Tag Archives: Campaign contributions

P + P = M The New Political Formula

During my formative years (now known as the young and dumb years!), I had an idealistic attitude toward our government and to the people that represented us in that government. I thought the job of these people was to do what is right for America. Now that I am old, somewhat mature, and somewhat knowledgeable (?), I am taking a rather dimmer view of the quality and motivation of the people representing us at the highest levels of government. It’s not my fault! 24/7 news channels, loaded up with ranting educated idiots have made me this way!

Did you know that at the time of the founding of our country, many men lost everything they had because they were representatives of the new federal government. Yup. They were patriots and they thought it was their duty, once selected, to represent their constituents in Congress. For some, this resulted in great financial loss. While they were in Congress, there wasn’t anyone representing their best interests with their businesses, their farms or at their plantations. Thus they suffered great financial and personal losses. My…how things have changed.

I have lived through thirteen different presidents. Without a doubt, I believe one of those thirteen was the most scrupulous of all. Want to take a guess? My choice would be Harry S. Truman. Why? Because once his second term in office was completed, Harry and his wife Bess moved back to Missouri and lived in the house that they had once shared with her mother. Once out of office, Truman quickly decided that he did not wish to be on any corporate payroll, believing that taking advantage of such financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the nation’s highest office. He also turned down numerous offers for commercial endorsements. Since his earlier business ventures had proved unsuccessful, he had no personal savings. He faced financial challenges and only had an old army pension. Because of his financial condition, a pension was eventually granted to retiring presidents, and Harry was the first recipient. (Herbert Hoover also received it, as he was the only other surviving former president. Hoover was wealthy, but took it so as to not embarrass Truman!)

I think the ethical/patriotic component of being a politician, started by our founding fathers, may well have died with Harry Truman. I believe the new inspiration for most people seeking political office lies in my formula: P + P = M. Power + Prestige = Money. Yup. I think that too many of our politicians are running for office for the pursuit of the almighty dollar. I also think too many decisions made by our elected officials are being influenced by the almighty dollar. And…being the skeptic that I am…I am wondering from where this money is coming.

Campaign contributions

During the last presidential election, over $1.5 billion was raised by the two major party candidates, with Hillary Clinton raising about $1 billion herself. My question is, what happens to the unspent campaign contributions, especially for a losing candidate? Let me offer a theoretical situation. What if Hillary’s campaign spent only $750 million, what would happen to the other $250 million? Supposedly, there are strict rules governing this very situation. But, like all things coming out of Washington, D.C., there are loopholes and shady gray areas in the regulations. The candidates are forbidden from using those funds for personal use. (Yeah. Like I believe that!) And…the money is supposed to go to the political party or back to the contributors. (Really? Back to the contributors? Another fairy tale!) Once the political party has the money, they can do with it as they please. Does that mean they could give it back to the candidate? There are instances where candidates have purchased season athletic tickets, and paid extravagant salaries to friends and relatives. Yet….it has never been enforced. (Do you think all campaign contributions are reported?)

Could these campaign contributions be at least part of the reason we have almost fifteen people vying for the Democratic presidential nomination? Let’s be realistic. You and I both know that about a dozen of these people have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the nomination. But here they are…stumping and posturing for the first caucuses. How much money are we talking about? When Beto O’Rourke announced his candidacy, his campaign raised $6.5 million in 24 hours! And when all the losers drop out of the race, do you think all of the campaign contributions will be returned?

Net Worth

Will someone please explain to me how Barrack Obama can enter the White House with a net worth of less than $500 thousand, and now have a purported net worth of up to $140 million? If I am not mistaken, his annual salary as POTUS, was $400 thousand per year. That equates to a little over $3 million for his eight year term. He would net, after taxes, about $2 million. How do you take a leap of $138 million in such a short period of time? There is nothing the Obama’s have done; book deals, speeches, consulting that would earn this type of money. My skeptical nature tells me that money had to come from somewhere else. Campaign contributions? Executive decisions such as the Uranium One deal? Other executive decisions that resulted in donations or contributions? I am not accusing. I am just wondering out loud! Real loud!

How could I possibly bring up net worth without mentioning Bill and Hillary Clinton. According to Bill himself, the Clinton’s left the White House $16 million in debt. Much of this was because of attorney fees and settlements paid out for sexual harassment law suits. But yet, today the Clinton’s have a purported net worth of $240 million! Now that is what I call a miraculous financial turnaround! How did all of that occur? Well, there was that wonderful organization called the Clinton Foundation. This was a foundation located in Canada to protect the donor list, that was never certified as a charitable foundation because less than 3% of its donations were used for charitable causes. It sounds to me like it was more like a personal Clinton piggy bank. And some of its donations were huge. One $145 million donation came from the Russian investors involved in the Uranium One deal. This deal took place while Hillary was Secretary of State and Obama was POTUS. Coincidence? Do you find it coincidental that the Clinton foundation donations ceased as soon as Hillary lost the election, thereby forcing the closing of the foundation?

