THE STEALING OF AMERICA

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Money controls elections. Election results provide control of Congress, the decision making process of government. Results even control Presidents.

 

There is an old saying…..He who pays the fiddler calls the tune. How true!

 

Big money controlling the government has resulted in elected politicians becoming feudal serfs of those who have the money. Elected officials no longer represent the people. Major corporations and the rich reap the benefits of laws that make it easier for them to increase their net worth and profitability. To the detriment of the American people.

 

Former President Carter recently said that the United States was an oligarchy. He was correct. He said the United States became that way because of unlimited political bribery. Correct again.

 

Carter claims that large unlimited contributions by the rich are “…..a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.” He observed that elected officials consider “…..unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves.”

 

Our elected representatives are dance house ladies willing to dance with anyone who can pay their way. Major corporations and the rich buy all the tickets.

 

Million dollar contributions are the direct result of Citizen United decided several years ago. Recall, corporations are persons, they have a right to be heard, etc. Called freedom of speech. Citizen United and subsequent decisions paved the way. The modus operendi. Contributions would be to super PACs. The money in turn found its way into candidate’s coffers. All legal.

 

For years, the United States recognized the danger of large amounts of money influencing elected persons. Contributions were limited. Today, unbridled.

 

A perfect example is Hedge-Fund magnate Roger Mercer. He donated $11 million to a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz. If he had donated directly to Cruz’s campaign, his contribution would have been limited to $2,700.

 

Who is screwing who here?

 

Today, there are three ways to make contributions to candidates.

 

The first is the old fashioned method of personal direct payment. Limited by law. The $2,700 thing. The second is the relatively new super PAC indirect way which permits corporations and the rich to give unlimited dollars into the millions. The third involves contributions via non profit groups. Referred to as 501(c) (4) contributions. Disclosure not required.

 

Quite frankly, the nonprofit one confuses me. I cannot figure it out. All I know is that the contributor to the nonprofit fund is not disclosed. Important to those who do not want the public to know who they might be trying to influence or buy.

 

Analyzing which candidate is taking in the most money is difficult. Direct contributions are one item. Super PACs another. Considered separately for accounting and disclosure purposes.

 

Via the direct contribution route Hillary Clinton as of 7/31 had raised. $47.5 million. She had raised twice as much as any other candidate. Jeb Bush raised only $11.4 million re the direct donation route. A far cry from Clinton’s $47.5 million. However, Bush had raised considerably more when super PAC monies were considered. Bush had raised $103 million as opposed to Clinton’s $15.6 million.

 

Scott Walker announced his candidacy on July 13. Within days, Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks contributed $5 million to the Walker Super PAC. In two weeks, Walker took in $20 million total via super PAC contributions. He even announced he was going to finance his candidacy with super PAC dollars rather than direct contributions.

 

Walker appears to be a favorite among super PAC contributors. His Wisconsin governor years have been supported by the Koch brothers. In addition to the $5 million Hendricks contribution, Marlene Ricketts gave $4.9 million. The owners of the Chicago Cubs $2.5 million.

 

Then there are those candidates who have few if any supporters with the big bucks. Bernie Sanders, for example. He raised $15.2 million via direct contributions. Significantly less from super PAC monies. Direct contributions represented 76 percent of the $15.2 million.

 

Ted Cruz has taken in $38 million via super PAC contributions. Glad to receive the money. However, he is right up front condemning the process. An intelligent man. He speaks effectively out of both sides of his mouth. He recently said, “Lobbyists and career politicians today make up what I call the Washington Cartel….. (They) on a daily basis are conspiring against the American people…..career politicians’ ears and wallets are open to the highest bidder.”

 

Joe Biden says that “…..where the money is, there’s almost implicitly some string attached.”

 

John Dingell, the 29 term Democratic Congressman from Michigan, recently stated, “…..our government has largely been put up for sale.”

 

John Kerry in his farewell remarks to the Senate in 2013 said, “…..alliance of money…..is steadily silencing the voice of the vast majority of Americans…..corrosion of money in politics…..muzzles more Americans than it empowers…..an imbalance that can only sow the seeds of unrest.”

 

In 2009, a year after the bank created recession, John Durbin said, “The banks…..are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill…..they frankly own the place.”

 

The America we knew is gone. Do we want it back? If so, we have to work for it. Citizen United must be reversed. Only the Supreme Court can do it. Which means the next member of the Court has to be a Democrat. Get involved. Watch for whom you vote. Party affiliation should not be the guiding force in who to vote for. Make candidates keep promises made. Let them know you are watching.

