The U.S. government's transition from a democracy to oligarchy, and related $17+ trillion dollar spike in the debt, began/continues complements of a 36 year crime spree by both Republicans and Democrats. The accuracy of this statement begins with the October 1978 bipartisan passage of Jimmy Carter's Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA). This legislation unconstitutionally placed foxes (corporate executives) in positions of power/authority over BOTH executive/judicial branches' chicken houses (their 2.8 million non-partisan/technically qualified civil servants), via their Senior Executive Service (SES) political appointees. Despite the 1978 CSRA's whistleblower protection(s), the next 5 administration's politicians used their partisan/unqualified political appointees to illegally retaliate against, fire, and demote BOTH branches' whistleblowers for rightfully questioning their corporate-driven deregulation, outsourcing, global warming, and war-related agendas. Security-related whistleblower stories of political/corporate abuses include a few of the following: FBI, FBI1, CIA, NSA, NSA1, NSA2, Army; non-security-related whistleblower collusion/corruption stories include: (FDA, FDA1, FDA2, FDA3, NIEHS, NIH, NIH1, lawyers, engineers, accountants, auditors, contract specialists). An also corrupt Congress tailored its legislation to fit the executive/judicial branch political appointee manager's unconstitutional needs. Now, all 3 government branches were no longer independent but were controlled by corrupt politicians and corporations, to the detriment of Americans and citizens (worldwide).
The taxpayer folly of using political appointees to "manage" any facet of the U.S. government's operation is linked to a time-honored/failed 225 year management practice that has been highlighted (even more) after the passage of the 1978 CSRA, as noted below:
Politicians, starting with George Washington and over the past 225 years (1789 -- 2014), have relied upon a failed/troubled management practice of filling/refilling the government's highest managerial positions (every 4 -- 8 years) with each administration's partisan/ unqualified executive schedule (EX) political appointees. Why? This was the first built-in source of political/corporate graft and corruption since partisan/unqualified EX political appointees typically allowed/promoted the procurement of valueless corporate goods/services. When politicians complained about the 1970's exorbitant levels of that (corporate) government waste (and their unsatisfactory share of that booty), they conveniently targeted non-partisan/technically qualified GS level civil servants as lazy/inept, the source of that waste, and their only excuse for passing the 1978 CSRA. As the above bullets show, there was no legitimate reason for passing this legislation as the national debt was less than a trillion dollars in 1978. Politicians did not pass this legislation to cut government waste but to exponentially increase it, along with their share of that booty.
" 1789 -- 1978: Each administration's executive schedule (EX) political appointees "managed" the government and the national debt was only $ 789 billion dollars,
" 1978 -- 2014: Each administration's EX political appointees + 2 additional levels, Senior Executive Service (SES)/Title 42, of political appointees "managed" the government and the national debt skyrocketed by $17+ trillion dollars in just 36 years to $17.9 trillion dollars.
Now, 36 years later, 2 additional levels (SES/Title 42) of political appointees, Republicans, Democrats, corporations, "their" 3 government branches and an also now partisan U.S. Supreme Court (this oligarchy) have successfully redistributed $17+ trillion dollars in wealth from the American people to themselves, under the guise of national security and government efficiency. In 1961, President Eisenhower gave his Military-Industrial
Complex speech and stated that "America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our riches and military strength but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment." Today, after an unnecessary Vietnam war, 2 unnecessary Iraq wars, an unnecessary Afghanistan war, and more drones to kill the terrorists those unnecessary wars created, the American people have a right to question both the U.S. government's failed national security policies, and the morality/competence of its politicians.
" 2.8 million executive and judicial branch partisan/unqualified civil servants whose only function has become to rubberstamp the political (and corporate) whims of each administration, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, AND
" The continued procurement of valueless corporate goods/services that undermines their best interests
An additional problem is that 3 all-powerful levels (EX/SES/Title 42) of corporate-friendly political appointee managers also control all levels of misinformation that is hidden from the American people by also declaring all of their illegal and unconstitutional acts as secret. For the U.S. government's security (FBI, CIA, NSA) facet of its operation, those secrecy abuses include the "state secrets privilege" policies while the non-security sector's secrecy abuses include its "confidential business information" (CBI) policies. The following are but a few of their (many still hidden) abuses, cover-ups, and resultant increases in the national debt regarding their illegal/unconstitutional acts:
" The covert elimination of the college degree requirement from the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) accountant, auditor, Department of Energy (DOE) engineer position standards to flood the bureaucracy with the unqualified people needed to hide all levels of collusion/corruption over the past 2-3 decades
" National Security Agency's (NSA) use of corporate contractors to violate the privacy rights of Americans and all citizens (worldwide) to monitor, control, and bully those citizens, as detailed by Edward Snowden
" Used the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for military purposes as detailed by an NASA whistleblower, Richard C. Cook, in his book "Challenger Revealed" to bully/control all governments and their citizens.
" Flooded DOE with the Ronald Reagan/George H.W. Bush-era (unqualified) electrical engineers (1st bullet above) needed to rubberstamp George W. Bush's corporate energy policies, as evidenced by Dick Cheney's secret corporate energy meetings.
" Flooded the Veterans Administration (VA) with the partisan/unqualified civil servants that used veterans as guinea pigs to then create the current VA management crisis
" Congress' rewrite of Abraham Lincoln's False Claims Act changed that law from prosecuting criminals for selling shoddy goods/services to the government to now protecting public/corporate sector criminals from prosecution for that same crime.
The preceding portion of this article is best described for what it is, a 36 year crime spree by the last 5 administration's politicians, their political appointees, and their 3 government branches' unconstitutional transition of a financially solvent democracy, with real checks and balances, into a debt-ridden/unsustainable oligarchy, with no checks and balances. This unconstitutional U.S. oligarchy routinely violates its own laws, rewrites the ones (like the False Claims Act, above) that once protected the American people's best interests, and now highlights a real need to restructure all 3 dysfunctional/corrupt government branches. The remainder of this document is divided into the following 2 sections to provide useful background information to begin this very necessary dialogue:
1. A multibillion dollar political appointee example of U.S. government efficiency
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