any cases or, just the opposite, they could call up the prosecutors and have any of their enemies charged, arrested and prosecuted.
They can do all of this with loyal, co-conspirator surrogates, leaving no trace of their own involvement and requiring no funds from them. No doubt the 3 ex-presidents aren’t geniuses but that misses the point that their power lies in the network of federal government surrogates who they control. Think in terms of Al Capone ….. he wasn’t that smart but he commanded a large army of street thugs and lawyers and judges and policemen who enforced his rules. The 3 dons have the federal government as their enforcers, financiers, etc. And that is the reason President Trump is such a threat to them …….. he is the “1920-1930 gangbuster” of 2023.
They are globalists with the full force of the federal government under their command. They control the world globalists as well as the influential bankers, not vice versa.
Gone were the Constitutional checks & balances. The 3 crime families, America’s Mafia, was a gang within the federal government. Any one of them could call upon and would be supported by the other two. All funded by the taxpayers of America. They personified the UniParty.
In 2015, they saw candidate Donald Trump as a threat since he was the antithesis of their globalist-ideology. In 2015, they used their joint venture to form the “COW-coup-d’état against America and President Trump” to keep then candidate Trump out of DC. They failed in 2016 and that led to the 2020 election steal and the treasonous illegal certification of biden by pee-low-ski and penceeee.
“Let’s go Brandon and the democrats and the GOPe!”
.
I get a feeling that one of those ‘cow’ members are trying to disengage from the rot and salvage his soul prior to his earthly existence being extinguished.
Clearly not the ‘w’ strand.
Surely not the ‘o’.
But the ‘c’ — even while referencing Hillary more than Bill — has cracks in the seams.
I do hope he does not want to die with his conscience bothering him . . .
.
The analogy that comes to mind with the description of politicians not having the indulgences they had become accustomed to pre-Trump with their outcome once PDJT came into the White House is one of high society gentlemen’s social club ladies — maybe kept in a grandiose place with a regal name, such as The Ormsby House’ — being kicked out and having to walk the street . . .
The Congress people who had to work with that demotion, are back in their comfort zone, but they are showing (by their looks, actions, words) that having to street walk took all the ‘shine’ off of being a kept woman, and their desire to throw off their street walking time has that desperate tinge and smell that they are discovering decent folk can discern.
Old, ugly whores just are not in that great of demand, as Dianne Feinstein reveals.
No appetite, no dinner, just lushes looking for a drink source . . .
Seems to be it would be profitable to cut out the middle men/women which are our so-called representatives and just let these interest groups wheel and deal with the states. Federal government is so useless except for hiding.
I’m Curious
How far back would someone have to go, in time, in order to make the above cartoon agree with the current government process for making and passing a Bill into law, as pictured above?
As a lobbyist…I can confirm this message.
DON’T HATE ME. I AM TRYING DO GOOD.