Government Of the Politician By the Politician For the Politician

Government

Of the Politician

By the Politician

For the Politician

(The Politicians’ Takeover of Our Government)

By Bill Stokes

Copyright 2012 Bill Stokes

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Politicians-Perception vs. Reality

Chapter 2: Narcissism Run Amuck: We Demand Your Respect

Chapter 3: Who Controls the Government and Your Politians? The People? We Wish

Chapter 4: Power to the Party, the Real Constituents. Not the People.

Chapter 5: Media Matters and It’s Biased

Chapter 6: Hollywood? Who Cares? Unfortunately, We Do

Chapter 7: The Real Purpose behind Wealth Distribution

Chapter 8: What Happened to Individual Responsibility?

Chapter 9: Immigration: The Country versus the Politicians

Chapter 10: Taxing the Rich and Other Myths

Chapter 11: What Happens When There Are More of Them Than There Are of Us?

Chapter 12: Something for Nothing – Just Kidding

Chapter 13: We Don’t Know How much We Pay in Taxes and They Don’t Want Us To

Chapter 14: Anatomy of Inexperience

Chapter 15: Nation of Extremes

Chapter 16: Globalism: Good or Bad?

Chapter 17: History: Those Who Fail to Learn From It are Doomed to Repeat It

Chapter 18: Don’t Like History? Just Change It

Chapter 19: The Supreme Court, Economics and Other Trivial Matters

Chapter 20: Capitalism vs Big Government – Both can Solve Any Problem. We Wish

Chapter 21: Education: The New Social Engineering Program

Chapter 22: Wall Street vs Main Street

Chapter 23: Where Have the Jobs Gone?

Chapter 24: What Government Could and Should Do

Chapter 25: Who’s Fault? The Peoples Fault

Introduction

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

George Bernard Shaw

I decided to write this book after speaking to several hundred average folks who willingly shared their beliefs and opinions with me. At one point I actually went door-to-door, knocking on the doors of total strangers with no preconceived idea of their political leanings. Many of us are concerned with the direction of our country, and what we consider incompetent, self centered politicians who have gotten us into this mess. All of us believe that politicians serve politics rather than their constituents. Almost none of us trust politicians. Thus we cannot trust our own government since it is run by politicians.

Our system has been co-opted by our politicians. The people no longer control the politicians, the politicians control the people. Unfortunately, the people allowed this to happen with barely a whimper and now bear the ultimate responsibility. If we the people don’t take back our country, we must live with the consequences. (Notice I did not mention a political party since I and almost all of the folks I talked to when putting this book together feel that both major political parties are equally responsible for this overthrow of the people’s right to govern themselves).

The political parties represent the extremely wealthy or the collective groups that band together to exert, either through money or by collective voting, extreme influence. What about the masses in the lower to upper middle class. These folks are busy trying to pay their bills. They are focused on keeping their jobs or finding a job. They are also paying the taxes to run the government that has deserted them. They are stretched for time as they deal with kids, mortgages, car payments, taxes and the other mundane things in their life. In the past, they have had faith that if they focus on these day to day issues, their children will have a better life than they have had. Unfortunately, this is no longer true and many of them are waking up to this new reality. The frustration in the several hundred folks I spoke to was palpable.

This book presents politics from the view point of these ordinary folks. It is based on conversations with regular folks who worry about mortgages, car payments, healthcare etc. Folks that the politicians have lost touch with and no longer pay any attention to, nor care about. The folks I spoke to vote without the influence of a collective umbrella guiding their vote. Unfortunately they also don’t have or don’t take the time to research political issues. This leaves them vulnerable to the politicians’ lies and thirty second sound bites. We the people have become the forgotten constituents. If we don’t demand our country be returned to us, demand that our voices heard, we must live with the ultimate disaster that is sure to be the result of the politicians rule. Every day we see the results of ceding power to these politicians in the form of massive debt, reduced job opportunities, and diminished potential for our children, and grandchildren.

Many of us can remember when politicians actually talked to people, when town halls were not carefully arranged to match and balance the required demographics. Once upon a time politicians did not know what the question was going to be before they called on the questioner, with the answer already on the teleprompter. Once upon a time we could rely on the press to dig deeply into a politician’s background. We can no longer count on the media doing their job by informing us without prejudice. This book is based on common sense, rather than fancy academic theories. These theories fail because no theory can really predict the response of humans which is often emotional rather than logical.

