I have long been a fan of "Sundance" who writes for Breitbart. This article about the way lobbyists control legislation clears up so much about the way corrupt Washington works, and fails to work.

I tried to copy and paste but it just doesn't work. For one thing, it will not copy a graph that is one of the most illuminating features of the article.

This is very well worth the 15 or so minutes it will take to read it.

https://theconservativetreehou...ig-club/#more-135949

Reminder: To Remove ObamaCare We Must First Remove The UniParty “Big Club”…

July 18, 2017 by sundance

Many years ago we accepted the UniParty. Shortly thereafter CTH broke away from political identity framed around arguments of party and personality; we chose to focus on policy and outcomes. Washington DC is a singular party, a UniParty. We have been explaining, countering and fighting “The Big Club” in DC for years; always following the money.

President Trump is the first political entity in our lifetime that not only comprehends the faces of the false arguments (the personalities of false choice and controlled opposition), but more importantly sees the architects behind the Potemkin villages represented by those faces. When it comes to domestic economic policy, the architects are the BIG CLUB.

So, what is “The Big Club“? …What “Deep State” is to intelligence, military intervention and foreign policy – the “BIG CLUB” is to matters of domestic economics…

Politicians do not write laws. Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer do not sit in their offices writing out scripts of laws and legislation; no politician does. Politicians are the faces who sell legislation that unseen hands create. The Big Club represents the hands that actually create legislation; lobbyist hands.

As such, it makes no sense to argue about the salespeople Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz or Elizabeth Warren when none are creating the legislative constructs they are selling. How’s that bill to ‘confiscate El Chappo funds to build the wall’ coming?

Indeed, it makes much more sense to focus the attention on the unseen hands that are never discussed – These are the roots of the issues, the politicians are merely the expendable and interchangeable sales force.



The Big Club are massive and complex networks of lobbying groups who actually write legislation. After lobbyists have written the law, depending on their own evaluation of importance therein, they pay the politicians to support and sell their construct.

The amount of payment varies depending on how valuable the construct is to the interests of the Club. Big legislative constructs that provide the Club large income increases are worth more than smaller ones.

This is the accurate background framework to consider ObamaCare.

Within The BIG CLUB there are, essentially, two larger factions with interest: Big Labor and Wall Street (big crony-business). There are other factions like Big Green (Al Gore) etc. However, for the sake of ObamaCare the two that matter are “Big Labor” (AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME, UFCW etc), and Wall Street (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue).

The Big Club has paid for ObamaCare’s construct, and they are not going to allow their sales force to walk away from it. From their position, this is a massive ‘multi-multi-hundreds-of-millions’ expenditure that has already taken place.

Tom Donohue (U.S. CoC) already lost hundreds of millions when his construct (his team actually did the writing) of TPP was lost due to Donald Trump. Donohue’s TPP loss followed the loss of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (2014 Dave Brat), and his loss of Common Core Education standards, again with Donald Trump.

Multinational corporate lobbyist Tom Donohue spent hundreds of millions on Gang of Eight, Common Core, TPP and ObamaCare.



Donohue paid off AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka to get him to stop being public about his opposition of TPP. The quid-pro-quo was transparently evident in 2016 when Trumka endorsed candidate Hillary Clinton who was supporting Donohue’s TPP.

Having lost TPP, Go8 and Common Core, there is no way Tom Donohue (the financial interests behind him) is going to accept losing the biggest investment to date, ObamaCare.

♦ Big Labor support ObamaCare for a few reasons. #1 it granted fiscal stability to their retirement programs which were failing with the increased costs of providing healthcare coverage. #2 it creates additional profit margin space within union companies for more lucrative compensation contracts. And #3 ideologically it was constructed to eventually end up with a single-payer system. All three points are great for Big Labor.

♦ Wall Street supports ObamaCare because it: #1 removes the cost of providing healthcare from the cost of producing products in the U.S. [However, you’ll note the consumer price of manufactured goods never actually decreases, instead the savings go to the profit margin.] #2 allows the manufacturing cost equity to streamline globalization efforts.

Both primary factions within the BIG CLUB stood to gain substantially if they could shift the cost of healthcare from their corporate ledgers into the personal checkbooks of the individual U.S. consumer. Hence, they looked at the lobbying cost of ObamaCare as a long-term legislative investment with a massive upside for profit.

mcconnell ryan

After the GOPe wing of the UniParty was voted into the majority in both houses (2014), the Big Club sales people (politicians) needed to give the illusion of “repeal” or “removal”, but not actually do anything which would remove it. So long as Obama was in office the optical games were easy; with Clinton later in office the games would be no longer needed.

Big Club spends to make sure Clinton wins the Presidency.

#NeverTrump making sense now?

Rut Roh.

Now, fast forward to 2017 and President Trump is in office on a promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Oh snap, NOW what is the Big Club going to do?

Stall for time…. Quick construct plan to deal with the unexpected. Stall, block cabinet and down-stream confirmations… Activate astroturf to provide Sales Force cover… Paul Ryan lies to Sean Hannity… etc.

More things reconciling now?

Once you see the strings, it’s almost impossible to watch the marionettes and not see them.



https://theconservativetreehou...ig-club/#more-135949

Thank you, Chellim.

His line, "'Never Trump' making sense now?" is a gem. I have never seen anything like what was done-- and is still being done-- to Donald Trump: the vitriol, the savage attacks on him and his whole family, the lies, the treachery, the fake news.

But, ya, seeing it all laid out the way Sundance does it here... it makes sense.

They care about being part of the "Big Club" more than they care about doing what's best for the country.
After all... It's a very exclusive club!

I think there are a few exceptions. I don't think Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz are accepted by or part of the Club because they don't play by the Club's Rules.

It's a Big Club and you ain't in it.

George Carlin

Will the people rise-up?

Most Americans are totally oblivious to everything Sundance brings out here, so, no, I don't think people will rise up. The MSM is certainly not going to do anything to educate the people-- they are part of the Big Club.

The hope for America is President Donald Trump. Sorry if that sounds too simplistic for some of you. He is the outsider. He is NOT working with The Big Club.

They are doing everything they can to undermine him and destroy his presidency. These are the days to be steadfast. Support him, and don't be distracted, don't buy the shit they are peddling.

It's a big big swamp. It's going to be a long fight to drain it. Commit to the long haul.

They are termites in the foundation.

I'll get flamed for saying this, but this is one reason I think Citizens United was wrong.

quote:

:

Great posts justjoe and chellim1.

I was reading this article earlier today on my phone and was going to post it to the forum when I got back to my office.

But you beat me to it.

This is information that should be widely disseminated but, unfortunately, that is probably not going to happen.

If you don't understand what Sundance brings out, it can be very perplexing to try to understand why Congress can't solve problems that seem solvable. After all, they are reasonably intelligent people. With healthcare, for example-- allow insurance to be purchased beyond state borders, for one thing.

But look at the graph in the article. Pharma/health products spent about $80,000,000 in the first quarter of 2017. Buying lawmakers to do their bidding. Insurance kicked in another $40,000,000. $120,000,000 in three months.

For this reason, politicians enter the House and the Senate in the middle class, and leave very wealthy.

It's not that they don't know what to do. They know very well what to do to enrich themselves. That is their mission, the overwhelming majority of them: increase their personal wealth and power.

Fuck America. If the country imploded because of their actions, they would pick up and go somewhere else, Switzerland maybe, or Belize.

A great battle has been joined in Washington.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
I'll get flamed for saying this, but this is one reason I think Citizens United was wrong.

There's a balance point somewhere that we haven't found yet. Lobbyists represent you and me in all kinds of things. To simply outlaw lobbying is unconstitutional. There are some good things about Citizen's United, but the bad ramifications are really bad.

Great article. These money changers and merchants have very heavy tables.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:


They care about being part of the "Big Club" more than they care about doing what's best for the country.
After all... It's a very exclusive club!

I think there are a few exceptions. I don't think Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz are accepted by or part of the Club because they don't play by the Club's Rules.

The Big Club pays a hell of a lot better than doing the people's business. Anyone who isn't a millionaire when he leaves Congress(LBJ was) is either honest, stupid or not trying. Even that dismal idiot Waters got wealthy off being a clown that could get reelected. And all because she's Black, does as she is told and completely unconcerned about the consequences on the everyday people, like her constituents. In turn, the voters are so stupid, they never actually examine what has happened under her "leadership".



"There comes a point in the destiny of a failing nation when official lying is no longer distinct from official stupidity. We’ve crossed that boundary in the USA. It pays to remember that societies get what they deserve, not what they expect."

~~ James H. Kunstler

I want the lobbyists and fat cats in Washington to walk into work EVERY GODDAMNED DAY in fear that they may lose their job and also to have fear that they might not be able to pay their bills like I did for over a year when I worked for a major bank. I want those fucking assholes in DC and their cronies to feel the pain of their failed policies. NOTHING would make me happier than for the shoe to be on the other foot and for those assholes to feel the consequence of their actions.

I hear you, stickman, but you notice that they keep heaping shit on us -- and exempting themselves. Nothing they do actually affects their own lives-- which many of them live behind walls, in mansions, with 24/7 armed guards.

Tagging to find again and share with friends.