The Essential Draining of the Swamp
Let’s Drain the Swamp!
“In the early days of our Republic, our nation’s capital was an actual swamp.”
Former Senator Jim Demint in his foreword to Drain the Swamp by Ken Buck, a Congressman representing Colorado.
The phrase “Drain the Swamp” has been used by the following individuals in the past decade and a half:
- Winfield R. Gaylord (1870 – 1943) to describe the socialist desire to “drain” the “capitalist swamp”.
- Victor L. Berger (1860 – 1929), who in his book Broadsides referred to changing the capitalist system as “drain[ing] the swamp”
- Ronald Reagan, who called for “drain[ing] the swamp” of bureaucracy in the federal government in 1983.
- Jessica Stern in “Preparing for a War on Terrorism”, Current History (November 2001) where she calls on the U.S. to see failing and failed states as sources and sanctuaries for terrorists and terrorism (the swamp) and to use foreign aid and soft power to combat them (the draining). Jessica Stern is an American scholar and academic on terrorism. Stern serves as a research professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Earlier she had been a lecturer at Harvard University. She serves on the Hoover Institution Task Force on National Security and Law.
- Pat Buchanan during his 2000 presidential campaign, when he invoked the saying in opposition to the dominant political parties: “Neither Beltway party is going to drain this swamp: it’s a protected wetland; they breed in it, they spawn in it”.
- Nancy Pelosi in 2006 while announcing her 100 Hour Plan in response to more than a decade of Republican rule.
- Donald Trump to describe his plan to fix problems in the federal government. Subsequent protests against the role of Goldman Sachs alumni in the Trump administration also used the phrase. (Wikipedia)
“Drain the Swamp” sounds fine. However, the phrase only works as a very suggestive and evocative metaphor until we take the time to define it. We must define it, before we can actually do it.
Let’s use the following definition offered by a prominent and respected representative of the Fair Tax movement: “The Swamp has five components. They are 1. Crony Capitalists, 2. Lobbyists, 3. Special Interest Groups, 4. Deep Staters, and 5. Politicians. “He also said that the recent (2017) federal income tax “fake reforms” are “of the swamp, by the swamp and for the swamp.”
- We do not want to get rid of all Capitalists. Capitalism is central to the American way of life. What we want to deter are Capitalists who make backroom deals to insure profits by aggressively manipulating the Markets at the expense of the American People. We cannot give American Capitalists a slap on the wrist and declare them “…too big to fail” when their machinations are inevitably revealed. If taxpayers are forced to “bail out” companies, then the companies are not truly private.
- Lobbyists exert an enormous, corrupting influence on Congressmen and women in Washington. If you fund it, they will come. We should give them all bus tickets home. Then we should make it illegal for any of known Lobbyist to attempt to influence any elected American Official in any way.
- Special Interest Groups should be allowed to make Presentations in the Public Forum as long as they do not hire known Lobbyists to manipulate the tenor of the Public Discussion. In the spirit of Government in the Sunshine, all meetings with any elected representatives should be videotaped and posted online. Busy taxpayers should be able to hire staff to help them promote a solution to an issue, but they should not be allowed to hire Spin Doctors.
- Deep Staters is apparently a fairly new or re-popularized term that requires some definition all its own. Deep state was defined in 2014 by Mike Lofgren, a former Republican U.S. congressional aide, as “a hybrid association of elements of government and parts of top-level finance and industry that is effectively able to govern the United States without reference to the consent of the governed as expressed through the formal political process.” (Wikipedia) Donald Trump supporters use the term to refer to their allegations that intelligence officers and executive branch officials guide policy through leaking or other internal means. (Wikipedia) We can simplify a little by thinking of Deep Staters as any political operatives who attempt to manipulate the political discourse in secret and non-public ways. Only the actual American Security forces should be allowed to function in private. In President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address, he said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Blaming the “military-industrial complex” seems in retrospect to be an unfortunate and misleading choice of words, but Former President Eisenhower’s warning against “unwarranted influence” is extremely important and timely today.
- Politicians are unavoidable. Anyone who runs for political office is a politician even if he or she foreswears the title. We do want to avoid corrupt politicians though, and Ken Buck’s book, Drain the Swamp, describes ways elected officials are corrupted as soon as they arrive in Washington. Our national representatives are sent to Washington to do the People’s work. They are not there to go to parties nor to soak up extravagant perks.
State of the Swamp 2018
Between jobs as general and president, George Washington was a lobbyist who successfully persuaded the political class to form a strong central government with a new constitution to provide for the common defense.
Today defense spending is 15 percent of the federal budget and subject to sequestration.
