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Politicians from Both Sides of the Aisle: Corruption Has Destroyed America
We’ve thoroughly documented pervasive corruption in America.
There are some very juicy quotes from high-level insiders about corruption in the USA.
Jon Schwarz has rounded up a good collection of recent quotes on corruption from both sides of the aisle:
• “Now [the United States is] just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congressmembers. … So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors …” — Jimmy Carter, former president, in 2015.
• “You have to go where the money is. Now where the money is, there’s almost always implicitly some string attached. … It’s awful hard to take a whole lot of money from a group you know has a particular position then you conclude they’re wrong [and] vote no.” — Vice President Joe Biden in 2015.
• “Lobbyists and career politicians today make up what I call the Washington Cartel. … [They] on a daily basis are conspiring against the American people. … [C]areer politicians’ ears and wallets are open to the highest bidder.” — Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2015.
• “When you start to connect the actual access to money, and the access involves law enforcement officials, you have clearly crossed a line. What is going on is shocking, terrible.” – James E. Tierney, former attorney general of Maine, in 2014.
• “Allowing people and corporate interest groups and others to spend an unlimited amount of unidentified money has enabled certain individuals to swing any and all elections, whether they are congressional, federal, local, state … Unfortunately and rarely are these people having goals which are in line with those of the general public. History well shows that there is a very selfish game that’s going on and that our government has largely been put up for sale.” – John Dingell, 29-term Democratic congressman from Michigan, in 2014 just before he retired.
• “When some think tank comes up with the legislation and tells you not to fool with it, why are you even a legislator anymore? You just sit there and take votes and you’re kind of a feudal serf for folks with a lot of money.” — Dale Schultz, 32-year Republican state legislator in Wisconsin and former state Senate Majority Leader, in 2013 before retiring rather than face a primary challenger backed by Americans for Prosperity.
• “The alliance of money and the interests that it represents, the access that it affords to those who have it at the expense of those who don’t, the agenda that it changes or sets by virtue of its power is steadily silencing the voice of the vast majority of Americans … The truth requires that we call the corrosion of money in politics what it is – it is a form of corruption and it muzzles more Americans than it empowers, and it is an imbalance that the world has taught us can only sow the seeds of unrest.” – Secretary of State John Kerry, in 2013 farewell speech to the Senate.
• “I think it is because of the corrupt paradigm that has become Washington, D.C., whereby votes continually are bought rather than representatives voting the will of their constituents. … That’s the voice that’s been missing at the table in Washington, D.C. — the people’s voice has been missing.” — Michele Bachmann, four-term Republican congresswoman from Minnesota and founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, in 2011.
• “The banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.” – Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in 2009.
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i would say corruption has built america, but that is an even more onerous way of expressing the sentiment
Report cites 'Latinization of U.S.,' warns of 'backlash' against whites
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/report-cites-latinization-warns-of-bac...
I am shocked, SHOCKED that this is the situation!
But, seriously, it's only more obvious now. The illusion of voter effectiveness on issues involving MONEY is long-standing.
From the 2014 Princeton study:
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens
http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_an...
Excerpts:
A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. We report on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues.
Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.
In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule—at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.
...the preferences of economic elites (as measured by our proxy, the preferences of “affluent” citizens) have far more independent impact upon policy change than the preferences of average citizens do. To be sure, this does not mean that ordinary citizens always lose out; they fairly often get the policies they favor, but only because those policies happen also to be preferred by the economically-elite citizens who wield the actual influence.
From "Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-America Century" by Dmitry Orlov, someone who experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union and the various effects of that collapse on life there:
People in the United States have a broadly similar attitude toward politics with people of the Soviet Union. In the U.S., this is often referred to as "voter apathy", but it might be more accurately described as non-voter indifference. The Soviet Union had a single, entrenched, systemically corrupt political party, which held a monopoly on power. The U.S. has two entrenched, systemically corrupt political parties, whose positions are often indistinguishable, and which together hold a monopoly on power. In either case, there is, or was, a single governing elite, but in the United States it organized itself into opposing teams to make its stranglehold on power seem more sportsmanlike.
Although people often bemoan political apathy as if it were a grave social ill, it seems to me that this is just as it should be. Why should essentially powerless people want to engage in a humiliating farce designed to demonstrate the legitimacy of those who wield the power? In Soviet-era Russia, intelligent people did their best to ignore the Communists: paying attention to them, whether through criticism or praise, would only serve to give them comfort and encouragement, making them feel as if they mattered. Why should Americans want to act any differently with regard to the Republicans and the Democrats? For love of donkeys and elephants?
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays – Propaganda – 1928
It's ALWAYS been corrupt. The USA has always only been a "pirate" cove. Read this book and learn the facts about how things have ALWAYS worked:
Triumphant Plutocracy (aka Imperial Washington): The Story of American Public Life from 1870 to 1920 by Richard F. Pettigrew, frst U.S. Senator from South Dakota.
