The Washington Mafia

Published in the Bristol Herald Courier June 9, 2011. Author
John Hanson is a retired physics teacher and fair tax proponent who moved to Bristol, Va., in 2006 as a survivor from Hurricane Katrina.

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There is a Congressional Gang in D.C.   Nearly all 535 legislators are “made” members.  This bi-partisan corruption is at a point where it threatens the survival of our Republic.  They are running a protection racket that is bleeding us dry…one that makes the mafia crime syndicates look like pikers.  Al Capone ruled Chicago in his day.  Now Congress is ruling our entire country.  Ruling as opposed to representing. 

There is a parallel between the development of the Congressional Gang in D. C. and organized crime gangs.  Early on the main activity of the Mafia was the “protection” racket.  Store keepers, threatened with the loss of life, limb, and livelihood, paid mob bosses to protect themselves from mob thugs. They were only left with enough to keep the cash flowing.  Of course, the gang needed the cooperation of politicians, judges, and officers of the law so they bought as many as necessary.  Just as with the Congressional Gang in D.C., organized crime was given a giant boost by an Amendment to the Constitution.  In 1919 the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) took effect and kicked off an era of unprecedented prosperity for organized crime and their bought officials.  It took 14 years to get “Prohibition” repealed by the 21st Amendment.  By that time the corruption engendered had poisoned all levels of government.  The criminal gangs expanded and solidified their control in prostitution, gambling, drugs, hijacking, labor unions, and even elections.  The Congressional Gang in D.C. has developed a synergistic relationship with these criminal activities.  After all, in return for confiscating our income they are always at the ready to institute a program to “protect” us from every evil…and any other threat, real or fabricated.  Our Congress has come to operate the greatest “protection” racket in history.

As with organized crime, the Congressional Gang in D.C. began its transformation from servant of the people to master of the people with an amendment (16th) to the Constitution.  To get control of the people Congress had to get control of their income.  Their efforts to do so began long before they succeeded in1913.  Congress had passed an income tax in 1894, but they were shut down by the Supreme Court which ruled that direct taxation of income was unconstitutional (1895).  Ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913 gave Congress the power to tax income from whatever source derived and without limit (other than what the citizenry would tolerate).  The slogan used to garner support for the 16th was “Soak the Rich”.  The promise was that only a very small percentage of the income of the very wealthy would be collected and distributed to all.  They began that way but have gradually come to confiscating about 40% of all American income.  And still they are spending much more than they collect.  We are nearly at the point of adding $5 BILLION to our debt every day.  No living American has experienced what the country was like when Americans enjoyed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as our Founding Fathers intended.  Filing income tax returns has been institutionalized as an annual/quarterly pain in the posterior.  

It was no coincidence that the Federal Reserve Bill was also passed by the Congressional Gang of 1913.  Like today, that Congress paid only “lip service” to transparency.  The details of the establishment of the Federal Reserve were hammered out by the most powerful bankers and congressional leaders at a private estate on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia.  Congress passed its control of our money supply (economy) to a cartel of powerful private bankers (Federal Reserve).  This gang of bankers would lend the Congressional Gang all the money its greedy heart desired.  They would have a blank check to spend free of fiscal responsibility.  To cover the interest on their loans to the Congressional Gang the banker gang would have the collateral of the income of all working Americans!  What a racket! The Congressional Gang would tax the hard earned money of their constituents to buy their votes to secure their own power!   For decade after decade the Congressional Gang has invented new ways to spend the flood of money withheld from our paychecks.  They most often create programs that make voters dependent on government for aid, oversight, and intervention (PROTECTION).  Smells like a criminal enterprise, doesn’t it?  Have the American people benefited from this 1913 departure from our Constitution?  Consider that in 1913 unemployment was about 1 % and our per capita income was the highest on the planet, and we weren’t in unsustainable debt.   Ask yourself, “Are Americans better off now than they were prior to 1913?”

The change we need is a return to our Constitution sans the 16th amendment.  It begs for repeal as did the 18th.  The Congress needs to end the Federal Reserve and return to the gold standard in issuing its own currency.  Congress needs to pass the FairTax Bill to fund their only proper constitutional raison d’etre, to protect our borders and provide for the national defense.  Congress needs term limits. Our 50 States need to reclaim their rights under the 10th Amendment.

The only reason our economy is in shambles is that the thieves in congress and the Federal Reserve are loathe to give up the most lucrative racket ever conceived.  It’s up to us to “throw the bums out” and elect men and women who will support the FairTax, term limits, the gold standard with the end of the Fed, and the 10th Amendment.  See the plan offered at GOOOH.com to replace our House politicians with citizen representatives.