Two thirds of the federal budget, and growing its share, is “nondiscretionary” or automatic spending on social security, health care subsidies, and interest. http://www.crfb.org/papers/president-trumps-fy-2018-skinny-budget
The federal deficit is $0.67 trillion this year, federal debt is $20.62 trillion and unfunded federal entitlement liabilities is around $111.20 trillion. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Donald Trump wants to spend $1.5 trillion on infrastructure and he wants to modernize our nuclear forces. It would be wise to put all 1.5 trillion into strategic defense because the US is the world’s highest value target with 1600 Russian nuclear missiles aimed at us and China has hundreds.
It would be wise to also get that money from the rest of the budget, and abolish subsidies, automatic spending, deficits and debt soon. Governments are rarely wise–neither ours currently, Russia’s nor China’s.
Let’s continue to use our first President as a shining example of the moderate positions we must take. Yes, he and Hamilton consolidated a centralized bank and government, because to do otherwise, at that time, would have been disastrous. On the other hand, President Washington and the Founders were at great pains to avoid the trappings of autocratic Royalty. The title of President was chosen specifically to convey a more collaborative approach to government. Today, politicians pay lip service to those collegial values, but they think and act like nouveau-Royalty. They continue to say the right things, but they are totally out of touch with their constituencies.
They need to start doing the People’s business. Harness them as work horses and make Power local again.
For each of the five items…
1. If we abolish all subsidies and bailouts to anyone,the problem takes care of itself. Abolish all taxes on earnings, simply tax consumption instead (see fairtax.org) and there will be less reason to lobby for tax preferences.
2. Excess lobbyism is a symptom of too big government, not a cause.
3. If busy taxpayers hire people to promote policy, those hirelings are lobbyists. Who will judge the difference between spin and promotion?
4. Shrinking government down to its Constitutionally-intended size will shrink the deep-state class and get group thinkers off the backs of taxpayers.
5. According to https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/, federal + state + local government spending in 2018 is 7.17 trillion dollars. Divide this by 120 million households is $60,000 per household per year. Doing the People’s Business is far along to turning us into a People’s Republic.
For each of your five to WinLoseorDraw’s five….
1. Crony Capitalists. Good. Abolish all subsidies and bailouts for Corporations unless they are in the National interest and therefore the interest of every American individual. Who will make those decisions you are about to ask? Right or wrong, those decisions will be made by whomever is in position at that time, or better yet, those decisions should be made by referendum.
The key word in your #1 is “less”, as in “..there will be less reason to lobby for tax preferences.” Price fixing and other types of predatory corporate manipulation will continue to exist in a Fair Tax America, and those activities will still need to be punishable by law.
2.Lobbyists. Yes, Doctor. “Excess lobbyism is a symptom of too big government, not a cause.” However, as any good doctor will tell you, doctor, sometimes knocking down the symptoms are the all important first steps in conquering the disease.
3. Special Interests. People hired to help promote a cause make a commensurate salary. They do not pull down six figures. Also, they merely present their issue in a positive light. They do not demonize the opposing point of view. No special entity needs to judge the difference. The difference is obvious to all.
4. Deep Staters. WinLoseorDraw’s response is the same as #2. Deep Staters are a cancerous symptom of a much bigger problem Government must always be in the Sunshine except for purposes of National Security when the opposite is true.
5. Politicians. WinLoseorDraw agrees that government spending is the number 1 problem we face in America. Government spending is out of control. If by saying, “Doing the People’s Business is far along to turning us into a People’s Republic.”, you are saying that we are heading towards an autocratic form of Socialism controlled by a small cadre of political elites, then WinLoseorDraw is in total agreement with you. That would be a colossal mistake.
What we want is not a “People’s Republic”, but a Republic by and of the People.
1. Crony capitalists can only exist where government imposes crony socialism. Abolish all subsidies to anyone for any reason. “Whomever is in position” will then shift away from political power to buyer-seller harmonies. Free individuals vote every day with their own money, by their own choices and produce real progress; liberty is the national interest.
The Fair Tax is federal tax reform, not antitrust reform. Also abolish antitrust laws because competition is the continuous cure for price fixing, predatory pricing and cartels; OPEC is a good example. Real monopolies are made by government; the Federal Reserve is one big example, abolish it.
2. Go for the cure before it’s too late.
3. Every year, $4 trillion in current and future taxpayer money is forced through the votes of 535 members of Congress, $7.5 billion per member. Pay to lobbyist-promoter-presenters is commensurate with their effect on the $4 trillion annual flow (plus $3 trillion more at state plus local levels). Reduce that flow by abolishing the anti-liberty rules, taxing, borrowing and spending.
4. There will be far fewer deep-staters after abolishing anti-liberty chunks of government. Sunshine is indeed an integral part of the cure.
5. Amen. Abolish socialism.
“Nancy Pelosi in 2006 while announcing her 100 Hour Plan in response to more than a decade of Republican rule.” It was in her House that Republicans indeed had a thin majority January 1995-January 2007. There was a Democrat president until January 2001. There was a Democrat Senate Majority Leader June 2001-January 2003.