Politicians no longer serve out of a sense of duty to strengthen and enrich America but rather it has become their own drive for personal ambition leaving the good of the country to the forces of chance. Hillary Clinton is the perfect example of an opportunistic political operative whose only interest is for the good of Hillary, inc. To her (and Bill) what happens to America is not her primary concern but is only a by-product of her opportunism. It is a problem with most politicians and it won't be easy to fix and may not be fixable. Perhaps "un-buyable" candidates (such as Trump ?) might be the best solutions. Altruism is a forgotten virtue because it requires courage to do what is right.
Wrong "C" word. Open & in your face Criminality has destroyed the Criminal Fraud UNITED STATES, CORP. INC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tb-Dn3sb7I ... the man in charge of our Homeland Security just said his department will not call ISIS Islamic. Nor will it ever say "Islamic Extremism" when speaking of ISIS.
Yep, corruption in political news rears it's ugly head. It must be election time.
Seeing any politician from Illinois, like Durbin, complaning about corruption probably indicates they feel they're not getting enough themselves.
Missing from all these quotes are the "he said proudly" or "she said with glee."People still don't understand all politicians are scum all of the time. No one goes to DC to "clean it up" they go to make their millions. Some are, indeed, paid to provide lip service to maintain the illusion this is not a China or Cuba, but at the end of the day all DC employees need and support what we call corruption and what they call deal making.
We have way more government than we can afford. Government has been in a 200 year bubble. Like all bubbles it will pop.
No more voting! Just say no!
In one word which destroyed the USA: Lobbying.
Maybe "re-election" is the problem.
Corrupt doesn't quite do it justice. It is very much a satanic global Crime Syndicate.
Test your awareness: http://winteractionables.com/?p=23378
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONSPIRACY_ARRESTS?SITE=AP&SEC...
We are basically fucked.
so youre in a period that is fucked all over, its happened numerous times before us and quite simply will occur after us. Accept it, my eye droops,got kicked in, real bad when i drink. ive been here long enough for that to happen. You got two hands, go practice its great therapy.
It's different this time. There is no escape route, and they are cutting off the supply route. This global monopolization of necessities of life with ensure this is irreversible. Unions gave us the middle class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiWC3oeigdU
Exclusive: true state of the economyhttp://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2920275/pg1
A walk through a dying mall (6 min)
I don't think Godlike productions is a reliable source of information. I think it is a very unbalanced, troll infested place and i somehow doubt that the page views on that site per day can be correct.
Some people seem to think that forum is connected to a research company called Tavistock http://www.tavinstitute.org/who-we-are and Stanford University.
Stanford University is a interesting institution that seems to be involved in a incredibly wide range of projects and ideas, so exploring and studying the minds of people, twisted or balanced etc, could be something that would be of interest to them.
Some of the most effective tools to control people are things like fear and shame, and as those things become more and more blunt, it is important to know why that is happening and how to sharpen them again.
In my including GLP link with comment, I was giving them credit for having the video of the dead mall. I read everything.
Yep, They shut down all the f**king factories, and NOW are starting to import tons of food. Nothing is made in the USA except for military hardware that benefits no one except the billionaire owners of the military complex.
For the record i tried!!!
Whats the matter precious? Ttruthiness too much of a reality for yooz?
So bright! So beautiful. Ahhhhhh the precious!!!
Oh do i not have the time in service enough for you my love?
Eeeeet a bigg bagg of dixxxxxxx!
One at a time with lotz of aioli.
Shitgum will still hound yoooooo. Alwaaayzzzz!
Why the tylers banned him for being truthy i will never know!
Truth izzz a beeeyotch.
What a bunch of hypocrites, straining for populist appeal like this. Hey Democrats and Republicans: shut the eff up about corruption in Washington... you are the corruption.
If it were just the political arena that was corrupt, I would not be overly concerned. Sadly, we have to contend with the following...
Money-Corrupt
Education-Corrupt
Legal industry-Corrupt
Law enfocement-Corrupt
We used to laugh at countries run like the USA is now. Sad!
VW- yooo vorget zat zey arre all controlled by zee governmentz yah? Check yourz premise whenz yooo arzz speeekinzz about zee troothz ehhh!
There has been several intense periods of corruption within all of the various gov't entities. The difference today is that not a single facet of life is beyond the reach of these pols and their bureaucratic enforcers, so it often has a direct or strong indirect effect upon our lives, and that is driving this society to the point of no way out, no where to turn, and increasingly nothing left to lose.
I renounce my 'pledge of allegiance' to an utterly grotesque caricature formerly known as the Republic with a Constitution. Maybe General Clark can have me NDAA'd. Fuck the Fascist-Socialist State.
We're off the rails and even these corrupt politicians know it. Politicians up on the hill that are patriots should create a bill making lobbying illegal. It is a form of soft civil war to restore the Republic.
