The US Government as a Sleazy Salesman

American Thinker.com ^ | June 18, 2021 | Charles Turot

[Kaslin]

I know a guy who knows a guy who used to be a vacation time share salesman. I say "salesman" with apologies to honest salespeople everywhere: he was a hustler. To give you a sense of his era, he drove a Lincoln Continental. The rules of employment required that he own a four-door vehicle and an umbrella and prohibited "excessive alcohol or drugs on the job."

No doubt you're getting the picture already. Guys like him were slick. They could drive a prospect around the yet-unfinished "resort" with a binder full of drawings showing what it soon would become: the pool, the tennis courts, the game room. They sold sunsets — dreams of sunsets, actually. The made their money on weekends, when city folks headed up to the mountains to look into buying a little slice of paradise. "Investing" was the preferred term. What price paradise, right? You only live once.

They weren't con artists — the resort would be built, though not quite as the "concept" drawings showed. (That was in the fine print, which nobody read until later.) All they needed to close their share of deals was a steady stream of customers. The developer knew how to bring them in. They did what hucksters often do: offer something that looked valuable but wasn't in exchange for a chance to talk you out of your money, the product of your labor and ingenuity, always valuable.

I'm describing their methods because our current government is using them right now.

[polymuser]

The US government is a den of thieves.

[ClearCase_guy]

The US Constitution was an exceptional document for the 18th century. For a largely agrarian society, with initial stirrings of industrialization, and lots of untapped, remote wilderness and primitive communications, the Constitution went a very long way to making sure we were a free country full of brave men and women.

It is insufficient for the 21st century.

I’d like to see a Second Republic of the United States, with a new Constitution. And I’d like that new Constitution to be at least 51% focused on extreme penalties for government employees and elected officials who lie, cheat, break rules, or abuse their power. The Constitution should explicitly constrain the government. Not the people. It needs to be stronger and more punitive. The government needs to be reigned in. The Founding Fathers did not envision a society like the one we have today. Their document is no longer good enough.

[abb]

Government has adopted the modus operandi of the Mafia and perfected it. The Mob can no longer compete.

[polymuser]

“Government has adopted the modus operandi of the Mafia and perfected it.”

Learned by working with mobsters, like Thomas J. D’Alesandro Jr., Nancy Pelosi’s daddy:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/11/10/pride-of-baltimore-span-classbankheadnancy-pelosi-learned-her-politics-at-the-elbow-of-her-father-the-mayorspan/3325ffd8-f733-49fa-a920-0f259d07ad43/

https://archives.simplelists.com/nfu/msg/15865845/

[Rurudyne]

It’s sufficiency is not the issue, but that the people are now wicked.

[Dr. Franklin]

The US Constitution was an exceptional document for the 18th century. For a largely agrarian society, with initial stirrings of industrialization, and lots of untapped, remote wilderness and primitive communications, the Constitution went a very long way to making sure we were a free country full of brave men and women.
It is insufficient for the 21st century.
I'd like to see a Second Republic of the United States, with a new Constitution. And I'd like that new Constitution to be at least 51% focused on extreme penalties for government employees and elected officials who lie, cheat, break rules, or abuse their power. The Constitution should explicitly constrain the government. Not the people. It needs to be stronger and more punitive. The government needs to be reigned in. The Founding Fathers did not envision a society like the one we have today. Their document is no longer good enough.

The U.S. Constitution was drafted in secret by the national elites of the day, who were intent on protecting their interests and position, not "we the people" as the propaganda falsely advertised. The limitations on the power of the government came only latter in the Bill or Rights. It quite literally was an afterthought. The greatest criticism of the new proposed government was that the judiciary would become too powerful and end the right to a common law jury locally. Today less than 1% of all civil cases are ever heard by a jury, which even then has lost its ability to decide the law, as well as the facts. The relatively recent judicial invention of lack of standing to pursue claims in court against public officials is a further erosion of civil rights at a time when the role of government has greatly expanded, with the aid of certain favored corporations and combinations. "Lack of standing" has become a judicial euphemism for "who cares if the laws or constitution have been violated? Who are you to complain about it? Sit down, and shut up already, you peon!"

Arguably, the Second Amendment was the remedy of last resort envisioned for reigning in an arrogant, our of control government. The right to bear arms, and be proficient with their use, (i.e., "well regulated" in the parlance of the late 18th Century), scares the hell out of the Biden regime and its political cronies. The first resort was through the press, and ballot box, which were directly related. (With elections conducted by paper ballots, any new party could print its own ballots with its ticket for counting).

Yes, reforming the constitution could change our government. A second Constitutional Convention is something worth doing. However, that all starts with the several states of the union. The rigged 2020 elections proved how seemingly insignificant state offices like secretary or state can change a presidential election. Without active and engaged citizens at the grass roots of the Republic, bad things happen. We have been too lazy in that regard, and after the theft of the election to impose an illegitimate government on U.S. citizens, we have been far to nice to the traitors.

[oldtech]

That spells it out pretty plainly. If a piece of property was already developed & the salesman was trying to sell you a piece of the finished product, then naturally the price would be much higher. If you buy before the the product(or project) is finished, there are no guarantees, so in effect, the salesman is more than likely lying through his teeth. That’s exactly what we have with government projects. When something is sold unfinished & is NOT later finished according to the way it was sold...why shouldn’t that person be hauled into court?

[gr8eman]

They weren't con artists

They're the quintessential con "artist". An artist is someone with special abilities, such as misdirection. My father got caught up in this scam as anyone who invariably falls for the lies of socialism will! I analyzed my father's finances when he passed and discovered the "missing" money went to "buy out" of the trap he got snared in. Most embarrassing part was it was in Florida. How cliche!

[polymuser]

Post 2?

[polymuser]

“...the Constitution went a very long way to making sure we were a free country full of brave men and women.”

Being brave men and women was up to us. We failed the Constitution.

“The Founding Fathers did not envision a society like the one we have today. Their document is no longer good enough.”

I’ll suggest 2A is exactly for today’s situation.