Florida GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz has never been my favorite person. He's a polarizing figure, much like his cult hero Donald Trump. But if he's accomplishes nothing else during his stay in Washington, he has peeled back the scab of broken government.
From the House floor, he spoke of the need for Congressional reform so that it actually adopts budgets instead of endless continuing resolutions. He advocated single subject bills that would prevent legislators from burying pork project in proposed laws that no one has time to read. He argued for open amendments, which would permit any member to offer an amendment from the floor. What struck me most, however, was his response to fellow Republicans after being booed.
Gaetz: And when it comes to how those raise money. I take no lecture on asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership, who have —
House Republicans: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Gaetz: Oh, boo all you want! Who have hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our future generations. I’ll be happy to fund my political operation through the work of hard working Americans ten and twenty and thirty dollars at a time. And you all keep showing up at the lobbyist fundraisers and see how that goes for you.
It goes pretty well. Congress is actually a glorified call center from which members are expected to spend most of their days trying to raise money from those lobbyists. They are highly paid telemarketers. They listen to those who fund their campaigns, not the people.
According to a Princeton study, "The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.” What matters is money. Congress is no longer a democratic body. It is more of an oligarchy.
Gaetz is onto something here, but unfortunately, a conservative Supreme Court has pretty much sanctioned the purchase of legislators.
That future generations thing. Like when Obama was in office it was our children and grandchildren. I didn't anything that even resembled those statements during the trump years.
ReplyDeleteAgree that his points about money talking more than constituents is very true and MUST change or we will never be rid of the oligarchs who are the real influencers of government. However, don't count on this silver spoon in mouth and up his nose guy to truly want that to change. Here's a lovely quote from him while his hand out to corporate donors: "Gaetz took a short-lived stance against taking PAC money in the 2020 election stating in particularly colorful turn of phrase, “I’ve never turned tricks for Washington PACs, but as of today, I’m done picking up their money in the nightstand.” Campaign finance records show that he said this after his campaign committee had already accepted PAC money from Boeing, Publix, and Lockheed Martin. In 2021, Gaetz has accepted PAC money from the National Association of Broadcasters."
ReplyDeleteBernie, you’re giving Matt Gaetz credit for this?
ReplyDeleteDemocrats have been yelling about this sort of reform for as long as I can remember? Matt Gaetz himself is a recipient of corporate dark money that has been fueling the alt right pipeline.
This is all conjecture and performative politics from Gaetz to appeal to his working class base with no real momentum behind it.
“Democrats have been yelling about this sort of reform for as long as I can remember?”
DeleteThat’s funny, I don’t remember them actually doing anything about it (or even yelling about it) when they had the House, the Senate and the White House.
Maybe they had other things to do, like fundraising off of rubes like you who thought they were serious about it.
Agreed. And Gaetz is fundraising too. Dems have proposed at least one bill to limit lobbyists since at least 2010. Including Susan Wild.
DeleteBiden announced he's finally building a border wall. Gaetz was right about that too. There's a pattern developing here ..... the war you masturbate about is about to get cancelled without mister green screens getting the W for Ukraine. Will that money be redirected to the wall? Biden is going full-Trump to improve his disastrous approval ratings.
ReplyDeleteThis, of course, has been our problem all along . . . our Members of Congress. Most of our representative in Congress are bought and paid for by multi-national corporations, well-funded special interest groups, and for some, even foreign nations like China. We, ‘little people’ are nearly an afterthought, even though we pay for it all!
ReplyDeleteObservers close to the action tell us, all new legislation proposed is not even written by the Congressperson. It is the special interest staff that prepares everything in their best interest and instructs their ‘guy or gal’ in Congress to get it done. In return, the special interest(s) pays great sums of money and favors to fund the re-election campaigns and provide other favors to friends and family members. Much of the funding path is all hush,hush using various foundations and kick-backs. Naturally, the news media doesn’t want to call anyone out about this. For it is corporate media where the bulk of the money is spent.
We ALL suspect this is how our Congress has been corrupted. Unfortunately, some federal judges and prosecutors have also sold their souls, too.
The evidence is right in front of our face. Witness all the baseless attacks on Trump. Yes, Trump is a threat to all of this, an impediment to the way things are always done in Washington. THIS, fellow posters, is why I voted for Trump before, and will do so again.
Call me whatever names you prefer. Cultist, Racist, Idiot . . . . doesn’t matter to me. Our nation is in jeopardy, deal with it to the limit of your intelligence.
