The 2024 Presidential Race is Set….Well, Almost!

Today, it may seem impossible to imagine the U.S. government without its two leading political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. But in 1787, when delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia to hash out the foundations of their new government, they entirely omitted political parties from the new nation’s founding document.

This was no accident. The framers of the new Constitution desperately wanted to avoid the divisions that had ripped England apart in the bloody civil wars of the 17th century. Many of them saw parties — or “factions,” as they called them — as corrupt relics of the monarchical British system that they wanted to discard in favor of a truly democratic government.

“It was not that they didn’t think of parties,” says Willard Sterne Randall, professor emeritus of history at Champlain College and biographer of six of the Founding Fathers. “Just the idea of a party brought back some bitter memories.”

Thomas Jefferson, who was serving a diplomatic post in France during the Constitutional Convention, believed it was a mistake not to provide for different political parties in the new government. “Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties.”

Jefferson didn’t always feel that way about political parties:

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.” –Thomas Jefferson, 1789

So, what changed? Exactly what we are watching play out on our national political stage!

Money destroyed the basic philosophy that men could agreeably speak with and conjure those with opposite political beliefs into a scenario of convincing one to come to the other side. And if that was unsuccessful, at least an agreement to disagree could be, and most often was, reached that came with amicable relations.

That died a cruel death just as we watch today as Democrats and Republicans ran from that philosophy and today hide in the weeds with guns to kill their political opponents!

Many of, if not all of, those young Americans at Tampa are tired of the “same old political game” in which candidates promise whatever is necessary to sway people to join their political philosophy, including promises of anything and everything for votes. Worse, Turning Point USA, from its founding, points to a political process in which candidates base every part of an election and its preparations on speaking “TO” people instead of “AT” people and giving those people reasons for voting for them.

I’m 68. My earliest knowledge of political campaigning was when Richard Nixon ran against John F. Kennedy. All I knew in 1960 is that two people wanted the same job. Politics was not even in my understanding. But as time went on, I became cognizant of the two parties and their differences and grew to understand why Thomas Jefferson didn’t plan to go to Heaven if there were political parties there!

In the last 20 years, presidential elections have become the vilest of processes in operating our representative republic. Still, there’s more: we’ve watched as matters that are considered normal in running for office have destroyed the lives of thousands of candidates for numerous offices, not just for President.

• And the weapon of choice is money.
• And money “greases” the campaign into life and perpetuates its ability to survive.
• The lack of money kills ALL political campaigns.

The Cost Of Congress

We know that members of the U.S. Congress make LOTS of money outside their Congressional salaries and expense accounts. It’s common knowledge that the average salaries for members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives average about $175,000 a year — not over-the-top when considering the cost of living in D.C. and the requirement that all members must maintain residences within the states and districts that they serve. So why are so many so willing to sacrifice normal lives and go to war for sometimes years to win one of those seats? You know the answer: “There’s gold in them there hills!” That gold causes so many to lust for one of those 535 seats. But “them there” seats cost scads of dollars to win. Want some numbers?

In the 2020 election cycle, here’s the estimated breakdown of costs to run for the House, the Senate, and the White House. (These numbers come from the most reputable polling entity, OpenSecrets)

• The cost to campaign for a seat in Congress in 2020 — including the Senate and House combined was $1,631,870.18;
• The cost for ALL who campaigned for seats in the House and the Senate combined was $8,703,050,547;
• The campaign costs for the two 2020 candidates for President combined were $5,700,916,140;
• The total costs of campaigning for all 535 Congressional seats and the Presidency in 2020 were $14,403,966,687

Note: the total costs of the 2020 election exceeded those of the 2018 election by $8,678,783,554

That’s $8 Billion more for Joe Biden to be elected in 2020 than it cost for Donald Trump to beat Hillary Clinton four years earlier!

Please use the following link to look at how quickly and how dramatically the costs of U.S. federal elections have risen over the past few decades: https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview/cost-of-election?cycle=2020&display=T&infl=N

Summary

What is the role in all this of the political parties? This is my opinion. They function in the same role as do unions today.

Both unions and political parties were established years ago for reasonable purposes. Unions saw the struggle of workers at the beginning of the last century. Employers were forcing workers to do their jobs in horrible conditions. They worked long hours and for very little pay. Education was available only to the wealthy, so these poor class Americans were forced to work in this for very little pay.

Political parties were established purportedly to give the opportunity to Americans to associate with other like-minded citizens and to reach out to others to attract them to whatever political causes were common.

Both ideals have run their logical course. Unions have become money pits for their bosses, campaign treasure chests for politicians who swear allegiance to workers, and to achieve “fair and equitable working conditions and employee compensation, benefits, and work structure.”

In each example, those at the top of the heap make the decisions and distribute the dollars contributed by campaign donors and workers paying union dues. Parties and Unions alike have amassed amazing power in the U.S., and it’s ALL about the money.

Is it possible to see the end of political parties and/or unions? I doubt it will happen — at least not in my lifetime. That’s sad.

When people give their power to so-called representatives, there are  NO guarantees for the results that are promised. So, in both cases, a vicious circle exists to perpetuate the existence of unions and political parties. And the party leaders and union bosses are the ones who make all the rules.

Does the massive campaign spending in the above data shock you? It should. There is NO way those who want to be elected to go to Washington to serve their states and districts are doing so for the sole purpose of service. The lust for power and money is magnetic to most people. And Washington D.C. has turned into a collection of evil groups and people whose lusts for power and money have overtaken any desire to serve and protect American workers and to control elections through campaign promises and their quid pro quo results.

God help the USA!

He’s our last hope.

Here’s the link to the video discussed in today’s “TNN Live!” show in regards to the U.S. currency is in the process of being changed unilaterally by the authority of a presidential executive order issued by Joe Biden: