What is the Washington Cartel? Who are they? What do they want?
Senator Cruz has referred to a “Washington Cartel” on more than one occasion during this year’s Republican primary campaign. I’m not exactly sure whom he includes in the group and what he thinks their agenda is but I believe they are the same folks I have been writing about and railing against for ten years.
I want to thank the Senator for coining the term because it fits neatly into my thesis that “We the People” have had very little to say about what happens in America for some time. I believe our government is and has been owned “lock, stock and barrel” by the Washington Cartel for several decades.
So what makes up this cartel? Tea Party activists have loosely referred to them as the establishment. I have referred to them as globalists along with other terms to indicate they no longer have American interests at heart. Some call them “crony capitalists” or purveyors of a new world order.
President Reagan believed in a sovereign America and insisted on rules-based, fair trade. The Washington Cartel believes in free (laissez faire) trade and open borders. They think that we don’t need to produce things in America anymore. They have bought into the flawed theory of post-industrialism which is the idea that advanced economies don’t have to manufacture products any longer. They believe an advanced economy can be sustained by a service and financial sector alone.
The Washington Cartel is made up of investment bankers, Wall Street CEOs, trans-national corporate CEOs and others who own enough of our political leaders that they control virtually everything they need to keep pushing their global agenda. They push for open borders, laissez faire trade, and tax avoidance for their overseas profits. Through campaign donations and other means, they control enough of our political leaders to do whatever they see fit. They decide what legislation gets passed and what gets blocked regardless of what the voters want.
The Washington Cartel has held our government in a tight grip for a long time and the negative consequences are becoming increasingly clear. Resistance and anger continue to grow because no matter what the voter does, nothing changes.
Now that we have another presidential campaign before us, the anger is reaching epic proportions. What is the locus of this anger? I believe it centers on the lack of progress on the economy and, in particular, a persistent lack of jobs and wage stagnation. This anxiety about jobs and the economy is not a partisan issue. On the left, unions are upset about millions of jobs outsourced to foreign nations. On the right, small business owners and employees have lost their businesses. Most Americans know someone who has lost their job or business to foreign competition. They attribute this to bad trade deals/policy and immigration.
The vast majority of Americans know that when we ship 0ver 30% of our manufacturing jobs overseas and allow cheap, illegal workers to work in our factories, the eventual outcome is not going to be good. This is the result of open borders and laissez faire trade.
Along comes Donald Trump to gather up the angry Republican voters, and that propels him to the top of the Republican heap. And, out of nowhere comes Bernie Sanders doing the same thing on the Democrat side. Political pundits see this phenomenon as separate and therefore minor problems in each party. I think it is a much broader uprising from the political center affecting both parties in different ways. If this anger is left unaddressed, the entire political process will be upended in the very near future.
What have “The Donald” and “The Bernie” been espousing to marshal these angry citizens into a constituency? While they agree on little, their interviews and stump speeches always include railing against illegal immigration and bad trade deals. These issues have caused the loss of millions of American jobs, the loss of our manufacturing base, a shrinking middle class and a fading American Dream.
How many campaigns have you suffered through hearing candidates say that jobs and the economy are the top priority? I cringe every time I hear a politician call for Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! When asked what they will do or have done to fix our broken immigration system and our flawed trade policies, they quickly change the subject.
What makes the 2016 campaign different is there are two surprise candidates who have seized this moment and tapped into the discontent and outright anger amongst voters of all stripes. Messrs. Trump and Sanders are telling the voters – vote for me and I will fix our bad trade deals and illegal worker problems.
So I say to Messrs. Trump and Sanders: Keep taking on the Washington Cartel. Stay in the race and keep beating this drum until the “Washington Cartel” can no longer ignore Main Street, USA.
One thing we can say with some certainty is that the constituency supporting The Donald and The Bernie will not be ignored. Both political parties will eventually suffer the consequences if this anger isn’t addressed. We also know that the anger of this constituency centers on a lack of jobs and an anemic economy.
Rest assured this will be a very interesting and significant election cycle, and trade policy and immigration are subjects that will not fade away.
Frank Shannon served in the U.S. Army, was an engineering/operations manager for AT&T for 27 years, was the owner of a small manufacturing business for 23 years, served as Colorado Chair of the Coalition for a Prosperous America and moved to Mesquite in 2013.
This article is the beginning of the truth. It is a shame that Frank didn’t point our the candidate that has been seriously trying in Washington to remove restrictions that hold the private sector back from creating jobs instead of ONLY pointing out the new loud ones that have flip flopped in their speeches over the years. That candidate I speak of is Rand Paul. Like his father he wants to SHRINK our government like our founding fathers planned for us to follow. We all need to ask every candidate if they know the Constitution and how to apply it in DC and even in our State when they prepare their Bills that become Laws! If they did know, then they would know that DC is suppose to manage the Military and our roads. The rest should be at state and local levels, PERIOD! Just a note, if any candidate is willing to follow our Constitution I am willing to research them and then possibly give them MY Valuable vote. I am hoping we actually see one or two more Constitutional candidates step up.
Speaking of State level! Of course our own Governor and his cronies, like your rep in the state Assembly, Chris Edwards that voted for almost ALL of the tax increases, created a monster of taxes for all the People in Nevada to hurt the businesses, hurt job creation, plus raises prices to the consumers as well. So it seems that the Washington Cartel has filtered into our state of Nevada.
What are you the People going to do about that? And what are YOU People going to do about the newly proposed sales tax increase at the County level? (A start would be to show up at the Clark County Commission meeting on Sept. 1st, this coming Tuesday, by 10 AM. Speak out, stand up, and ask for that forensic audit before placing more burden on the “small” People. Anyone can search and see that lowering taxes helps the economy and that if there are jobs created the crime rate goes down. (How many crimes do the Police prevent? In almost all of the cases they show up AFTER the crime is committed duh!) So to start the healing is to Stand Up and start saying NO to the local governments and their attempts to raise any taxes until they help remove regulations that would allow jobs to be created. Here’s a link to voice your opinion on the newly proposed tax increase for OUR, the People’s, Clark County! http://www.snwatchdog.org/more-cops-tax-form/ Showing up is always a strong stand too! Carpool and be there if you can, it will matter.
And if you need motivation just watch this short video all about the People and their POWER! It is called “The Tiny Dot” and should show you where the Power of the People really is, right there in YOUR HANDS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b70TUbdfs When you watch this choose which dot that you are. I am one of those cute purple ones. 🙂 When you watch this video you will understand that note.
People of no parties are the ones to watch, they understand that our Government was created to NOT have any parties. No Republican, No Democrat, No Libertarian etc etc. JUST the People making decisions in their local areas first and thus keeping the game players and tax hikers from going up that ladder in the State and Federal government seats. (The parties were created to divide us, make us weaker, rather than to unite us and make the People stronger.)
See you all at the County Commission meeting!
Don’t forget to send in the form answers if you cannot make it. Let’s start the healing of our nation right here in our own back yards.
It is what it is, the people in Wa. D. C. Are more interested in what social event that they may or may not be invited to, and certainly not what they can do for thier constituency. We reek with the stench of lies and sloth like manners that only contributes to the “Big Brother Will Take Care of You” genre! The sad thing is if you were born, like I was in the forties you are directly responsible for this debacle. It took a long time for this to happen to the greatest country, but hopefully we can make a Uturn and get our country back from the thieves that think that they can take our freedom from true Americans. Kelly Colgrove. P.S. Great article
D
Yes DJ, the article is excellent and it will hopefully get some people thinking! Let’s hope people look for a candidate(s) this coming election that follow the Constitution no matter their party affiliation.
Kelly,
Thanks for your lucid comments. Can you tell us how you really feel?
Bud