Do ya think it would have wide citizen support? You betcha. Is this preferrable to hot civil war where your kids die, nuclear war where life sucks for all the survivors or becoming Mexico where you need armed brigades to protect your children from kidnapping? That isn't liberty for even yourselves.
Better choose quick, productivity and business formation is dying so no change at best = Mexico.
If we get nuclear war many will make sure to properly assign culpibility, in that case you die. These actually are not easy choices to change. I know am not trying to be Mr. Perfect. I am a fellow sinner. But enough is enough and these politicans realize it. For Christ sake even Jack Abrahoff one of the most successful lobbyist came out on C-Spam in January of 2013 and said the same.
Repbulic ken- yes because the dems an unions care soo much about the average middle class worker. Citizens united was a counter to the taxpayer funded unions who worked hand in hand with the party of govt, for govt, and by govt.
Not everything is so simple my friend.
So will i get banned for being too truthy like shitgum??? The tylers will only decide.
Hey this GDub is finally getting the point of both sides of this political coin shitshow are corrupt. Now if we can just get him to understand ideology we might be able to to get this party started instead of this divide and conquer bullshtein!
Those fargin iceholes!
For the record i tried!!!
I'm glad I FINALLY have your approval!
Why don't you post my history George, you blithering idiot? Tell us again how those Nazis did fighting the Ottomans in WWI. I am all ears. Pssst: Keep a close eye on the Gulf sea floor... it might explode at any minute.
Boy your tactic of showing someones time in service so tired and old.
Shitgum suicide says Hi.
MAN YOU ARE SO PREDICTABLE THAT YOU MUST BE A BOT!
;-)))))
To paraphrase MLK:
"I look to a day when members will not be judged by the length of their tenure, but by the content of their posts."
Not that your posts don't suck, you understand?
citizens united was paSsed by republican conservatives
period
FUCKING PERIOD
SUPREME COURT REPUBLICANS CREATED THIS MONSTER
THAT CHANGED DEMOCRACY
OBAMA ATTACKED CITIZENS UNITED FROM DAY 1
RICH REPUBLCIANS TRUMP KOCH BROS LOVE IT
I think Democrat psychos like Hillary love it too. There's no difference between democrats and republicans. They are both owned by the same criminal elites.
They're not all owned, but it doesn't matter because nearly all of them believe that they righteously dictate all facets of life for us proles. That makes them deadly enemies of every liberty loving, Constitution abiding citizen. All the rest of them are denizens and love their place within the herd. It's the nature of humanity to want to be led.
Why is it that the Sierra Club can influence, ha ha, the political system, but not Alpha Natural Resources, now officially filing for bankruptcy (and a considerable amt. of wealth from shareholders and future utility customers lost forever...including mine?) Go back to HuffPuff you filthy ObamaTick.
This important story about how Washington works has been clearly laid out by Peter Schweizer in his book EXTORTION: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes and Line Their Own Pockets (Copyright 2013)
Sadly, this book, by its nature, is a dry read and too few have read it... but it's there in black and white: names, dates, places and the lingo of these miscreants ...similar to the Mafia... actually the whole thing is a lot like organized crime.
If you want to comment on corruption and speak with authority, then read this book!
(Pushes his chair back, stands and shouts)
Dodd-Frank and ObamaDon'tCare! I now rest my case.
(Sits back down)
It just goes to show you that the only way a one-party system is sustainable is if it masquerades as a two-party system.
One of our family little ones had an infant car chair with a little plastic steering wheel and horn. When we went on a trip, the toddler thought he was actually driving the car.
The similarity to the USA citizen/voter is obvious.
No, I could care less about Trump or any of the other 'election' diversions.
The money interests have been running this show for a very long time. Way before any of us were born.
Its amusing (but sad) that people are so stupid to keep getting conned.
Great analogy. I will remember that. If voting changed anything, it would be illegal. Partisan politics is the Bread and Circuses of today. As long as the masses are fighting over left vs right, Red vs. Blue, Liberal vs. Conservative, the people who run the country regardless of the election outcome will not be disturbed. I see "Republi-Ken" is very proud of the side he is on. He is an obedient serf doing what is expected from him. He is part of the System.
All you can do is to take care of yourself and your loved ones. Time and money and energy spent tilting at windmills takes away from your ability to do this. If things get too bad, move on. It's a big world and there is always a peaceful, safe, prosperous place to live.
Yes, but did you then take a shot of Bunnahabhain?
ObamaDon'tCare!
- That's a good one .
lol...here we go, more on this thinly disguised media distraction & ridiculous prog faux outrage over Cecil the Lion. The real story of Gary the Gazelle, as told by his good friend Zeke the Zebra...
http://ace.mu.nu/Windows-Live-Writer/Overnight-Open-Thread-8-3-2015_FADC...
...think of Gary's cheeeldrin ;-)
The thing that really is scary is the extent of corruption. It is mind numbing.
They are weak. We are strong.
The drafted goy kids hit the beach with a month's training, against the veterans of the 10 year French war. Pop. Pop. Pop.
Justice will be served.