"he has peeled back the scab of broken government. "
ReplyDeleteGaetz is the dude with the jackhammer breaking government.
Single bills to expose pork?--sounds good but how many single bills will fund the department of defense needs--100----200--1000?
Anyone can add an amendment?--sure now you have 150 or more separate amendments ranging from defund the CIA to every federal office must have 100 sq ft of astroturf .
Each one would have to have a vote on that single amendment so you pass a bill after six weeks of voting?
Gaetz and his maga crowd are against illegals crossing the border but watch Gaetz stutter when you talk about cracking down on illegal Cubans entering the US.
Florida's right wing Cubans might not like that.
Gaetz is and has been hip deep in lobbyists--try big sugar for one.
Let us see if Gaetz supports cheaper sugar prices by importing Cuban sugar?
Florida sugar growers would yank his leash so hard he would have whiplash.
Gaetz's ideas are like beauty contestants wanting world peace--good idea but will not happen.
Please allow this Addendum to my post of minutes ago. The same type of corruption that I ascribe to our Congress, also applies to the members of our Senate. Actually, the sellout of America could be worse among Senators. Naturally, not every Congressperson and Senator operates with the same devious attempt.
ReplyDeleteI repeat, we CANNOT expect much improvement to our nation’s ills by keeping the same people in office, voting as we always do, etc. In my little voting district, and within just one state, I will not be voting for any Incumbent. It will take years to remove all the slugs nationwide in office, but the process must begin.
Outgoing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy wasn’t doing enough to resist America’s decline, so I’m hopeful someone else will do that job better. Sometimes, the old ‘go along to get along’ posture is not enough. This is one of those times.
I'd rather have a sister in a whore house than a brother in Congress. The sister gets more done and has more self-respect.
ReplyDelete"Gaetz is onto something here, but unfortunately, a conservative Supreme Court has pretty much sanctioned the purchase of legislators. "
ReplyDeleteAnd based on a lot of reporting this summer, the purchase of multiple members of the Supreme Court as well.
I still don't understand why all the Democrats voted to get rid of McCarthy. He is being accused by Gaetz and others of reaching across the aisle and cooperating with the Democrats to avoid a government shut down. Seems to me they ought to have voted to retain him? Now they will most likely get Jim Jordan who is a Trump guy who they will never see eye to eye on anything with.
ReplyDeleteMatt Gaetz is a child molester who only cares about Matt Gaetz.
ReplyDeleteAgree
DeleteThe system is broken. Somebody needed to draw attention to it. At what point do we admit we can't pay back our debt? What then?
ReplyDeleteWhen do we admit we instigated a war that resulted in the destruction of a nation and 100's of billions of US dollars to be laundered??
When do we admit that covid was engineered by GoF research that was outlawed. When do we admit that we COVERED UP THE TRUTH FROM THE WORLD and downplayed any existing remedies to push through an EUA so select companies could profit billions off of a tax funded technology?
When do we admit that our democracy is already dead...and that the only people who can save it is we the people....if we unite and stop fighting amongst ourselves.
Stay strong, unite, and fight the forces of evil that exist among us.
They did not cover up the truth about Covid. We the smart ones know better. This country is loaded with a bunch of sell outs in DC.
DeleteWhile I agree with what Matt Gaetz is saying, wWhat he's actually doing are two entirely different things. A simple Google search typing in Matt Gaetz Megadonors proves otherwise. Gaetz isn't actually a pillar of truth nor ethnics.
ReplyDelete"Please allow this Addendum to my post of minutes ago. The same type of corruption that I ascribe to our Congress, also applies to the members of our Senate. "
ReplyDeleteMembers of Congress include Congressman and senators, geez.
"Anyone can add an amendment?--sure now you have 150 or more separate amendments ranging from defund the CIA to every federal office must have 100 sq ft of astroturf ."
ReplyDeleteNot if legislation is limited to a single subject, the way it should be.
Bernie - we all know where Wild stands but can you ask the Republican candidates for Congress in this district where they stand on Gaetz’s motion? I think it’s important for the voters of the Lehigh valley to know this. We certainly know the Morning Call won’t do it! This is the stuff voters deserve to know because leadership elections are very important in congress and usually fly under the radar.
ReplyDeleteDo we really know where Susan Wild stands? She just voted with Gaetz to oust McCarthy, and I don’t know if she even knows why (other than being told that’s how she should vote by her party leadership).