In this book I explore how we got to this point in America. What changed? How did politicians become so popular and powerful? What does the average citizen know about how politics work, and what remains a mystery (despite the advent of 24 hour cable and the so called expert pundits on cable and network television, who constantly tell us what they believe we should know). Unfortunately, the solutions presented by these pundits are usually based on the pundits own personal beliefs, biases, and the influence of the special interest groups that keep them in office. The more the politicians push for perfect solutions (appease the special interest groups and make the voters who count the ones who vote for you happy) the more imperfect the solution gets. I and most of the people I spoke to understand that the solutions to the problems aren’t nearly as difficult as the politics. While the solutions may be and often are painful, they are not difficult. In other words, we the people believe that politics and politicians are what stand in the way of the solutions.

I have limited the use of statistics to a minimum. As the old saying goes there are lies, damned lies and statistics which are GD lies. I know that you can find a statistic to validate almost any opinion. Just listen to the politicians from both parties and you will hear entirely different statistics that supposedly supports their parties’ view of the same problem. Both parties continuously mislead us by simply omitting that which does not support their view. Therefore I tried to leverage common sense rather than statistics, where possible.

The average American is worried about their future prospects and the future of the country. Throughout history, all great nations have ultimately faded away. Consider the Roman Empire or the British Empire for example. There was a point in history when it was unthinkable that they would decline. But they did, and it can happen to us as well. There is always another nation waiting to take the place of the current super power. I am sure China would love to replace the U.S. as the world’s leading super power. Must the United States share the fate of all of the great powers that have gone before us? The demise of these nations was caused by such things as war, incompetent and corrupt leaders (i.e. politicians, or royalty), debt, and the disengagement of society as a whole. Right now, America is engaged in multiple wars. If you believe the polls, most of the nation, distrust Congress. The approval rating for Congress is almost single digits, currently at approximately11%. Our debt is enormous, approaching 16 billion dollars. Also, until recently, the public as a whole has been disengaged. How many times have we heard, my vote doesn’t matter? Just take a look at voter turnout in presidential elections; it is abysmal. In 1960, voter turnout was 63.1%. Since then it has been consistently less than 60%, even falling below 50% in 1996. Elections have a significant long term effect on every American citizen, yet a significant percentage of Americans can’t find a couple of hours every four years to stand up and be heard. And it’s much worse in non-Presidential election years.

The folks I spoke to while researching information for this book, are beginning to understand that the government can’t solve every issue; they also believe that free market capitalism can’t solve every issue. What the folks want are politicians who will apply free market principles to find a solution wherever possible. When free market principles, with minimum government regulations, have provided the best solution possible, then and only then should government solutions be added to free market principles, in order to provide the best possible total solution. This does not mean that folks want unfettered free market capitalism either. Everyone I talked to, even staunch conservatives believes there is a need for government beyond just defending our shores. They simply wish for government involvement to be necessary, to provide value, and to make common sense. The folks want politicians who actually listen to the people and tell people the truth. I and the folks I spoke to believe our current political parties and their minions often look for a government solution first (and in many cases only a government solution), without exploring a free market solution. After all, they are part of the government; therefore; the government must be imminently qualified to provide the best solution. And, the bigger government becomes the larger their personal influence becomes.

I believe that unless the regular folks become involved, and educate themselves on the issues, we are faced with imminent disaster. Our nation can fail; it can become irrelevant, it can go broke, if we all don’t get involved. I and the folks I spoke to would like to remind our politicians that they work for us; we do not work for them. I would also like to remind our politicians that all of the revenue generated by the government via taxes etc. belongs to the people, not the politicians or some special interest group. I want our politicians to stop politicking long enough to read the constitution, especially the part about of the people, for the people and by the people. If they read the Constitution they will see, there is no mention of politicians in the constitution. Until, we all engage and force the politicians to do our bidding as Shaw said, we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

