THE TALE OF AN ALMOST CONGRESSMAN
Lately, I have had the opportunity to work with Jeff, a new friend with good stories of his brief campaign for Congress in the recent 2018 election. An interesting story interrupted his campaign, which we can cover one day over cocktails at the Bistro, but I wanted to pass along some of his insider experiences which are, of course, "all about the money." For more research on economic realities in the political arena, I read Ken Buck and Bill Blankschaen's recent book, "Drain The Swamp." Ken Buck was elected as a freshman congressman in 2014, and, unfortunately, his encounters and well-documented facts are congruent with Jeff's tales.
The reality is so terrible, and the numbers are so large, that the great majority of U.S. citizens cannot translate or understand what it all truly means, but for us JAM Views members I wanted to ensure we attempted to grasp at least a small part of the government economic behemoth we have allowed to evolve, or spoken better, allowed to entropically degrade into disorder.
Let's first remind ourselves that the Founding Fathers' original intent was a 2-year term in which our citizens would give up their time on the farm to serve the nation and determine legislation for the benefit and protection of their neighbors. Now, we have 435 House Members and 100 Senators who mostly make politics their career, a life funded completely with money out of your paycheck every 2 weeks. At the one million civic and charity events we all attend, I have always wished that, just once, instead of the host of ceremonies first introducing the "Honorable Joe" or "Honorable Joy" for us all to stand and applaud their attendance, that the public servants, themselves, would first stand and give an ovation to all of the business owners who have funded their extravagant life, and just say "Thank you." (To borrow a little Nicholson from "A Few Good Men").
So what do all of these public servants do? They raise money from sunrise to sunset, first by asking for it (Did you ever see the "60-Minutes" where the Congressmen spent all day in the call centers asking for donations?) and second by forcibly taking it from you in fines and fees. Then they spend it on whatever will propagate their continued entrenchment. Let's cover specifics (another reminder is that we have allowed these politicians to balloon the National Debt to the reported $20 trillion, but the true number is $90 trillion once you include all unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare).
As a freshman congressman you are now paid a $174,000 salary and provided a $1.2 million budget for staff and resources. You officially work 111 days a year, of which 30% is considered travel days. Next, you must earn your way onto a committee. For a "B" or "C" committee, you must raise an additional $220,00 for the Party, the NRCC or DNC, and for an "A" Committee with more visibility you must raise $450,000. Now to move up the food chain, you simply become a rock star raising money for the Party, and you never go against the Party leadership by voting your conscience. To become Chairman of a "B" committee you must raise an additional $875,000 per year, and for an "A" committee $1,200,000 per year. To rule the world, the Majority/Minority Leaders must raise $10 million per year, and the Speaker of the House, re-incoming Nancy Pelosi, must personally raise $20 million. Overachiever Paul Ryan personally raised over $50 million for the NRCC in 2016.
Now you know why they spend all day in the call center! For these efforts, you get to travel on cool CODELS (Congressional Delegations) across the globe to in-person understand the plight of the Norwegian Ground Squirrel or to learn about Peruvian herbs' promising pharmaceutical potential. But, be careful, because if you happen to vote against your Party's orders, the trips and the committee assignments are the first to be yanked. (Years ago when I told my wife that I was leaving the large company to open our own firm, the first question was, "Do we still get to go on all the amazing trips?")
Now when we shift over from the legislative branch to the executive branch (federal agencies - DOJ, EPA, FDA, OSHA, DOA, etc.), it gets really scary. The Office of Budget and Management states that these federal agencies in 2015 raised $516 billion dollars in fees, fines, and settlements, all ON TOP OF the billions of your tax dollars already budgeted to run these agencies! Stay with me. The Constitution states in Article 1 that Congress controls all revenue collected by the Government. Yet, Congress has un-constitutionally delegated this authority to these agencies, and there is very little tracking, much less accountability, of what happens to this money. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) calls this half-trillion dollars Non-Appointed Fund Instrumentalities (NAFI's) and is pretty honest about the fact that they do not publish what happens to these dollars.
This is how the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act allowed Asset Forfeiture to explode. The more the agencies seize from you, the higher their salaries, the more their agency expands, and the more tactical war gear is purchased to use against civilians. I have submitted three FOIA requests to the FBI (you should do the same), and I received mountains of paperwork detailing information about my homes, cars, investment accounts, assets, and liabilities. This is the goal. Follow the money. State agencies team up with federal agencies in order to operate under the broader federal statutes in Equitable Sharing Programs, and the state actors seize the citizens' assets, keep 80%, and share 20% of the booty with the federal agency for renting their statutes. This doesn't concern you until one day it does.
It is one mammoth unprecedented money grab, your money, by the Freshman Congressman you first send off to the Emerald City, and it flows through to every agency you can imagine. You are busy, the kids have to get to soccer practice, and most of this sounds like Gobblygook (technical economic term), but I just want you to at least have a small window into what is really happening to your taxes, fees, and fines. Can you even imagine if with the snap of your fingers you could erase all of this Government waste, corruption, and control from your life? What would you do for your family with the 20-30% more in your paycheck every two weeks? If everyone said, "No more!" could we then achieve our 6-8% growth rate? Would the standard of living of every American radically improve if we got rid of the Looters?
You're damn right it would.