How were these large net worth amounts attainable? P + P = M!

Influence Peddling

Who made this statement?

“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.”

Donald Trump? Mike Pence? Sarah Sanders? Mitch McConnell? Well, in 2009, that statement was said by none other than Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority leader. My…how things have changed. But I digress.

Is the real reason that the Democrats are fighting the wall is to stop Trump from keeping a campaign promise, or is it something else. Something else…like money. I brought up in my last blog that it was not coincidental that the marijuana legal states are controlled by Democrats. Correspondingly, most of these states are fighting immigration reform and border security. As well as the influx of illegal aliens, there has been an influx of illegal drugs. How much money is generated between legalized marijuana and illegal drugs in those states? I don’t think anyone really knows because there have not been any drug lords in America that have religiously filed personal and corporate tax returns. I am willing to speculate that amount of money is enormous ( or gi-normous in modern vernacular) and would probably astound the average person if known. So…is that money finding its way into the campaign coffers of politicians from those states? Because once money is in campaign coffers, that money seems to find its way to parts unknown.

I know that one reason for resisting the wall is that the Democrats are speculating that illegal aliens will increase their political base. That is so they can maintain POWER+ PRESTIGE. If my formula is correct, the MONEY will follow.

The Mueller Investigation

The Mueller Investigation results were released this past weekend. With eighteen full time attorneys and forty full time FBI investigators, at an expense of over $25 million over two years, the Democrats are doubling down on their efforts to discredit the report. I predicted that the Democrats would rather investigate than legislate and it appears my crystal ball is still finely tuned.

Here’s another quote. Who said this:

” Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t apologize for anything.”

Chuck Schumer? Nancy Pelosi? Cory Booker? Hillary Clinton? Nope. This quote was made by Harry S. Truman. I believe he was referring to World War II, but does it sound like the battleground being fought today by the Democrats. Does that quote pretty much describe the political climate in Washington? I am convinced that the Democrats, even though losing the last presidential election, even though not getting the desired ‘goodies’ from the Mueller report to impeach Trump, will do anything to gain/retain POWER + PRESTIGE. After all, with it comes the MONEY.

One more prediction? I think that Trump is going to rip the scab and expose all the puss surrounding this whole affair. Watch for the cockroaches scurrying for the darkness.

Stop Killing Our Kids!

Since the tragic school shooting in Florida, there have been no shortage of theories as to why it took place.  And, as is common in today’s society, there is no shortage of blame.   I have a different theory from most, but it requires some background history.

In the late 80s and early 90s I was very much involved with the military.  For some unknown reason, my fellow officers and I and the NCO’s were continually being contacted about joining the NRA.  For the most part, none of us joined the NRA.  I am not a member today, even though I strongly support the 2nd Amendment.   There was a major controversy taking place at the time about assault weapons in the United States.  All of us in the military were very familiar with the M-16 rifle.  The Vietnam veterans were intimately familiar with the rifle and its characteristics as they utilized the weapon in a combat environment.  The M-16 was adopted by the military in 1964, replacing the heavier M-14.  The rifle utilized a high velocity 5.56 mm cartridge, with a 20 round magazine.  Later, along with other improvements, that capacity was increased to a 30 round magazine.  By taping two  30 round magazines together, 60 rounds were available in a matter of seconds by changing magazines..  With the use of a selector switch, the military version rifle could fired automatic or semi-automatic.

So here we were with the NRA facing off against Congress to determine the future of assault weapons in the United States.  I place part of the blame on the NRA, because they were using the 2nd Amendment (and their political contributions) as a sledge hammer to bludgeon politicians into assuring there would be no restrictions on any weapon.  Let me point out that this is the primary purpose of the NRA; to assure there are no restrictions on any weapon.  In other words….they were doing their job as required by their very extensive paying membership.

But, I also put part of the blame on Congress.  Many of these politicians received significant funds from the NRA in their election and reelection campaigns.  So at a time when common sense could have prevailed, nothing happened.  For instance, there could have been a limit as to the number of rounds for magazine capacity.  I was a hunter, and the largest capacity that any of my hunting rifles or shotguns had was 7.  Where I hunted, if you didn’t hit what you were aiming for in the first three shots, you were pretty much screwed.  Mostly, the third shot was a desperation/frustration shot after having missed with the first two shots.  So could the magazine capacity been limited to 8?  10?  Should assault style weapons have been banned from the beginning before becoming available to the civilian population?

