My wife Linda and I bounce ideas and theories off of each other—some we refine, others we reject. At some point, it becomes difficult to know who came up with the original thought, after we’ve worked it over for a bit. But I think this one is Linda’s, so I’ll give her credit. Let’s dig.
There was a photo that surfaced a few months ago, of CA Senator Diane Feinstein (D) and AK Senator Lisa Murkowski (R). It looked like Feinstein had Murkowski cornered, and was dressing her down for something. Murkowski certainly looked like the schoolchild, and Feinstein the teacher. Of course, it was just a photo, so we have no idea what was really happening. But it got us to thinking of how things may actually work in Congress—the pressures that long-standing members can apply to more junior colleagues, regardless of party. That pressure may explain a few things, especially as newly elected, first-time Congressmen get to DC, and seem to change—usually becoming less emphatic and ideological. Those that were gung-ho to change the Legislative Branch to closer meet the needs of The People, seem to get shaken of that idea in just a few months or years. What follows is our theory. It is purely conjecture—we have no inside information, no sources, no data, and nothing written to bolster our opinion. This theory is based upon nothing more than our observations, along with applying human nature explanations to what we see (from a great distance). If others have more info, please share. We even reserve the right to be completely wrong about this—but we’ll go with it until more info is available.
First, some background. As most know, the US Constitution creates our form of government. It defines the Executive Branch (the President) to enforce law, the Judicial Branch (the Court system) to adjudicate law, and the Legislative Branch (Congress) to write new law or replace existing law. That third branch is the focus of this writing. There are two houses of Congress: the Senate, comprised of 2 Senators for each State, regardless of State size or population; and the House, comprised of 435 members, allocated to the States based upon population—CA has the most House members, because it has the greatest number of people living there, and so on to the less populous States. Originally, Senators were selected by the States, and House members were voted on by the people of the States. The 17th Amendment changed that, as that Amendment made Senators elected by popular vote of the States, just like House members. Many folks, myself included, dislike the 17th Amendment, as it takes the States’ voice away from the lawmaking process—but that is not the focus of this article. The Founding Fathers intended all Congressmen to be citizen representatives. These were intended to be part-time jobs: serve your term, return to private life. But Human Nature works its force on things, and Congressmen soon realized that the job of Congressman is a pretty powerful gig, doesn’t take much physical effort, and is likely easier and better than whatever private life they would return to. Thus evolved the professional Congressman. We now have Congressmen that have served for 20, 30, 40, even 50 years!
Second, the Administrative Staff of the US, State, and Local governments cannot be understated. Thousands of career functionaries work in Washington, DC. alone. The number of such folk is not really a public data point, but rush hour traffic around DC suggests it may be in the hundreds of thousands. Many have longer tenures than the longest Congressman. These administrators last thru the relatively short terms of MANY Presidential and Congressional administrations. These are the people that get things DONE, or NOT, depending upon their own incentives. They know the ins and outs of the machinery of government, and they know how to do things quickly or slow-walk them. They give rise to the saying, “Do you want to see who is in charge, or who knows what is going on?” They are the latter.
This dynamic plays itself out at all 50 State capitals, and most, if not all, cities. Why do you suppose candidates for public office will spend several multiples of what an office pays, to get elected to that office? Multi-million dollar campaigns for an office that pays $175K a year? Hundreds of thousands to grab a State or local office that pays $50K? If you replied, “Benefits and insider info, along with pure power, dwarfs their salary!”, you’re on the right track.
