What’s it take to buy an all American Politician? Not much, they usually go pretty cheap.
Mark Lowry
February 28, 2007
Elected politicians betray duty to their country and constituents in all forms of government. It appears to be more prevalent in apathetic societies that fail to hold their elected leaders accountable. Crooked politicians seem to have more of a working relationship with lobbyists who buy their votes than they do the regular citizens. Rich lobbyists spend a lot of time wining and dining politicians to curry favor so they can later submit requests for special treatment.
It may take no more than a bottle of whisky and a cheap whore for some, others demand more in the form of contributions and free trips. Nothing they get is worth selling their integrity for, but then those who do sell out get rid of that baggage first.
Corrupt politicians always come up with some cheap excuse for violating public trust. They suggest they are providing special treatment for lobbyists because it is good for the children. Or may report it is good for the economy, and money earned will be available for education, only if we give the politicians’ coconspirators more of our tax money or let them off the hook for their taxes. They even imply it is necessary to have input of those who buy our government because they have more expertise than our elected leaders.
It really doesn’t matter what lie they use to justify treasonous betrayal of their fiduciary responsibilities. There is no defense for the indefensible. "When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe; he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.” Thomas Paine “The Age of Reason" 1793
People who become so corrupt they no longer recognize transgressions as criminal become dangerous. The only difference between crooked politicians and petty crooks that break into our homes is when the small time crook justifies his crimes he doesn’t have much of an opportunity to talk his way out of paying for the criminal act when caught.
Elected politicians like any powerful organized criminal enterprise tend to circle the wagons and defend one another from criminal prosecution. They have a lot of control over the judicial system and can do whatever they want. They prevent rule of law from being upheld. Everyone knows each other as criminals but the secret code of crooked politicians prevents them from attacking one another out of fear of being attacked themselves.
Mystical self perpetuating organized criminal activities at highest levels of government are rarely exposed and when they are, the activity is shrugged off as “politics” as usual and not criminal acts. They say: “everybody does it so it has to be OK. There is no other way to get government work done.” Billions of dollars are wasted on government at all levels of government from city hall to state houses and finally the White House to pay for the corruption.
Anarchy may be preferable to getting government functions done, if we have to feed system corruption. We could spend billions paid out by government and instead pay directly to the crooks at a discount bypassing politicians.
Occasionally criminal acts become so profound the public demands action. When that occurs, a scapegoat is produced for public sacrifice amid cries and howls of other criminals for “justice and ethics reforms.” There is usually a flurry of activity to make sure these revolting events don’t recur and after a few committee assignments to study the problem the same result emerges. Nothing is done because no one else wants to be caught.
Kentucky, my home state, like all other states, has a long and sordid history of corruption. It existed before the first state constitutional convention and has continued unabated since the last state constitutional convention in 1890.
In the debates during that convention one delegate said of Kentucky cities: “Every right-thinking and intelligent patriot will at once see there is more extravagance and fraud in the government of cities than in every other department of political life.” This damning statement was made even as the state treasurer “Honest Dick” Tate had run off with the total state treasury.
There is a battle between Kentucky and other corrupt states to see which is the most crooked and unresponsive to its citizens. Kentucky’s last two governors were saddled with scandals and criminal charges. Louisiana reelected one of its Governors after they got out of jail. Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia are always trying to show Kentucky up in this regard but Kentucky citizens have complete confidence in their dishonest elected officials to continue to do what they do best and maintain their “most corrupt” state leadership designation.
Elected leaders keep these states and governments in last place in every measure possible and prevent them from ever achieving economic prosperity or justice. Inequality will continue to be the rule of the day as long as corruption continues.
Kentucky has the same plantation mentality that existed before the Civil war. There was rule by the aristocracy then and it remains today. Rich landowners raised tobacco and horses with slaves. Horses were raced in the “sport of the kings.” That old plantation system created a separation between rich and poor punctuated with enslavement of a large part of the population. Today descendants of those slaves live in the same impoverished areas of Kentuckian cities they settled in after they become free.
Kentucky politicians like to brag about being the Horse Capital of the world. They rely on the few minutes of fame the state gets every year from the Kentucky Derby, an event that commemorates institutions of slavery and wealthy aristocracy more than any other event or symbol in the United States.
The Kentucky Derby is one of stark contrasts. The gentry still hold lavish derby parties costing hundreds of thousands while 16% of the people in the state are in deep poverty. Cameras are trained on celebrities on Millionaires Row at the race wearing their finest Derby Day Hats and clothes. People in the infield drank and party while they wait to listen at the race most can’t even see. They are the ones who can’t afford Millionaires Row seats.