 

Keep in mind that money talks, bullshit walks. Another reason Citizens United has to go.

 

It is said we have become a 1 percent / 99 percent society. Things are bad. For the people. Not the rich. Some say power still resides with the people. It has only diminished. I say under present circumstances less power is no power.

 

We are supposed to be and once were a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We have become a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.

 

Is this what we want?

MONEY CORRUPTS

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We live is a present day society where big business/corporate America controls. No longer are we a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We have been transformed into a government by the rich, for the rich.
How did we get into this situation? What has caused power to be shifted to the rich?
The answer is three-fold. It begins with the Federalist Society, moves then to Citizens United, and ends with New Jersey’s Senator Menendez.
I attended law school in the late 1950s. We were taught that the Constitution was a wondrous document because it accommodated itself to the times. It was pliable enough to meet current day needs and problems. Without altering the Constitution’s written words.
A group of conservative Republicans recognized that change had to take place. The Supreme Court’s interpretations were liberal from their perspective. Conservatism had a limited place in decisions.
The time, 1982. A group of unknown conservatives came together whose purpose was to change Supreme Court rulings. These men were backed by corporate America and the rich who felt they were not getting a square deal.
They were unknown in 1982. Today, they are recognized as giants in the conservative movement. Men such as Edwin Meese, Robert Bork, and Steven Calabresi. Soon thereafter to be joined by conservative stalwarts such as Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Ashcroft, Orrin Hatch, and Kenneth Starr.
The movement began at three high-ranking law schools. Harvard, Yale and Chicago. Antonin Scalia was one of the original faculty advisers when the Federalist Society was being formed.
The Federalist Society was a group of conservatives and libertarians who sought to reform the American legal system. It was to be done by interpreting the Constitution differently than it had for over 200 years. Interpretation was to be a textualist/originalists one.
States rights were to receive precedence over national rights. Since the end of the Civil War, the Constitution had been interpreted as giving power to the federal government as opposed to the states. The Federalist Society advocated moving power to the States. By doing so, conservative views would come to the forefront in cases involving the Second Amendment, campaign finance regulation, state sovereignty, and commerce clause issues.
In some 20 years, the Federalist Society has accomplished its goals. It did so by first encouraging law students to become members and think as Federalists. Then by moving Federalists up the political and government ladders rapidly.
The Federalist Society has changed the brand of the Supreme Court to conservative. It has enabled corporations and the rich to control Congress and influence the Court. It has encouraged the means whereby corporations and the rich can contribute millions of dollars to a campaign.
Money has become the influence in all chambers of government. No longer is it right over might.
During the time the Federalist Society was growing in influence and power, the Supreme Court evolved into a conservative body. The ratio generally being 5-4.
The Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. FEC in 2010. A revolutionary decision. The Court ruled corporations were people and that laws should not be passed limiting their right to make contributions. The Court reasoned that everyone had a right to free speech. Just because corporations had more money was no reason to inhibit their right to participate in the democratic process via financial giving.
Citizens United involved political expenditures by non profit corporations. It subsequently was extended to include for profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.
Interestingly, the case involved a video critical of Hillary Clinton.
The Court in Citizens United felt limitations on corporate contributions banned free speech. That corporations and organizations had the right to use their treasury funds for advocacy purposes.
The Court was of the opinion that such contributions would not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. What a joke! The Court was effectively saying that multi million dollar contributions by one corporation or rich person would not influence the decision of the person receiving it. Respectfully, a crock! Human nature unfortunately does not work that way. Money talks!
The 2012 Presidential race began the expose of the folly of the Court’s thinking. Newt Gingrich had a friend/supporter in Sheldon Adelson. The same Sheldon Adelson I mentioned in my Tom Cotton article two weeks ago. Adelson contributed $15 million to Gingrich’s primary race. Wyoming financier Foster Fries donated just under $2 million to former Senator Santorum’s Super PACs.
Neither Gingrich nor Santorum would have been able to stay in the primary race as long as they did without such big dollar support.
Senator Mitch McConnell is Majority Leader in the Senate. In 2010 when he was Minority leader, he said that Citizens United struck a blow for the First Amendment. I thought the decision struck a blow against the First Amendment. McConnell is almost as old as I am. I do not know what law school he went to. Apparently one that taught the rich should have power over the poor.
Citizens United immediately increased the number of Washington lobbyists. They are the people who tell Congress persons how to vote and draft legislation. .
Many said at the time of the Citizens United decision that it opened the door to political bribery and corruption in future elections.
One of the few Republicans who saw through the smoke was John McCain. He said he was disappointed by the decision which lifted limits on corporate and union contributions. He further indicated that over time there would be a severe backlash to the decision.
Permit me to portray the evil which can develop. A lobbyist suggests to a Congressman that if he votes wrong, corporations and the rich will spend unlimited amounts in the next election to beat that Congressman.
Another major evil of Citizens United is the secrecy involved with donations. Money goes through two sets of hands before it is put to use on behalf of a candidate. It is in a sense legitimate money laundering. Voters never get to know who donated what and in how much to a candidate.
Now comes Senator Robert Menendez. A Democrat who has represented the State of New Jersey since 2006. A man of influence. He chaired the Foreign Relations Committee for two years.
Menendez ran for reelection in 2012. He won.
Menendez had a doctor friend in Florida. Let me put It another way, the Senator claims the doctor was his friend. The doctor was under investigation for $9 million of Medicare over billings. He contributed $600,000 to Menendez’s campaign through a PAC. In addition, the doctor provided Menendez with a private jet for the Senator’s world wide trips and paid for his vacations at island getaways.
Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges on April 1, 2015. The doctor was also indicted.
Menendez claims he was only doing favors for a friend, that the $600 thousand, private jets, and island vacations did not influence him.
I am compelled to return to the Citizens United decision. Therein the Court said that bought influence and paid for access were not corruption standing alone. The Court’s words, not mine.
What do you think?
A final observation. Citizens United is going to be with us for at least 20 years. Subsequent decisions may eat away at it. None will totally eliminate the decision. A liberal court is needed to overcome Citizens United. That means a Democratic President till the turnabout takes place. I suspect a Democratic President will be required in 2016. Otherwise, complain not when it hits you that our government has slid into the hands of corporations and the rich.
The government claims Menendez exerted influence on behalf of the doctor re the $9 million of Medicare over billings at the time the $600 thousand in contributions were made. It is claimed also the doctor had girl friends in other countries and that he leaned on Menendez to help him obtain visas for them.
One has to be blind not to see the error in the Citizen United decision. The basic freedom to select your elected representatives is at stake. Not a Republican or Democratic thing. A basic American one.