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Chapter 1

Politicians – Perception vs. Reality

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States

How many of us have heard our parents, when referring to politicians, remark they are just crooks? How many of us have uttered the same thing? Many of the folks I talked to echo that belief. Why do we accept this as fact? Is it true or is it just a result of hearing it so often? Are there other reasons? Once I started to explore why this belief has taken hold, it’s obvious that we are simply taking the easy way out. As long as we believe that politicians are basically crooks, and only someone crooked can run and win, we absolve ourselves of all blame. In discussions with hundreds of folks while putting this book together I can’t count the number of times I heard the words uttered, I don’t vote because my vote doesn’t count. Meaning that you can’t beat the political machine or what difference does it make, the winners and losers are all crooks anyway. But what if we are wrong and our perception does not reflect reality? What if politicians start out with good intentions and morph into what we perceive them to be? Remember what William E. Simon businessman, philanthropist, and former Treasury Secretary said Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote. I believe the following scenario will help us understand what happens to politicians once we elect them.

Joe Average, a moderately successful business man, is fed up with Washington and decides to toss his hat in the ring and run for Congress. Filled with determination, Joe vows to clean up the mess in Washington, and return power to his constituents, the folks. Joe raises money from family and friends, and with a little financial help from a few special interest groups, (who all assure him that all they want is what’s best for the country), launches his campaign. People begin to respond to Joe’s simple message and the fact that he looks and acts like one of them, just a regular guy. As Joe’s momentum grows he meets and talks directly to his constituents, then, a few more special interest groups’ step up to help fund his campaign as it becomes apparent that he might win. Miraculously, Joe wins.

Joe arrives in Washington eager to do the right thing, to serve his constituents, state and country. Joe immediately receives invitations to appear on FOX, CNN etc., to explain his unexpected win. After he appears and answers the reporters’ questions, he receives several calls and messages from his old business acquaintances and friends letting him know that they saw him on national TV. Within a few weeks, Joe’s constituents and business supporters begin asking for small favors. At first he is put off but, upon reflection, Joe realizes he would not have been elected without their support. So Joe begins to do his best to fulfill their requests. Then Joe is called on to vote on the new Federal budget and he realizes that at $3 trillion plus, it is larger than the fortune 500 companies combined, significantly larger than any business Joe is familiar with. Next Joe discovers that he can hire his wife, and pay her a significant salary using campaign funds. After all shouldn’t she be rewarded for the sacrifice she made supporting his run for office?

Soon Joe realizes that anytime he goes to dinner or travels, someone is standing by anxious to pick up the tab, or provide transportation (often via a private plane) for him. All of this just to be able to speak to him and offer their opinions. A few months later Joe receives an invitation to a state dinner with the Queen of England, and he realizes that even Bill Gates can’t get an invitation to this event without currying political favor. Joe begins to realize that your real position in the Capitol Hill pecking order is determined by what committees you serve on and that seniority plays a big part in what committees you get to serve on. It is crucial if you want real recognition and notoriety, to chair the right committee. He also realizes that these committee chair people are always on the Sunday morning talk shows. Joe begins to look with envy on the preferential treatment given to the Speaker, the Committee Chairs, and other senior members. Joe continues to appear on national cable as well as local television, becoming quite the celebrity. Joe also discovers that it is perfectly legal to use his insider knowledge, to guide his up until then small investments in land and stock. Armed with insider knowledge his investments begin to flourish. Suddenly, all Joe cares about is staying in office, and expanding his prestige, power, fame and fortune by serving on the right committees, he can even envisage himself ascending all the way to Speaker, or one day with a little luck becoming the President, the most powerful role in the world. With all of this in mind Joe runs for another term. This time he leverages multiple special interest groups to assure his win of another term, all the while he is telling his constituents that all he cares about is representing their desires.

Suddenly Joe Average, like most people who become powerful and achieve stardom, develops a severe case of narcissism. Like the Greek fable that defined narcissism, Joe looks in the mirror and begins to see perfection (in the fable, the god looked into a pond and saw perfection and ultimately the high god turns him into a flower, now known as the narcissist flower, as punishment). According to the dictionary narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism. I believe that this describes most of our politicians as well as most of the media today. The question is do they begin as a narcissist or, do they become one after they are elected or after they have been on the air for several years? Are they born this way or do we allow it to happen by continuously reelecting them? This is similar to the nature/nurture debate regarding deviant behavior. The answer to this argument is never crystal clear. (But we do know that people from troubled backgrounds have a higher rate of deviant behavior). My father often said to me, "if you lay down with dogs, you’ll get