…The Love of Power and the Love of Money Warned Franklin
Ben Franklin gave an address at the Constitutional Convention, titled “Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy,” June 2, 1787:
“Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men … ambition and avarice — the love of power and the love of money …
When united … they have … the most violent effects.
Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it.”
By 1822, the rechartered Second Bank of the United States was run by Nicholas Biddle.
Biddle bought political influence by financing the election campaigns of politicians, and owned newspapers that could editorialize and sway voters during elections.
Ambitious politicians sought his money and his favorable media coverage.
On July 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoed the charter renewal of Nicholas Biddle’s Second Bank of the United States, stating:
“Powers … possessed by the … Bank are unauthorized by the Constitution … to influence elections or control the affairs of the nation.”
Jackson warned September 18, 1833:
“The Bank is thus converted into a vast electioneering engine.”
Stephanie Condon wrote in a CBS News article “Why is Congress a millionaires club?” March 27, 2012:
“The average Senate campaign in 2010 cost $8,002,726, according to the Campaign Finance Institute … The average 2010 House campaign cost $1,163,231 … Congress, meanwhile, is a club that consists of 245 millionaires.”
The American Prospect reported January 24, 2022:
“Last year, 105 congress members bought and sold nearly $290 million worth in stock, according to a report from Unusual Whales, an unusual options alert tool that tracks strange trading activities by lawmakers.
In short, Unusual Whales concluded that Congress beat the S&P 500.
As lawmakers oversaw military contracts, infrastructure legislation, and cryptocurrency regulation, some took advantage of their position as elected officials and made trades during these negotiations, yielding absurd gains … It’s a sobering reminder of why public approval of Congress floats between 10 and 30 percent.”
Newsweek published November 25, 2022 “How Nancy Pelosi’s Net Worth Vastly Increased While House Speaker”:
“Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger slammed Pelosi for her apparent inaction on legislation that would require lawmakers’ investment assets to be placed in a blind trust … The Washington Free Beacon also estimated then that Pelosi’s net worth had risen by $140 million since 2008.”
Matthew Boyle wrote for Breitbart News, February 6, 2017:
“Democratic Party mega-donor George Soros, donated tens of thousands of dollars to top Republicans who fought against President Donald Trump in 2016, donation records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show.”
Capital Research Center’s Hayden Ludwig wrote in “CTCL’s ‘Zuck Buck’ Invade Michigan and Wisconsin,” February 3, 2021:
“CTCL’s targeted distribution of grants appears to clearly qualify as election interference by a tax-exempt nonprofit—something 501(c)(3) groups are strictly barred from …
‘Zuck bucks’ were ostensibly about shoring up polling places amid the Coronavirus pandemic, but in reality they provided new election infrastructure critical to Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump.”
George Washington warned that politicians’ desire to raise money mixed with party passions would open them up to foreign influence and corruption, stating in his Farewell Address, September 17, 1796:
“Let me … warn you … against the baneful effects of the spirit of party …
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension … disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual … chief of some prevailing faction …
It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another …
It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.
Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”
Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield interviewed New York Times Best-selling author Peter Schweizer, March 2, 2022, who explained:
“I think there is going to be a real reckoning for all these people, and there are a lot of them, the Bidens at the top of the list, who cashed in on corrupt deals in Ukraine, but also in Putin’s Russia.
Let’s remember Hunter Biden obviously doing the deals with Burisma in Ukraine, he was also taking money from Russian oligarchs like Yelena Baturina who has been linked to Russian organized crime, he took three and a half million dollars from her …
And he was looking to do deals with other Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska who is pro-Putin.
So corruption … is a big part of this story, and there are a lot of people who are making a lot of money dealing with some really shady people …
Schweizer continued:
“Unfortunately, corruption has become so institutionalized, and a lot of these people are friends with people in the media …
There is a guy named Vin Roberti … a former Biden advisor. Up until about 24 hours ago, he was a lobbyist for Gazprom the Russian state energy company that is basically financing this war.
Or Teneo, a consultancy started by two Clinton advisors that also includes Paul Ryan, the former Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate … advising another Russian oligarch who has now been put on the sanctions list. It goes on and on and on …
There are people on both sides of the aisle doing this, and you have some Republicans that don’t what this to come up because it is either going to put them or their friends in the cross-hairs … There is this kind of a mutual non-aggression pact that too many people have in Washington because they all have got their fingers in the till …”
Schweizer concluded:
“Biden has been incredibly soft on Vladimir Putin … This war could have been prevented … Putin is not crazy, he is a nasty piece of work … He wasn’t deterred because he knew that Joe Biden would not be tough on him …
On the other side of the world as well, he has been very soft on China.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that his son has deep abiding commercial ties in both of those countries and its probably very likely that both of those countries’ intelligence services have very compromising information on Hunter Biden and potentially Joe Biden as a result of his commercial activities.”
Politicians guilty of corruption, like cheating spouses, accuse their innocent counterparts of the corruption they are…
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