Making the Case against Congress and the Culture of Corruption

An Introduction
According to a recent poll conducted by Gallup on July 8-11 2010, Congress enjoys the approval of a whopping eleven percent of those polled. Eleven percent of Americans say they have "a great deal" or quite a lot" of confidence in Congress.


Those Americans who pay attention to such matters know something is wrong with our government. The President, or the executive branch, certainly takes his share of the punches from critics on all sides for unpopular policies. Many worry about judicial activism by the Supreme Court, and how the decisions of the Supreme Court affect the nation as a whole. Yet neither aforementioned institution ever sees their approval ratings drop as low as Congress. Why?


Could it be that the American people understand that the legislative branch, and specifically the House of Representatives, was designed and chartered to be the voice of the people? The fact that Congress has slipped so low in this and other polls should be a reflection that "We the People" don't think we are being represented, our voice is not heard, and quite frankly, we are being ignored. Again it begs the question, why?

I believe it's because others have taken a place in line ahead of the American citizen with regard to our elected officials' priorities. It has become obvious and the electorate knows it.


We are currently occupied with this mid-term election season, and trying to make the best possible choice from a small list of candidates that want to represent us in Washington. Leaving incumbents out of the equation for now, I would like to focus on the candidate who has never held office on a national level before. Your chosen candidate may fit this mold.


Your candidate may be a dedicated businessman, a state representative or senator, a mayor or city councilman, a father, mother, pastor, etc. In addition, he may appeal to you as a candidate because he may be a good, upstanding, law abiding citizen with a fixed moral compass. Your candidate possesses some traits you would like to see him take to D.C. so he can do his part to represent you and me. Your candidate, if elected, is entering a different culture. A culture of corruption that grabs your elected candidate before he ever take his first steps into the halls of Congress, and holds him to a different priority than representing you, and keeps him until the day he leaves.


You will not be represented in Congress!


I don't mean to overuse the term "culture of corruption", yet I do want to bring to point the political society that our government has constructed, and in which it operates, to make laws that affect you and me adversely, while enriching themselves, is the "Ruling Class". This is where the incumbent or "career politician" comes in.

Often, when an incumbent is finally voted out of office, we think, we (that is, we the electorate) have leveled a just conviction of our will. The career politician is no longer able to subject us to his perverted views or ideology. We have replaced him with someone who will do right by us, right?


Not so fast… chances are that the incumbent you just got rid of may not hold office in government any longer, but they will be affecting legislation for years to come. They will be making large sums of money working for lobbying firms. They will be contributing large sums of money to that new representative you just voted in. They will have almost unattended influence upon legislation, and doing all of this because they have stepped in line in front of you and me. This is the part of the culture that hides behind the doors of the backroom deals, and is standing between us and our rightful representation.


For example, Billy Tauzin of Louisiana was elected to the House of Representatives in 1980. He served a total of 24 years. During that time he changed parties from Democrat to Republican after the republican takeover in 1994. Billy Tauzin later headed the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing of America, or PhRMA. Tauzin had played a key role in shepherding through Congress the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill. [1]As head of PhRMA, Tauzin was a key player in 2009 health care reform negotiations that produced pharmaceutical industry support for White House and Senate efforts.

Reportedly, proposals for Medicare Part D cost reductions and permitting drug importation from Canada were dropped in favor of $80 billion in other savings. For his services, Tauzin was paid $2.5 million for manipulating legislation that will affect mine and yours descendants' lives for generations to come. Most Americans opposed healthcare reform.



Dick Armey, Tom Daschle ,Tom Foley, Trent Lott, not to mention countless unknown staffers and interns, are now ranked among Congress' most powerful insiders. These are today's lobbyists (or "senior advisors" performing very similar work). And they're hardly alone. Dozens of former members of Congress now receive handsome compensation from corporations and special interests as they attempt to influence the very federal government in which they used to serve. Approximately 278 former members of Congress are currently members of the "revolving door" and make up the special interests that prevent you from receiving the representation you deserve.


Right now, you are not being represented in Congress!


In a series of articles following this one, I plan on laying out before you multiple examples of how and why our government is broken. It is broken because of the "culture", and as long as the culture exists, "We the People" cannot fix it by simply sending newly elected candidates into the existing two party system. We are only feeding the beast. All 435 members must be turned out, and replaced with citizen representatives who will
be effectively accountable to their districts.


We must change the system, or better put, we must change the people who operate the system. GOOOH can fix it.


GOOOH has a plan that will take the special interest and lobby demands away from our representatives, and restore accountability to their constituents. But GOOOH needs activism, and thus GOOOH needs you!

I encourage you to visit the website http://www.goooh.com/ or find a local GOOOH meet-up group near you to find out more about the solution.



David Adair ~ GOOOH/7^th District Ga.

[1] Sunlight Foundation By Paul Blumenthal