Beware 'The MACHINE'!

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion." ~ George Washington

I would say that George Washington was concerned about political parties and did a nice job of describing what we now call political machines. I am fairly certain that the Founding Fathers could never. in their wildest nightmares, understand how politics could explode into the annual billion-dollar enterprise it has tuned into. Does anyone wish to challenge my assumption that, nation-wide, more than a billion-dollars is used to influence politics in America every year? There are evil domestic and foreign oligarchs who are paying several subversive organizations, including radical leftists that support the Democrat Party, to cause chaos, division, and violence in America. These same elitists “donate” (read buy off) politicians of every political stripe.

When I was a boy, there were two major political machines, Democrat and Republican. Then too, there were various mini-machines for third parties, which never amounted to much. In the olden days, there was give and take between the parties when it came to running the government. In retrospect, it seems that both political machines were corrupt and both parties cheated as best they could given the technology they had available.

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder." ~ George Washington

“Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook.” ~ Harry S. Truman 

By the beginning of the 21^st century, those machines morphed into a single corrupt enterprise driven by, heretofore, unimaginable sums of money. This new political MACHINE is composed of and driven by the lifelong professional career politicians who became rich after entering office.

In most cases, I hope I’m not being naïve, new members of Congress arrive in the Washington swamp intending to do exactly what they told their constituents they would do. They were naïve and still thought there was some degree of honor in the halls of Congress. The professional career “good ol’ boys” trained them about how they needed to go along to get along to work within “the system.” In no time, the new guys became focused on their next election and how to get money to support their next campaign and before you know it, they succumbed to the MACHINE as their good intentions went up in smoke. In that smoke was their commitment to their voters. The excuse: If I don’t get re-elected, I can’t accomplish what I went to Washington to accomplish. Somehow, those accomplishments just never get done anyhow.

In 2026, America has not only the best Congress money can buy, but one of the most public and more or less legal, money laundering operations in the world. Legal, I guess. But ethical? Maybe not so much.

"The power under the Constitution will always be in the people." ~ George Washington

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"Our countrymen have all the folly of the ass and all the passiveness of the sheep." ~ Alexander Hamilton

"Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you." ~ Benjamin Franklin

Washington’s quote defines who is responsible for government, We the People. Jefferson’s quote identifies what We the People have allowed to happen. We have allowed the development of a small elite ruling class to take charge of the federal government. Hamilton’s quote identifies how we got where we are today. Franklin’s quote foretells the future if We the People don’t man-up and fix the problems in Washington. We the People are the only ones who can fix the problem.