Opinion Editorials, September 2011

The United States Congress:

The Best That Money Can Buy

By Jack Barry

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, September 26, 2011

 
Why make money the old-fashioned way when you can make substantially more money the new way.

What is the new way?

Buy a member of Congress -- they come very cheap.
 
Here is the way it works. Senators and congressmen once elected then desperately spend time raising funds for their reelection. The vast amounts of these funds come from corporate or organizational sponsors. While the U.S. Constitution limits the privilege of voting to citizens, effectively corporations, organizations, even foreign governments can leverage their purchase of Senators and House Representatives into allowing multiple if not dominant voting rights. Contributing as little as $10,000 to a member of Congress has a dramatic multiplier effect. Earmarks and special consideration allow you to leverage that initial investment into millions of dollars. So what type of bargains can you expect by buying ten members of Congress for $10,000 each?
 
Concerned that your product has significant health impacts or you wish to avoid the troublesome but ineffective federal food inspectors? Easy solution, have your small band all of paid-off members of Congress exclude those restrictions from bothering your company, tens of millions of dollar cost avoidance on less than a $100,000 investment.
 
Don't want to pay taxes on your earnings? Easy solution, contribute to a select band of members of Congress who will exclude you from paying taxes or reduce the rate that you pay, tens of million dollars in less taxes for less than a $100,000 investment.
 
Not happy with aspects of the Dodd- Frank bill that will require banks to lower the fees that they charge on ATM and credit card utilization? Easy solution, contribute to as little as ten members of Congress and they will introduce bills to delay or dilute the negative aspects of the bill, a multi-million dollar return on less than $100,000 investment. This is a spec ial bargain for the banking industry was able to achieve this with only buying off nine members of Congress.
 
This bargain is not even restricted to US citizen.  Buying a member of congress is a global fair-traded item.  Foreign nations and their agents have successfully bought members of congress; reaping significant economic, military, and political advantages.  This is the best bargain in town.
 
The United States used to be a representative government. Since the early 50s there's been a steady transition as the price of reelection has risen to the tens of millions of dollars, the only practical solution has been for members of Congress to prostitute themselves to special interest sponsors. We have become a patronarchy!
 
Is there a solution if you don't have $10,000 for a member of Congress? Not an easy solution, it would require three things that have been consistently roadblock by bipartisan virtual coalitions of members of Congress:
 
1.     The first and foremost is term limits for members of Congress -- two terms for Senators and three terms for members of House of Representatives
 
2.     The second bans all corporate and organizational political contributions - hard money and soft money, direct and indirect, cash and other services included -- no exceptions; and,
 
3.     Pay members of Congress a compensation that is commiserate with their influence and status to prevent them from selling themselves so cheaply.
 
In the ten years prior to the financial crisis, the financial industry in the US paid almost $3 billion in contributions to members of Congress. Was this done out of corporate citizenship or as a quid pro quad expectation of favorable treatment by Congress?  Recently the Supreme Court ruled corporations can make fund political campaign.  Does this not negate one man one vote replacing it with one-artificial person gets many votes?  The ability to influence and pressure thousands outweighs individual votes. This is not the basis of democracy; it is the basis of patronarchy and the continued selling of political power.
 
Change is desperately needed. When will did happen?

When pigs can fly and the general public is more interested in Congress and less interested in Charlie Sheens’ ranting and Lindsay Logan’s antics!  In other words, never.
 

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