Back to our theory. The common perception of Congressmen is that of a political Party, either Democrat or Republican, with an occasional Independent thrown in (see: Sanders, VT). And that perception is also one of Modern Liberal (Democrat) and Conservative (GOP). But these perceptions are cultivated and perpetuated by Congressmen themselves. They show us exactly what they want us to see. On occasion, one or more will spout publicly what they think we want to hear, either via press conference, CSPAN, or within the confines of a Congressional event or debate. Every now and then, we get a Cruz, Kennedy, Howley, or Cotton, but not enough in numbers to do anything but give an opinion brash enough to get re-elected (gee, they sound like what we WANTED!). But what really happens in DC? Only one thing appears to be a constant: Congressmen get wealthy. Good or bad economic times for the rest of us, truly does not matter for them. Prosperity for them is an absolute GIVEN. On a salary of $175K per year, over 10 years, an average Congressman can amass $10M or $20M net worth (I know the math says $1.75M is the total gross salary, so now you know the problem). Via insider trading (illegal for everyone BUT Congress), and by knowing what entities are about to get large government contracts (giving such info to relatives to invest in SHOULD be illegal, but somehow, it isn’t), a two-term Senator or three-term House member can leave office as wealthy as a successful mutual fund administrator—with ZERO risk. What happens to the first-term go-getter mentioned above? We are theorizing that that young pup is rushed into a small room, and told exactly how Congress works: DO NOT BREAK OUR SYSTEM—IT WORKS FABULOUSLY FOR US, AND WE DO NOT WANT IT CHANGED ONE IOTA! If you rock this boat, you will be so isolated, you’ll find Waldo. You will not be on ANY committees, you will not be asked to co-sponsor a single bill, and any legislation you author will die a silent death, never even getting to the floor of your house for a vote. We will make sure that NO national TV shows will interview you at all; no large newspapers or cable shows will seek you out for opinions on anything. You will serve your term lonely and quietly, and when re-election time comes, we will send funds to anyone running against you, either in a primary or in a general election—regardless of party. You will be urged to go home, as your presence is not only not wanted here, it is expressly hated. THIS is what Human Nature has pushed our ‘elected officials’ into. They do not serve us, if they ever have. They serve themselves. Once elected, they are royalty, with all of the trappings and benefits therein—and they see to it that the system they created is the closest thing to perpetual energy ever devised by man. They, and the Administrative Staff mentioned above, only have one trajectory: MORE POWER. That is the end result of ANY passed legislation. Name a law in the last 75 years that has decreased the power of Congress or the administrative staff. Those laws simply do not exist. THIS is our theory.
Note that this is not another article claiming the Democrat and Republican agendas are exactly the same. The National and Statewide Democrat agendas are scary—they truly seem to be hellbent on the destruction of the US, if not civilization altogether. From releasing prisoners from jail (racist, you know), to openly ignoring and failing to prosecute crime (thus, creating more crime), to taxpayer-funded abortions up to (and sometimes after) birth, to championing an energy policy that abandons what works in favor of a fictional alternative ‘green’ energy agenda, to pushing an America-last agenda, to no recognition of our Southern border at all (until buses of illegals show up at ‘sanctuary cities’—THEN it is a real problem), along with gender confusion at every level of education, this view of the US is incredibly angry, spiteful, and anti-life—all from the Party of ‘tolerance’. But the GOP agenda, while not as abjectly crazy as their ‘opponents’, isn’t much better. At least the GOP pretend to champion less taxes, more Defense, and more freedom. Note that under the last several GOP Presidential and Congressional administrations, government still GREW. A decrease in the percentage of growth is still an increase. Departments of Agriculture that grow nothing, Commerce that sells nothing, and Education that teaches nothing, all still exist—and all of their staffs and budgets balloon EVERY year. Add Homeland Security to that list of jobs programs—I know I feel so much safer taking half an hour minimum to get thru security to catch any plane flight. And all Department budgets are paid for with borrowed cash, in spite of ridiculous levels of taxation of the productive. You do not get to a $30T National Debt by accident.
So, that is our theory. Congress, and government as a whole, exists to enrich itself. It does nothing for the taxpaying citizens, except collect those taxes. The illusion of using those tax dollars to a common good—keeping law-abiding citizens safe from criminals—is fast evaporating to imaginary status. Open question: if government doesn’t keep its side of the societal contract, why are we keeping up our side of that contract by paying those taxes? Well, outside of government’s ability to enforce such payment at the point of guns and prisons…
Thank you for taking the time to read my article! Feel free to add comments (good or bad) in the box below. In addition, there is a link at the bottom of the article to view other items I’ve written at Global Liberty Media. Enjoy!