The reason my fellow military compatriots and I did not join the NRA was because we felt that only the police and the military should have that weapon.  Military and police ‘wannabes’ began buying the M-16 and other assault style weapons by the millions, even though they weren’t for hunting and were not very good target weapons.  There have been over 8 million M-16’s produced.  But the real winner of the assault weapon sweepstakes is the Russian AK-47.  Originally designed with a 30 round magazine, later versions allowed for a 40 round magazine and a 75 round drum magazine.  Russia was the initial manufacturer of the weapon, but then China and many of the old Soviet satellite countries began knocking them off.  After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the gun markets were flooded with some version of the AK-47.  While attending gun shows in the early 90s, a person could purchase some version of the AK-47 with a case of ammunition for $200!  There are over 100 million AK-47s or it’s knockoffs in the world!

Now we fast forward to today and face the tragedy that there have been over 200 school shootings in the United States.  In order to be classified a ‘mass shooting,’ there must be four or more victims.  In the first two hundred years of this countries existence, there were 7 mass shooting school incidences.  (The first occurred in 1764 in Pennsylvania, when a schoolmaster was shot by marauding Indians, and nine students were bludgeoned to death!)  Since July 4, 1976, this country has experienced 17 mass-murder school shootings!  Twelve of these shootings have taken place since 1999, beginning with the infamous Columbine School shooting in Littleton, Colorado.  If we include school shootings with less than four victims, the number of school shootings would increase to 17 since Columbine.

Why the large increase since 1999?

Well, for one thing, let us look at our entertainment since 1999.  For starters, our television and our movies have become more violent, more sexually explicit, and more vulgar.  During my childhood, what use to take imagination now takes little imagination as everything in so explicit.  We did not see the murder, but would see blood on a wall or shadows on a curtain.   Today, many programs are a compendium as to how many ways a victim can be murdered.  The more gruesome, the better.  What happened to comedies?  What happened to shows showing a normal, stable family environment?  What happened to westerns?   What happened to variety shows?  If you don’t remember these shows, ask your grandparents.  They can give you a list.

Video games.  Have you seen some of these?  They are very similar to our TV and movie entertainment, except worse!  You may think they are a cartoon, but these games are nothing like any cartoons during my childhood.  Killing, sex, and vulgarity are the mainstay of many of these video games. (Can’t the Angry Birds become the Happy Birds?)

Our news reporting does not miss an opportunity to sensationalize a tragic event.  I had to stop watching the news for four days because of the Florida school shooting.  There was not a facet of that event that was not discussed at depth….24/7.  Unfortunately, because of this extensive news coverage, what is a tragic event for the sane becomes a pathway to infamy for the disturbed.  (Gee, if I kill a bunch of people, I can be on television!)  And, because of their extensive, in-depth coverage, they almost provide a road map as to how the crime can be done.

What happened to respect?  We don’t respect the police.  We don’t respect our teachers.  We don’t respect the opinion of others.  We don’t respect the rights of others.  It appears to me that the word ‘compromise’ has been removed from the English language and replaced by the word, ‘confrontation.’  I was continually told while growing up that I should ‘respect my elders.’  Now that I am an elder, that is not working out real well for me.  What’s with that?

So how do we stop school shootings in America?  It has been proposed to arm certain teachers.  An ‘in-school’ reaction squad.  Check.  We can provide in-depth background checks for gun purchasers.  Check.  We can raise the minimum age for purchasing a gun.  Check.  We could ask for military and police retirees to volunteer to assist in providing school security.  Check.  Have our legislators enact legislation against high capacity rifles and pistols.  (Pistols are actually the murderer weapon of choice.)  Check.  Increase gun violation punishments.  Check.  There are a myriad of things that can be proposed or enacted.  Many of which I do not agree.  But here is the one thing and one problem no one has ever approached……..

Our world and our society has changed significantly during my lifetime.  The technological advances have been amazing.  The technological advances have impacted every facet of our society:  how we eat, how we travel, our recreation, information resources, our military hardware, health treatment and services…..the list is endless!

But the one thing that has remained constant during this entire tumultuous period?  Parenting.  Our kids are bombarded and are exposed to sensory overload like no other previous generation.  Who is responsible for the movies and television that children are subjected to and watch?  The parents.  Who controls the usage of video games?  Parents.  Who teaches respect for others?  Parents.  Who has the best idea if a child is emotionally or mentally disturbed?  It would be the parent.

I empathize with anyone who has lost a child to violence.  But the fact remains, a gun or rifle did not load itself, jump out of a box, and then deliberately kill.  It requires the human element to pull the trigger and that is where the weakness of our murder prevention system lies.  Most mass school shootings are done by the young.  Blame others if it makes you feel better, blame the guns if it makes you feel better, but until our young are raised by parents that get into every aspect of their children’s lives, you can expect more of the same.  Stop being a friend and begin being a parent.  Its a much more difficult job, but society will get a better result.