‘There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute’
It’s a famous quote erroneously attributed to the circus and sideshow king P.T. Barnum, who also dabbled in politics: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And while the quote was likely coined by a corrupt banker (imagine that), the notion was no less true then than it is today.
Perhaps one of the biggest deceptions ever foisted on the American people emanates not from a Barnum sideshow or Ripley’s Believe It Or Not exhibit, but one that emanates from the halls of government and at every level. Regardless of whether it is at the local, county, state, or federal level, the charlatans of politics have convinced the American people that politics is government.
It is not. Politics is the “art” of getting elected. Government is the execution of serving the people. And while there exists the “politics of government,” that denomination of politics has more to do with the realm of human resources and patronage than any political party.
And when politics is government the only people, the only factions being served are the politicians, the elected class, and their crony benefactors.
I’m From The Government And I’m Here To Help
Today – and especially at the federal level, the responsibility of executing government in the service of the people is left unclaimed. Truth be told, those we elect to go to Washington to represent us are more concerned with the health and well-being of their political parties than they are about serving the people.
The overwhelming majority of legislation that is produced by either chamber of Congress is centered on how it will advance the agenda of one party or the other. And if it isn’t the well-being of the party that is center stage, it is the political longevity of the elected official, longevity that is cut dramatically short unless those elected put the well-being of the party – and the party’s agenda – first.
Case in point.
Over 80 percent of the American people have indicated, in no uncertain terms, that they want term limits instituted at the federal level; codified into law as an amendment to the US Constitution. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Seems like something an elected official would get behind so as to serve his or her constituencies, correct? But this mandated position has yet to be taken seriously at the federal level. Why?
The answer is abundantly clear and one that you will never hear come out of an elected official’s mouth unless he or she is one of the rare few who actually attempt to serve the people.
Term limits will not voluntarily come to pass in Congress because the elected officials and their political parties – their lust for power and control, and their narcissistic need to believe they (and their deep-pocketed special interest benefactors) are smarter than you – value their political careers and political parties more than they do executing their jobs; serving the people.
And Then There Is The Contempt They Hold
Another great example of how politicians have deceptively coopted government comes in the blatant lie that is the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that was just ramrodded through the US Senate.
Aside from the fact that this piece of legislation has a significant number of climate agenda components to it – components that Congress, when debating it in the light of day couldn’t pass, this measure raises taxes on every tax demographic (what happened to no tax increases for households making under $400,000 a year?) and actually inflames inflation.
The Congressional Budget Office, which scores pieces of legislation based on factors including how they would affect the budget and their level of numerical accuracy, issued a report refuting the legislation’s ability to effectively reduce the deficit. A statement issued by the House Budget Committee’s Office of the Ranking Member, states:
“...According to CBO analysis, the proposal’s effect on inflation is negligible at best. The estimate ranges from reducing inflation by 0.1 percent to increasing it by 0.1 percent in the near term. The idea that this tax and spend proposal is going to blunt inflation is yet again rejected, this time by CBO. Democratic statements about the proposal are quite frankly wrong and misleading.
“Further, CBO indicates that the Obamacare subsidies can go to a family of four earning $304,000 a year. This is, by any reasonable definition, people who are doing well and not in need of subsidies from the government. Also, CBO confirmed my suspicion that the way the 15 percent corporate minimum tax is constructed would hurt economic growth.
“...The bill does not lower inflation, it hurts economic growth...”
As we straddle a recession (depending on whether you use the traditional definition of the term or the radical Left’s new and improved tailored-to-their-benefit definition), raising taxes on any demographic – personal or business – is not only irresponsible, it is counterproductive to the economy in any form and at any time, that is unless your goal is to destroy the economy...again.
As an aside, it is incredibly important that you understand corporations do not pay taxes. Any tax levied against a corporation is summarily passed on to the consumer. So, any tax increase on those evil corporations...well, they’re actually a tax on the people.
The Tax Foundation, a non-profit fiscal watchdog group, estimated that the passage of this act will “reduce long-run economic output by about 0.1 percent and eliminate about 30,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States [and] reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers across every income quintile over the long run.”
Additionally, this so-called “inflation reduction” bill doles out hundreds of billions – billions – for the radical Left’s green energy manifesto, including:
$40 Billion for Clean Manufacturing Tax Credits
$30 Billion for Clean Electricity Grants & Loans
$30 Billion for Clean Energy Technology Accelerator
$30 Billion for Clean Agricultural Funding
$20 Billion Clean Vehicle Manufacturing
$235 Billion for Other Energy & Climate Tax Credits and Spending
That’s a whopping total of $385 billion dollars for elements of the Green New Deal that Congress roundly rejected just last year.
So, what changed? How is this now passed legislation a benefit to the American people?
It isn’t. It is a gift to the radical Left (the fascists) of the Democrat Party and their special interest private sector cronies. It serves the politicians and the political parties going into the midterm elections, not the American people.
Again, politics masquerading as government.
We Must Start Dismantling The Beast
The federal government – and to a lesser extent every layer of government below it – is insanely out of control. Year after year they scheme new ways to tax the people so that they can use the federal treasury to bribe corporations and high-roller benefactors to support their political candidacies through tax incentives and carve-outs, even as those carve-outs provide “returns on investments” that make Wall Street look like a soup kitchen.
There are three initial moves that must be immediately forced upon the federal government if our Republic is going to survive:
Term Limits: We must get behind every movement that is seeking to establish term limits on federally elected officials and high-ranking Executive Branch agency and department appointees. Please familiarize yourself with the Convention of States Action organization and learn why the Deep State will stop at nothing to derail the effort.
Stand-Alone Legislation: Both chambers of Congress routinely tuck unassociated content into legislation so that they can pass measures that would never have passed on their own. The climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are a prime example. We must start demanding that our federal government’s Legislative Branch implement stand-alone legislation – one bill, one subject. It puts every voting member on the books as voting “yea” or “nay” and removes the tired and disingenuous excuse that inserted pork items were needed to gather votes for passage.
Nullification: We all must begin to lobby our state governors, urging them to enact nullification when federal legislation is passed or federal edicts are handed down that are not copacetic with the enumerated power of the federal government per the US Constitution, not the bastardized Commerce Clause authority granted unto the federal government by the US Supreme Court. If States can ignore federal laws where immigration is concerned by establishing “sanctuary states” then nullification has a precedent.
Government Over Politics
President Washington said it. He warned us about political parties and the weak-willed narcissists who are drawn to undeserved positions of power in his Farewell Address:
“Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.
“Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it...”
Yes, the opportunistic and disingenuous in the political class, like PT Barnum and George Hull hawking their fake “Cardiff giants,” have sold us a bill of goods that has returned us to serfdom to their lordships; that finds us the “marks” for their con game and one that enriches them – and their crony buddies – from our wallets.
It’s politics masquerading as government. Or maybe we should call it “Three Branch Monty.”
