Moneyed Politicians

It doesn’t matter what your politics, this corruption is costing you and your families dearly!

By Jack E. Lohman

So here we are.

Congress is negotiating a massive and critically important Financial Reform package and the politicians creating the bill are all on the industry’s payroll. The two top guys from the two negotiating parties are on the take. Chuck Schumer at $3,896,839 and Richard Shelby at $1,227,738, all in 2009/2010 alone.

And Chris Dodd, their current leader and that “soon-to-be retired” Senator that will likely move on to working for the banking industry? Well, he took only $894,888.

The bankers have covered themselves well.

The Dems are as corrupt as the R’s. And as the theory goes, if you can’t own the government, own the politicians that run it.

Even more troubling is that some of the grassroots see campaign finance reform as a conspiracy against them, and the rich elites are shoveling cash into a nationwide campaign to keep them believing it. As a center-right Republican I am amazed at how easy it is to get my colleagues to stoke the fire that is burning them to smithereens.

As a former business owner, I cannot imagine a scenario where I’d put top management in charge of negotiating an agreement with someone who was paying them cash dollars on the side. I’d likely have them jailed instead, but in politics we re-elect them to office. Where are our heads?

There are major differences between the House and Senate bills, and I’m not a financial expert. But I’d like that my congressional experts are not bought off by the industry.

This is NOT a partisan issue

This is just one of many examples of why we must pass the Fair Elections Now Act. It doesn’t matter what your party, this is a matter of our nation’s economy against the fat cats in the top 5%, who have raped and pillaged the country and are now threatening to leave if we stop them.

Let them go. We can’t afford to have them stay. They should try one of those countries that simply executes bandits.

The Tea and Coffee parties have common goals too…

By Jack E. Lohman

Yea, there are extremes in each, and their moderates will soon cast them to the side. But the groups have more in common than even they realize.

They are both very upset with government, and for the same reason. Our politicians are spending taxpayer money that isn’t theirs, and they don’t care what the citizens think. They spend our money on stupid, costly things because they are paid by the special interest to do so. And if they do it right the politician will get a kickback in the form of a campaign contribution.

But they spend money that drives up taxes and both sides hate it when that happens.

The Tea Party is more Conservative and wants government out of its face. The Coffee Party is more Liberal and wants enough government to stabilize democracy, but not so much as to detract from needed freedoms.

If 100% of Americans were honest and did not set out to rip off others for their own gain, zero laws and regulations would be needed. But they aren’t and thus at least some regulations are needed to keep the greed and ripoffs under control.

If 100% of Americans were hard-working and motivated and always had a job, zero welfare and unemployment benefits would be required. But they aren’t and thus toughness in handing out perks is required.

But while these two sides battle each other, the politicians laugh themselves all the way to the bank, and all their way to re-election.
The truth is that few on either side will complain about fair taxes with fair spending. But a good portion of both sides have failed to diagnose the “cause and effect.” Taxes are high (the “effect”) because cash changed hands to the politicians (the “cause”).

Politicians are not foolish. They will not (usually) spend taxpayer money unless there is something in it for them (campaign cash or constituent votes). Cash is usually more important because it can buy votes through advertising, and in 90% of the cases the politician with the most money wins office.

Thus the minute they are elected they start contacting contributors for the next election, and they spend 25-50% of their time raising cash instead of governing. Even term Limits will not fix the problem because as one politician leaves the newcomer begins getting the special interest flow.

So what do the Teas and Coffees do about all of this?

Vote the bastards out; 100% of them. Democrats and Republicans alike. And do it in the primary so your favored party stays in. And if they lose, who cares? They are *ALL* owned and operated by Corporate America anyway, and doing the economy no good!

Importantly, pressure your politicians to support public funding of campaigns at both the state and federal level. And when we finally get the money out of the political system we can go back to fighting for what we want our taxes spent on.

You should do this out of principle anyway. It makes zero fiscal sense to allow your employee (the politician) to take cash bribes from your competitor (the special interests) and divert your assets (tax dollars) from your family’s pockets to their own.

When I hear my representatives talking, I want to know they are talking for me and not the Fat Cats that are funding their elections.

Find a Coffee Party near you… Click HERE

The TeaParty HERE

And don’t forget the Billionaires for Wealthcare HERE

Wisconsin needs change; not more of the same!

By Jack E. Lohman

There’s only one key issue that voters should be concerned about; the integrity of our government. If we have honest legislators the rest will take care of itself once the political bribes are removed. Over 80% of our voters see this as a major problem.

For candidates to campaign on health care or jobs or the budget matters little to me. What matters is “who are these politicians working for? Me or the special interests that want in my pocket?”

The special interests are funding the elections, so what would you expect? All of the rhetoric is just that: lies used to win over the voters. And once elected they turn their allegiance to the people that sent them the cash, and spend taxpayer money on no-bid contracts and government projects that are not needed or prudent but pay back their funders.

I’ve heard nothing from gubernatorial challengers Tom Barrett, Scott Walker, Mark Neumann or Mark Todd with regard to how they are going to fix our system, but a search of their web sites shows this:

• Barrett says nothing, but when he was a congressman he supported public funding of campaigns. A good start, but where is he today?
• Walker says nothing but his opposition to reform when a state legislator and his personal comments since tells me he’ll bring more of the same. Politics as usual.
• Neumann would like to shift the time frame of the campaign bribes to either before or after the budget. Not a good sign. Bribes are bribes no matter when tendered.
• Todd doesn’t say anything, which tells me he doesn’t understand, or does understand and doesn’t want to go there.

Simply, nothing else matters. A government corrupted by campaign bribes is what trashed the federal and state economies.

More of the same cannot reverse it.

Only eliminating the bribery will fix it.

So where do our potential governors stand on this issue?

If the democrats are smart they’d fix this before the next elections and lock themselves into control. If the Republicans are smart they’d hop on board to take part of the credit.

This nation’s economy has been trashed because politicians on the dole succumbed to the demands for their financial and business friends and eliminated regulations. Which of course wouldn’t even be necessary if 100% of our CEOs were honest. But as long as the political cash continues to flow those regulations will remain off the table.

Only getting the bribes out of the system will return democracy to the voters. Only getting the bribes out of the system will let congress pass health care reform that makes sense for the nation.

This cash flow affects state legislators as well, where taxpayer assets are spent on special interest projects rather than needed community services.