“Special interest groups run Washington, and I don’t mean that metaphorically. I mean literally,” said Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Alabama).
Brooks made that comment recently speaking to supporters as he detailed why politicians, from both parties, never do anything for the people they are supposed to represent. Rather, the politicians work for the lobbyists and produce legislation that is “so bizarre, so unfair, so skewered against regular Jane and Joe Citizen.”
Speaking on chairmanships, both parties require their members to pay dues to get prime committee seats, Brooks said. So, instead of putting the people best suited, most well-versed on the committee issues, the party bosses choose by who is willing to pay to play.
In Brooks’ case, his dues would go to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He said the committees are broken up into three categories in order of importance. The most important committees, like ways and means, go for a minimum of $1 million, Brooks said.
“So, where does a congressman come up with $1 million to be chairman of one of these eight committees? You can’t get it from Joe and Jane Citizen because Joe and Jane Citizen back home, they’re not going to be contributing that kind of money,” Brooks said. “They don’t have it. They need that money for their own families…. And so, you have to get it from the special interest groups. And with the special interest groups, there is a quid pro quo. If you don’t do what they tell you to do, then they won’t give you the money that finances your chairmanship.”
Brooks said that folks vying for party leadership positions even have pamphlets laying out the prices they will charge, one such person trying to sell him on his prices would be lower. And, as Brooks noted, both parties openly do it, the left and right mainstream media knows about it and they’re all in on it. That’s why they will never stop it.
This isn’t just one Congressman exposing the corruption. Brooks noted that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) has also exposed this. RT reported on Brooks’ comments and noted that Massie has been the subject of ire from the establishment, most recently because he’s not a war hawk calling for a nuclear war.
In 2016, Massie told USA Today: “They told us right off the bat as soon as we get here, ‘These committees all have prices and don’t pick an expensive one if you can’t make the payments.’ That’s part of the orientation.”
Massie described a meeting where a lobbyist directly told him that they’d raise the funds to get him on a committee if he’d just support their bill.
“It was one of the scummiest meetings I’ve ever been in,” Massie said. “I left just reeling, thinking about the implications for how this place works, when you realize that the lobbyists pick who goes on which committee.”
In a 2018 interview with ReasonTV, Massie described this game along with other games played by the party leaders, and if you don’t play the corrupt game you won’t have many friends in Washington.
Massie said if you’re not a “team player,” the party leaders will call your donors and tell them not to give you money, and they will deny your bills hearings and votes. Moreso, the leaders will steal your bills, give them to someone else to take credits and then go to your district and tell the voters that you’re not effective.
“I don’t mind that we don’t get credit,” Massie said. “It’s when they go and say you didn’t get anything done knowing that they took your bill.”
David Knight reported on this corrupt game and detailed how if you don’t play the corrupt game, you’ll lose endorsements. He also noted the pay to play doesn’t stop at buying committee seats, it also comes in play with buying pardons.
That’s what happened to John Kiriakou, a CIA whistleblower who went to prison in 2012 for leaking information on the corruption in the agency. Kiriakou, now out of prison, sought a pardon from the previous president in order to clear his name. But an associate of Rudy Giuliani told him the price for a pardon was $2 million.
And these corrupt games explain why the so-called “conservatives” do nothing for the people but create soundbites to fundraise off of. Case in point is what’s happening to a family in Georgia.
Tim Leslie lost his job in 2020 because he was one of those “nonessential” workers labeled by our authoritarian government. Instead of sponging off of welfare, Matt Agorist reported for The Free Thought Project: “To deal with the unprecedented hard times, some folks like Tim Leslie and his family began to get creative, buying property and homesteading. However, because the land of the free is but a fleeting memory in this country, government officials did all they could to thwart it.”
The Leslie family planned to build a home on THEIR property, but they parked an RV onto the property in the meantime. Leslie checked the laws in the Georgia county before buying the property, and it was completely fine to park an RV there. Well, the government doesn’t care and kicked the family off and continues to fight the Leslie family.
“A lot of people have told me to sell and move,” Leslie said. “I don’t plan on selling or moving. I intend to affirm my rights and fight for my God given freedoms. Rights and freedom don’t exist if no one is willing to stand up not for just theirs but others.”
But back to useless politicians. Leslie’s family has reached out to the governor, Republican Brian Kemp, and their congresswoman, Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. The politicians have completely ignored this outrageous government abuse. The Leslie family does have a GoFundMe page. Maybe instead of giving money to worthless politicians, help out a family being abused by the government.