Just a few hundred feet beyond the Churchill Downs Race Track Spires is the heaviest concentration of abject poverty in the state. The West End of Louisville Kentucky is like the West End of many cities. This center of poverty is only greater than concentrated poverty in Lexington Kentucky, the reported jewel of the horse racing industry. Kentucky legislators are now planning to provide another $38 million to enhance its Horse Park and activities that most poor people can’t afford to attend. Most event charges are in excess of $300 dollars and working people can’t afford to attend.
Many Kentucky poor people used to make a living working for wealthy horse farmers. That ended when rich plantation owners decided they could make more money by firing African American and Irish workers and replace them with cheaper illegal alien labor. The horse industry lobbied local and state government to bring them more illegals and ask President Bush to pass amnesty legislation so they could keep getting cheap labor. Then Kentucky got overrun with illegals.
Kentucky unemployment is always higher than the national average and has been for some time. Black unemployment in the inner cities and behind the glossy Twin Spires runs as high as 19%. Medicaid and social security supplemental income costs are skyrocketing as American citizens forced out of work and illegals demanding free benefits climb exponentially. The state responded to that increase by passing legislation to confiscate homes of citizens who use Medicaid for nursing home benefits.
The horse industry insists federal immigration laws can not be enforced. Kentucky citizens keep dying at the hands of illegal aliens; become their victims of rape, welfare fraud and numerous other criminal acts in addition to losing their jobs to them and legislators still ignore the law and law enforcement. Wealthy landowners demand the police do not enforce the law.
There were not many horse industry jobs; one estimate puts it at about 16,000, or less than one percent of the Kentucky work force. The horse industry lies and says there are over 80,000 direct and indirect jobs created by them. If that was true and all industries reported their direct and indirect jobs Kentucky would be a job leader in the country.
One problem creating more unemployment arises from illegals now being hired to do work in other industries where poor and middle income American’s are losing their jobs now. Illegal immigrants can live on lower wages in Kentucky more than poor American Citizens can. Illegal government provided benefits give them an advantage not available to the rest of us.
We tax payers have to pay for criminal employer cheap illegal alien labor with higher taxes to provide health care and other benefits. Local government programs provide cheap housing and forgive loans for down payments and provide illegals low interest loans not available to anyone else. They now insist on making at least $10 an hour and still demand benefits our poor can not get.
Many unscrupulous landowners participate in government as elected officials. Others commit a lot of their money to assure selected candidates are elected and special issues they support are enacted into law. Their money is a powerful force withheld from candidates who don’t promise to comply with their rule. Money flows like water to those who consent to their will.
Kentucky has been like that since before it became a state and will continue to be until the horse industry’s strangle hold on government is broken. The Kentucky economy produces a meager $133 billion annually and is both one of the poorest states in the country and one of the most heavily taxed.
The horse industry only provides $2.7 billion or 2% of that $133 billion total but is able to demand and get special tax concessions so they hardly pay any taxes on their profitable operations. They argue for property tax breaks on multi-million and billion dollar properties because they say they don’t get any benefits of government services. Other industries that produce more wealth for the state and create more jobs are taxed heavily and not given special tax breaks or subsidies.
Most wealthy horse farm owners have homes in other states and some in other countries. This is just a stopping off place so they can have a little fun with the sport of the Kings. Kentucky citizens however do not have the luxury of leaving one of the poorest states in the country. Several counties rank in the top ten poorest counties of the Country during every census and the legislature does nothing to help develop those depressed areas.
The Kings now want to pass new laws permitting casino type gambling at the horse tracks and other locations so they can get more money to fund their horse farms. They say it is good for the economy and if they don’t get more tax money they will move out of the state. They now report they want the new gambling so it can help our failing school systems and the children. They may give the schools a 10% of profit from added gambling and take the rest for their industry.
There have been charges it is the “people’s fault” corruption persists. Voters are accused of being too lax in candidate selection and fail to watch them close enough. Hell we don’t have the time to watch our own children, when did it become our job to watch crooked politicians. That is one of the stupid comments only an elitist would make.
Problems arising from chronic government corruption arise from systemic problems that have plagued affected governments for centuries. Admittedly, the American form of representative government and democracy may be one of the best the world has known but it has major flaws that permit and promote elitist criminal rule.
Different populations in different states and countries all suffer from the same malady. Most reasonable people agree there are serious flaws in any government system that permits criminal influence on democracy. The people can’t vote crooks out because ones running against them are crooks too. We can’t get rid of corrupt government politicians until we get rid of crooks who buy elected politicians and tell them what to do.
That will take leadership to create a constitutional amendment or effective legislation with strong enough penalties to eliminate government by the few wealthy in this country. We can only get that leadership by doing everything possible to stop the illegal alien invasion and see crooked employers criminally charged. A great source for doing that can be found at the following link: http://www.wehirealiens.com/ . Report those instances you suspect are in violation of the law.
