One And Done

It is far past the time for a new paradigm in American politics. The United States Congress has a disease that has metastasized into a disaster for the American people. From my viewpoint that disease is enterprise corruption. How is it that a pauper can show up to Congress and in a year or two become a millionaire on a salary of $174,000 per year? In my mind, it is either magic, genius, or corruption.

In 2025, we saw DOGE let that shameful cat out of the bag by exposing massive corruption in the form of waste, fraud and abuse

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several states,…” Article I, Section 2, of the United States Constitution

“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, … for six Years,…” Article I, Section 3, of the United States Constitution

I don’t believe magic is anything but trickery, deception, and illusion. However, I do believe every politician uses trickery, deception, and the illusion of actually working for the people to fool the people.

A person only must watch a few Congressional hearings to determine that genius isn’t one of our concerns about members of congress. If that’s not enough, just listen to their press conferences which also exposes the void of genius in Congress.

"Few men [or women] have virtue to withstand the highest bidder." ~ George Washington

“If serving in an elected office ever becomes a career, corruption will surely follow.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

“Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook.” ~ Harry S. Truman (D-MO) 33rd President of the United States

Anyone who follows politics has, consciously or unconsciously, suspected that corruption has been a part of politics their whole lifetime. Shamefully, we have chosen to ignore it for the most part as something we couldn’t do anything about. Shame on us! In 2025, we saw DOGE let that shameful cat out of the bag by exposing massive corruption in the form of waste, fraud and abuse. 

How many of the trillions of dollars stolen from the taxpayers ended up in the political coffers of America’s elected federal officials?

When that Pandora’s Box was opened, indications were that it was only the tip of the iceberg. At first blush, we thought we were talking about a few billion dollars. America was shocked by the magnitude of dollars wasted. By early 2026, we adjusted that estimate to hundreds of billions of dollars.

By May 1, 2026, we are now looking at the likelihood of trillions of American taxpayers’ dollars going to waste fraud and abuse. I will be so bold as to suggest that as much as one third of the United States National Debt (more than 39 trillion dollars) is a result of waste, fraud and abuse of tax dollars. Today, not only are Americans shocked; they are also mad as hell if they are taxpayers.

So, over the last 50 years, how could trillions of taxpayer dollars have just disappeared? Congress has oversight responsibilities for how money is spent and for assuring money is not misspent. The bureaucrats of the Executive Branch have day-to-day management of how taxpayer money is spent. We already have determined it wasn’t magic, and it wasn’t genius. It is pretty clear, at least in my mind, that corruption is the only answer that fits.

How many of the trillions of dollars stolen from the taxpayers ended up in the political coffers of America’s elected federal officials? How many of those taxpayer dollars ended up bribing the corruptocrats hiding in the deep state bureaucracies of the Executive Branch?

We the People must remember that elected officials have one primary goal in mind from the very first time they are elected. To get re-elected. That takes money. And that money always--I say again--always has strings attached. That is corruption.

The likelihood of Congress initiating a constitutional amendment to establish term limits is zero

We the People must also understand that government bureaucracies have one goal and that is to perpetuate themselves. That is why agencies and government programs once started never die. That’s also why the United States federal government is bloated by at least 50%. Then too, why has the federal government’s “wealth redistribution system” turned into the greatest fraud ever perpetrated against the America taxpayer? So, what can We the People do?

There is nearly a 100-year history of politicians promising American voters that, if elected, they will shrink government and make it work better. I will always buy that from a first-time elected official who is going to Washington with good intentions. But, we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Please review the above quotes by Washington, Jefferson, and Truman.

The likelihood of Congress initiating a constitutional amendment to establish term limits is zero. Being in Congress is too much of a cash cow for members. The likelihood of a Convention of States to be called to do the same is also unlikely in our lifetime. Both the Democrat and Republican political machines will never allow it. Machine politics is all about power and winning elections, not serving We the People.

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

For at least the last 75 years, We the People have allowed the political machines to usurp our power under the Constitution. We the People, if traditional America is to survive, must throw a “monkey wrench” into the works of the national, state, and local political machines of all political parties.

In Montana this year one of our Senators decided not to run for re-election and waited until, literally, the very last minute to announce, so nobody else could file as he blessed the Republican’s machine’s pick to replace him. One of Montana’s Congressmen also took similar action but at least allowed a few days before the filing date. As a result there are now more than a few unhappy Montana Republicans.

The only plausible option I see open to We the People is to pull up our big-boy pants, resume our responsibilities as citizens, and impose our own term limits on every elected official in the nation. “One and Done,” needs to be our rallying cry. We must only allow any elected official one term in office. From dog catcher to school board members, to the United States Congress. One and Done. That is the best We the People can do to reduce political corruption. Sadly, even We the People will never fully stop corruption because there will always be a higher bidder. However, when we rid the United States Congress of the life-time career professional politician ruling class, we will minimize the value of any one individual willing to be corrupted.

“A republic, if you can keep it.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

It has taken 250 years for the evil of corrupt incumbency to become big business. It will likely take several decades for enough American voters to recognize the damage incumbency is doing to the republic. Only time will tell if there is enough time to fix it before America’s professional ruling class destroys the Constitution, and we lose our republic forever.