DeleteAs one other commenter noted, McCarthy was ousted for working with the democrats to keep the government funded.
Since she’s the only one who had a vote on McCarthy, and she’s the only one who will be voting on his replacement, I would say that Wild’s reasoning is far more important to know than any of the Republican candidates she might face next November.
From here, Wild’s actions don’t seem to have any pretense of principle and just seem like she’s willing to throw the government into chaos for political gain. At least Gaetz had a reason he could articulate for why he did it (whether you agree with him or not).
People in this district deserve at least an attempt at an explanation from Wild.
The system is not broken. It's fine. It's the same as ever. The two sides are not there to agree. That's not how any of this works. If you want that, move to Russia or North Korea or China.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with money in politics has been identified for a long time. Identifying a problem and pretend outrage seem to be the style of Gaetz, Trump and the like in both parties while being part of the problem themselves. The only step I've heard of heard of that would try to mitigate the cash flow was proposed by a bipartisan group, WOLF-PAC, that proposes and amendment that would do just that. Not much press on it, but as a poster pointed out, don't expect the press to try and kill one of their biggest cash cows.
ReplyDeletehttps://wolf-pac.com/
Democrats didn't support McCarthy, in part, because of his policies. He refused to negotiate on the shutdown until the last moment. He broke his handshake agreement wityh Biden in June on funding cuts. And he has supported Trump's actions concerning Jan. 6 and the election.
ReplyDeleteLet all the poisons rise to the surface.
Bernie please help 7:51 with his questions.
ReplyDeleteSo, the question I ask is, where are we now in terms of the 2024 Election?
ReplyDeleteLooks to me, most will agree Biden should NOT return as President. Trump, while highly controversial, is CLEARLY the odds on favorite to win the Republican nomination. It’s not even close at this time.
The Republican Party is foolishly avoiding Trump. That political party is about to destroy itself. Donations are way down and for most Republican voters, it will remain Trump, and nobody else. They will either write in his name or stay home on Election Day.
The Democrat Party has yet to determine what to do about Biden’s situation, but how much longer can they wait to firmly choose their candidate?
Our Congress is a collective failure.
Our news media is no longer a reliable source for truth.
I'm voting for John Schimmel!
ReplyDeleteIndependent journalists (forget the major media sources) have provided a print-out of major donations to Kevin McCarthy covering the past 3-4 years. McCarthy took distributions totaling nearly 4 million dollars from one California venture capitalist firm. So, where would we expect most of his attention is going.
ReplyDeleteYou see, funding a re-election campaign costs big money. Very big money! McCarthy is surely not alone in selling himself out to the highest bidders. You and I aren’t in that group.
We all wonder why Congress is so unfavorably viewed, and this whole fiasco only underlines the complete and utter dysfunction of our government. Those involved and those cheering Gaetz on from the sidelines have no understanding of government and simply putting their own needs and wants ahead of the country.
ReplyDeleteThe House of Representatives in order to pass ANY legislation needs it to get thru the Senate and signed by the President. By ceding to the demands of Gaetz and his group of radical right morons, they've guaranteed that the House will accomplish absolutely nothing. Any bill they send over to the Senate packed with hard line right wing demands will be dead on arrival. The same would be true if roles were reversed and AOC and squad members attempted something similar from the far end of the liberal left.
NEITHER party in either the house or senate have anything close to a super majority so WHY THE FUCK are they acting like this? If you can't be a leader, can't listen and incorporate other ideas, can't make concessions, can't make deals, THEN YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!!!
I’ll offer a simple answer, 11:49 AM. It is not America (you and I) First.
ReplyDeleteThe overriding concern for too many seated in the House and Senate (BOTH political parties) is to REMAIN IN OFFICE! They will say and do almost anything, often with no follow-through. There is always some excuse for not delivering what they promised. Some are media whores striving for face time and name recognition. They ALL love throwing our money around, especially in return for gifts and favors to themself and family members.
Fundraising to pay for a re-election campaign is a real pain. Some are more than happy to ‘sell’ their votes to the highest bidders. They accept travel junkets where they receive ridiculously high fees for a 20 minute speech they didn’t even write. They take in huge advance payments for books they had little or no part in writing. Some leave Congress with a net worth 10-20 times greater than the position salary would ever produce on its own. Hmmm..
THIS is how our government works. It’s a racket run by a private club. It’s 2 wings of one vulture, working together to remain in flight.