You can also demand candidates accept the new declaration of independence found at the following link: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=21120 . Democracy is not a spectator sport. It takes all our participation to make it work. You can do a lot to help.
We can’t afford more cheap politicians who sell out at the first sign of a few bucks.
It may take no more than a bottle of whisky and a cheap whore for some, others demand more in the form of contributions and free trips. Nothing they get is worth selling their integrity for, but then those who do sell out get rid of that baggage first.
Corrupt politicians always come up with some cheap excuse for violating public trust. They suggest they are providing special treatment for lobbyists because it is good for the children. Or may report it is good for the economy, and money earned will be available for education, only if we give the politicians’ coconspirators more of our tax money or let them off the hook for their taxes. They even imply it is necessary to have input of those who buy our government because they have more expertise than our elected leaders.
It really doesn’t matter what lie they use to justify treasonous betrayal of their fiduciary responsibilities. There is no defense for the indefensible. "When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe; he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.” Thomas Paine “The Age of Reason" 1793
People who become so corrupt they no longer recognize transgressions as criminal become dangerous. The only difference between crooked politicians and petty crooks that break into our homes is when the small time crook justifies his crimes he doesn’t have much of an opportunity to talk his way out of paying for the criminal act when caught.
Elected politicians like any powerful organized criminal enterprise tend to circle the wagons and defend one another from criminal prosecution. They have a lot of control over the judicial system and can do whatever they want. They prevent rule of law from being upheld. Everyone knows each other as criminals but the secret code of crooked politicians prevents them from attacking one another out of fear of being attacked themselves.
Mystical self perpetuating organized criminal activities at highest levels of government are rarely exposed and when they are, the activity is shrugged off as “politics” as usual and not criminal acts. They say: “everybody does it so it has to be OK. There is no other way to get government work done.” Billions of dollars are wasted on government at all levels of government from city hall to state houses and finally the White House to pay for the corruption.
Anarchy may be preferable to getting government functions done, if we have to feed system corruption. We could spend billions paid out by government and instead pay directly to the crooks at a discount bypassing politicians.
Occasionally criminal acts become so profound the public demands action. When that occurs, a scapegoat is produced for public sacrifice amid cries and howls of other criminals for “justice and ethics reforms.” There is usually a flurry of activity to make sure these revolting events don’t recur and after a few committee assignments to study the problem the same result emerges. Nothing is done because no one else wants to be caught.
Kentucky, my home state, like all other states, has a long and sordid history of corruption. It existed before the first state constitutional convention and has continued unabated since the last state constitutional convention in 1890.
In the debates during that convention one delegate said of Kentucky cities: “Every right-thinking and intelligent patriot will at once see there is more extravagance and fraud in the government of cities than in every other department of political life.” This damning statement was made even as the state treasurer “Honest Dick” Tate had run off with the total state treasury.
There is a battle between Kentucky and other corrupt states to see which is the most crooked and unresponsive to its citizens. Kentucky’s last two governors were saddled with scandals and criminal charges. Louisiana reelected one of its Governors after they got out of jail. Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia are always trying to show Kentucky up in this regard but Kentucky citizens have complete confidence in their dishonest elected officials to continue to do what they do best and maintain their “most corrupt” state leadership designation.
Elected leaders keep these states and governments in last place in every measure possible and prevent them from ever achieving economic prosperity or justice. Inequality will continue to be the rule of the day as long as corruption continues.
Kentucky has the same plantation mentality that existed before the Civil war. There was rule by the aristocracy then and it remains today. Rich landowners raised tobacco and horses with slaves. Horses were raced in the “sport of the kings.” That old plantation system created a separation between rich and poor punctuated with enslavement of a large part of the population. Today descendants of those slaves live in the same impoverished areas of Kentuckian cities they settled in after they become free.
Kentucky politicians like to brag about being the Horse Capital of the world. They rely on the few minutes of fame the state gets every year from the Kentucky Derby, an event that commemorates institutions of slavery and wealthy aristocracy more than any other event or symbol in the United States.
The Kentucky Derby is one of stark contrasts. The gentry still hold lavish derby parties costing hundreds of thousands while 16% of the people in the state are in deep poverty. Cameras are trained on celebrities on Millionaires Row at the race wearing their finest Derby Day Hats and clothes. People in the infield drank and party while they wait to listen at the race most can’t even see. They are the ones who can’t afford Millionaires Row seats.
Just a few hundred feet beyond the Churchill Downs Race Track Spires is the heaviest concentration of abject poverty in the state. The West End of Louisville Kentucky is like the West End of many cities. This center of poverty is only greater than concentrated poverty in Lexington Kentucky, the reported jewel of the horse racing industry. Kentucky legislators are now planning to provide another $38 million to enhance its Horse Park and activities that most poor people can’t afford to attend. Most event charges are in excess of $300 dollars and working people can’t afford to attend.