"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government." - Thomas Paine
Lately, I have had the opportunity to work with Jeff, a new friend with good stories of his brief campaign for Congress in the recent 2018 election. An interesting story interrupted his campaign, which we can cover one day over cocktails at the Bistro, but I wanted to pass along some of his insider experiences which are, of course, "all about the money." For more research on economic realities in the political arena, I read Ken Buck and Bill Blankschaen's recent book, "Drain The Swamp." Ken Buck was elected as a freshman congressman in 2014, and, unfortunately, his encounters and well-documented facts are congruent with Jeff's tales.
The reality is so terrible, and the numbers are so large, that the great majority of U.S. citizens cannot translate or understand what it all truly means, but for us JAM Views members I wanted to ensure we attempted to grasp at least a small part of the government economic behemoth we have allowed to evolve, or spoken better, allowed to entropically degrade into disorder.
Let's first remind ourselves that the Founding Fathers' original intent was a 2-year term in which our citizens would give up their time on the farm to serve the nation and determine legislation for the benefit and protection of their neighbors. Now, we have 435 House Members and 100 Senators who mostly make politics their career, a life funded completely with money out of your paycheck every 2 weeks. At the one million civic and charity events we all attend, I have always wished that, just once, instead of the host of ceremonies first introducing the "Honorable Joe" or "Honorable Joy" for us all to stand and applaud their attendance, that the public servants, themselves, would first stand and give an ovation to all of the business owners who have funded their extravagant life, and just say "Thank you." (To borrow a little Nicholson from "A Few Good Men").
So what do all of these public servants do? They raise money from sunrise to sunset, first by asking for it (Did you ever see the "60-Minutes" where the Congressmen spent all day in the call centers asking for donations?) and second by forcibly taking it from you in fines and fees. Then they spend it on whatever will propagate their continued entrenchment. Let's cover specifics (another reminder is that we have allowed these politicians to balloon the National Debt to the reported $20 trillion, but the true number is $90 trillion once you include all unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare).
As a freshman congressman you are now paid a $174,000 salary and provided a $1.2 million budget for staff and resources. You officially work 111 days a year, of which 30% is considered travel days. Next, you must earn your way onto a committee. For a "B" or "C" committee, you must raise an additional $220,00 for the Party, the NRCC or DNC, and for an "A" Committee with more visibility you must raise $450,000. Now to move up the food chain, you simply become a rock star raising money for the Party, and you never go against the Party leadership by voting your conscience. To become Chairman of a "B" committee you must raise an additional $875,000 per year, and for an "A" committee $1,200,000 per year. To rule the world, the Majority/Minority Leaders must raise $10 million per year, and the Speaker of the House, re-incoming Nancy Pelosi, must personally raise $20 million. Overachiever Paul Ryan personally raised over $50 million for the NRCC in 2016.
Now you know why they spend all day in the call center! For these efforts, you get to travel on cool CODELS (Congressional Delegations) across the globe to in-person understand the plight of the Norwegian Ground Squirrel or to learn about Peruvian herbs' promising pharmaceutical potential. But, be careful, because if you happen to vote against your Party's orders, the trips and the committee assignments are the first to be yanked. (Years ago when I told my wife that I was leaving the large company to open our own firm, the first question was, "Do we still get to go on all the amazing trips?")
Now when we shift over from the legislative branch to the executive branch (federal agencies - DOJ, EPA, FDA, OSHA, DOA, etc.), it gets really scary. The Office of Budget and Management states that these federal agencies in 2015 raised $516 billion dollars in fees, fines, and settlements, all ON TOP OF the billions of your tax dollars already budgeted to run these agencies! Stay with me. The Constitution states in Article 1 that Congress controls all revenue collected by the Government. Yet, Congress has un-constitutionally delegated this authority to these agencies, and there is very little tracking, much less accountability, of what happens to this money. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) calls this half-trillion dollars Non-Appointed Fund Instrumentalities (NAFI's) and is pretty honest about the fact that they do not publish what happens to these dollars.
This is how the 1984 Comprehensive Crime Control Act allowed Asset Forfeiture to explode. The more the agencies seize from you, the higher their salaries, the more their agency expands, and the more tactical war gear is purchased to use against civilians. I have submitted three FOIA requests to the FBI (you should do the same), and I received mountains of paperwork detailing information about my homes, cars, investment accounts, assets, and liabilities. This is the goal. Follow the money. State agencies team up with federal agencies in order to operate under the broader federal statutes in Equitable Sharing Programs, and the state actors seize the citizens' assets, keep 80%, and share 20% of the booty with the federal agency for renting their statutes. This doesn't concern you until one day it does.
It is one mammoth unprecedented money grab, your money, by the Freshman Congressman you first send off to the Emerald City, and it flows through to every agency you can imagine. You are busy, the kids have to get to soccer practice, and most of this sounds like Gobblygook (technical economic term), but I just want you to at least have a small window into what is really happening to your taxes, fees, and fines. Can you even imagine if with the snap of your fingers you could erase all of this Government waste, corruption, and control from your life? What would you do for your family with the 20-30% more in your paycheck every two weeks? If everyone said, "No more!" could we then achieve our 6-8% growth rate? Would the standard of living of every American radically improve if we got rid of the Looters?
You're damn right it would.
"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government." - Thomas Paine
** For more information on Jeff's Books, Blog, and Legal Challenge, please visit www.jeffmartinovich.com.
** To access JAM View directly, or to subscribe, please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com.
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