 

365 DAYS TILL EASTER

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Another holiday behind us.

Holidays are good for the soul, bad for the body. Too much eating. I blew my diet, of course. I had planned on it. Amazing how good everything tasted!

I arrived at Lisa’s at the prescribed time. Nine. The egg hunt was over. Robert and Ally could not wait. They were into it at 7:30.

Lisa hides Easter goodies in the yard. Jake participated in the search. He found three items. Fortunately, none a hard boiled egg.

I decided Robert and Ally were on in their years and Easter baskets were no longer for them. I bought them each a book instead. They were thrilled. Robert volunteered they were too old for candy. How fast they mature!

Lisa had prepared a huge Easter breakfast. Everything good.

 

She scored big time with the cassata. Oh, my diet!

Cassata is Italian cheese cake. First time Lisa made it. I have not had a piece in at least 10 years. A winner! Just like my grandmother and mother used to make.

On the way home, I stopped at the Marriott Beachside. Needed a walk. The walk took me around the Marriott’s grounds and garages.

My day was spent at home doing this week’s KONK Life column. Money Corrupts. Concerns politicians. A cause and effect treatise. Starts with the Federalist Society. Then to the Citizens United decision. Finally ending with Senator Robert Menendez. An interesting analysis.

When I started visiting Key West more than 25 years ago, the season was over Easter Sunday. Half the visitors left Easter Sunday. The remaining half the next Sunday.

No more. The season now runs through the end of August.

Before people started visiting Key West during the several months following Easter Sunday, Key Westers would tell how quiet Duval became. The morning after Easter Sunday, there were few people left in Key West. You could throw a bowling ball down Duval and hit no one.

Big basketball tonight! Duke/Wisconsin. The final game of the Final Four. The teams are considered equal. There is no point spread. Either team can win.

I have a problem. I could not get the Friday games on CBS. There were two other streaming channels. One for Kentucky and the other for Wisconsin. I watched both, skipping back and forth.

Streaming a poor way to watch. The broadcasters on each school’s channel consistently commented in support of the school they were at. Many negative comments re the opposing team. I needed Dick Vitale!

I have Comcast. If anyone can tell me how to find CBS for the game, e mail me. It has to be somewhere, CBS something. I subscribe to most channels.

Enjoy your day!