Many Kentucky poor people used to make a living working for wealthy horse farmers. That ended when rich plantation owners decided they could make more money by firing African American and Irish workers and replace them with cheaper illegal alien labor. The horse industry lobbied local and state government to bring them more illegals and ask President Bush to pass amnesty legislation so they could keep getting cheap labor. Then Kentucky got overrun with illegals.
Kentucky unemployment is always higher than the national average and has been for some time. Black unemployment in the inner cities and behind the glossy Twin Spires runs as high as 19%. Medicaid and social security supplemental income costs are skyrocketing as American citizens forced out of work and illegals demanding free benefits climb exponentially. The state responded to that increase by passing legislation to confiscate homes of citizens who use Medicaid for nursing home benefits.
The horse industry insists federal immigration laws can not be enforced. Kentucky citizens keep dying at the hands of illegal aliens; become their victims of rape, welfare fraud and numerous other criminal acts in addition to losing their jobs to them and legislators still ignore the law and law enforcement. Wealthy landowners demand the police do not enforce the law.
There were not many horse industry jobs; one estimate puts it at about 16,000, or less than one percent of the Kentucky work force. The horse industry lies and says there are over 80,000 direct and indirect jobs created by them. If that was true and all industries reported their direct and indirect jobs Kentucky would be a job leader in the country.
One problem creating more unemployment arises from illegals now being hired to do work in other industries where poor and middle income American’s are losing their jobs now. Illegal immigrants can live on lower wages in Kentucky more than poor American Citizens can. Illegal government provided benefits give them an advantage not available to the rest of us.
We tax payers have to pay for criminal employer cheap illegal alien labor with higher taxes to provide health care and other benefits. Local government programs provide cheap housing and forgive loans for down payments and provide illegals low interest loans not available to anyone else. They now insist on making at least $10 an hour and still demand benefits our poor can not get.
Many unscrupulous landowners participate in government as elected officials. Others commit a lot of their money to assure selected candidates are elected and special issues they support are enacted into law. Their money is a powerful force withheld from candidates who don’t promise to comply with their rule. Money flows like water to those who consent to their will.
Kentucky has been like that since before it became a state and will continue to be until the horse industry’s strangle hold on government is broken. The Kentucky economy produces a meager $133 billion annually and is both one of the poorest states in the country and one of the most heavily taxed.
The horse industry only provides $2.7 billion or 2% of that $133 billion total but is able to demand and get special tax concessions so they hardly pay any taxes on their profitable operations. They argue for property tax breaks on multi-million and billion dollar properties because they say they don’t get any benefits of government services. Other industries that produce more wealth for the state and create more jobs are taxed heavily and not given special tax breaks or subsidies.
Most wealthy horse farm owners have homes in other states and some in other countries. This is just a stopping off place so they can have a little fun with the sport of the Kings. Kentucky citizens however do not have the luxury of leaving one of the poorest states in the country. Several counties rank in the top ten poorest counties of the Country during every census and the legislature does nothing to help develop those depressed areas.
The Kings now want to pass new laws permitting casino type gambling at the horse tracks and other locations so they can get more money to fund their horse farms. They say it is good for the economy and if they don’t get more tax money they will move out of the state. They now report they want the new gambling so it can help our failing school systems and the children. They may give the schools a 10% of profit from added gambling and take the rest for their industry.
There have been charges it is the “people’s fault” corruption persists. Voters are accused of being too lax in candidate selection and fail to watch them close enough. Hell we don’t have the time to watch our own children, when did it become our job to watch crooked politicians. That is one of the stupid comments only an elitist would make.
Problems arising from chronic government corruption arise from systemic problems that have plagued affected governments for centuries. Admittedly, the American form of representative government and democracy may be one of the best the world has known but it has major flaws that permit and promote elitist criminal rule.
Different populations in different states and countries all suffer from the same malady. Most reasonable people agree there are serious flaws in any government system that permits criminal influence on democracy. The people can’t vote crooks out because ones running against them are crooks too. We can’t get rid of corrupt government politicians until we get rid of crooks who buy elected politicians and tell them what to do.
That will take leadership to create a constitutional amendment or effective legislation with strong enough penalties to eliminate government by the few wealthy in this country. We can only get that leadership by doing everything possible to stop the illegal alien invasion and see crooked employers criminally charged. A great source for doing that can be found at the following link: http://www.wehirealiens.com/ . Report those instances you suspect are in violation of the law.
You can also demand candidates accept the new declaration of independence found at the following link: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=21120 . Democracy is not a spectator sport. It takes all our participation to make it work. You can do a lot to help.
We can’t afford more cheap politicians who sell out at the first sign of a few bucks.
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