Posted on 10/05/2015 8:24:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
A member of Congress estimated to me that out of 84-86 new GOP members who swept the House in the GOP takeover of 2010, there are only about only four to five left who remain conservative. It is a well-known fact that candidates running for Congress as conservatives frequently become moderates; compromising on many issues they vowed to stand principled on.
There are several discernible explanations why: It’s easy to get support when you’re promising Santa Claus goodies, you get more favorable coverage from the left-leaning media (and hence better reelection chances), you get invited to all the cool cocktail parties, and the “old guard” in Congress is less likely to target you and remove you from committees for challenging their compromising.
There is another, almost invisible reason. It comes down to future employment. Many members of Congress are career politicians, and have few other job options after they leave outside of lobbying. But what is lobbying? It usually involves representing a special interest group that wants more money from government. This often is anathema to conservative interests. Conservatives who vote against special interests while in Congress end up on a “lobbying blacklist.” No one will hire them afterward. Associations like the the music industry, movie industry or realtors’ associations turn up their noses at them.
A small handful of conservatives in Congress are able to find adequate alternative future employment like Jim DeMint, who is now president of the Heritage Foundation. But there is only one Heritage Foundation. Most jobs in the nonprofit sector don’t pay very well. Many conservative members of Congress are average people, with student loan debt, families and bills to pay. An expensive campaign and two years in Congress or so can leave a member of Congress close to broke if they don’t have any big special interests funding them. Conservatives are more likely to be self-made than the wealthy liberals in Congress, not born into wealth. There is a perception that Congress is full of millionaires, but they are disproportionately Democrats and half are not millionaires.
The ways former members of Congress can make a living post-service has dried up in the modern era. Writing books pays less these days, as people buy fewer books and obtain their information online instead. Speaker fees have gone down, as there are plenty of social media exhibitionists willing to speak for free instead; everyone is a political pundit now. Same with media, only a handful of former conservative politicians like Sarah Palin get paying positions with media outlets; the vast majority of former electeds are expected to appear without pay.
It creates an incentive to either remain in Congress for a long time, or start adjusting your votes in order to ensure future employment when you leave. The closer members get to retirement, the more likely they’ll become surrender monkeys. Conservatives wonder why Republicans keep caving on votes to subsidize corn-based ethanol or reauthorize the extension of the Export-Import Bank. Well, they’re natural lobbying positions to move to after they resign.
Adding to the pressure are the associated PAC contributions. Members of Congress who vote against funding special interests find their campaign contributions dry up. The ones who stop bad deals, resource misallocation and crazy special tax credits are punished.
So conservatives are not just punished while in office, but punished once they leave. They find it difficult to land somewhere they can use their political skill set. Whereas moderates who give away things find open doors everywhere. Ultimately, it comes down to follow the money; the reformers versus the institutionalists who control the money. If you’re a moderate, willing to subsidize industries, give tax breaks to special interests, and support crony capitalism, then the money flows. The unfortunate ramifications of this are a distortion of the economy.
Conservatives everywhere should be alarmed, because this problem goes far beyond Congress, affecting conservatives throughout all aspects of society. The principled ones are shunned by mainstream groups, shut out of plum leadership positions and employment. Can you imagine an outspoken conservative becoming CEO of Apple? Of course not. Powerful corporate interests are able to use their pocketbooks to silence conservatives. Conservatives would love for Republican CEOs to speak out politically — but they don’t dare for fear of retaliation. Despite the fact that 52 percent of CEOs are Republicans and only two percent are Democrat or Libertarian, the top Fortune 500 CEOs contribute substantially more to Democrats.
How can we solve this problem? Conservative organizations and news outlets need to look out for these members of Congress and give them preferences when it comes to hiring. If members know they have a principled organization willing to hire them after they leave, they will be less susceptible to the pressure to compromise as electeds. It’s time to start providing a safe haven for our own — we got your back.
A few don’t. Ted Cruz, Duncan Hunter...
Why Republicans turn into Democrats, in other words.
They need $$$ so guys like Rubio sell out once elected to stay in power. The power and money become the point instead of whatever lofty ideals they had going in.
We’ve entered the post-democracy phase of American history.
Trump has confused the pundits, but he’s running as a traditional populist, appealing to the Reagan Democrats.
Notice the Teamsters may endorse him because of his Pat Buchanan-esque anti-NAFTA stance.
If people would research who they vote for, they would find their ‘conservatives’ are moderates at best and many have strong ties to the GOPe machine. REGARDLESS of their current TEA claims.
Publish their names repeatedly and don’t reelect them. Unless they’re really stupid, the rest will get our message. Bye Bye Moderate. You’re fired.
The “Good ol’ Boys” grab them on the first day and convince them of the “Go Along, Get Along” requirement if they want committee jobs, financial support and “K” Street money. IOW they are herded into the fold before they know where the toilets are.
5.56mm
The real reason is that stupid and lazy conservative voters vote them into office and then allow these phony “conservatives” to vote with the GOPe Big Government lobby until they come up for the next election. Any office holder who has voted with Boehner and McConnell, or has done nothing to expose them as corrupt, should have lost his/her primary the second time they ran.
Some of them, like Rubio, are actually democrats pretending to be conservatives in order to get elected. They aren’t really turning into democrats. They always were democrats and are finally showing their true colors.
Strict term limits are needed.
It's what happened in California with term limits. It became a revolving door for lobbyists and staffers.
Carry, I always figured that if their time in office was shortened, they would just feather their nests even more vigorously.
Wish we could get rid of lobbyists. They’ve really ruined things.
Correct. If their nest isn't prepared in advance, they won't even run for office. Term limits assure a nameless stream of unknown whores with ulterior motives, nothing but pretty faces and glad hands.
I don’t believe this number. Boehner actually had to resign within a year, which is proof that enough of them have some influence. (Many do, but its usually over a period of many years)
You mean there was some truth and not just Hollywood dramatics in the early DC scenes in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"? Wowzers...knock me over with a feather...
That being the case, let's just save everyone from going to DC to "sell out to the highest bidders" and set firm term limits of six years - period!
That would be three terms in the House and one Senate term. I used to believe that twelve years should be a maximum but considering earning power outside of government, twelve years is too long!
Six years leaves plenty of time for a person to return home to an actual job or career and have a life among their peers - not a lifetime inside the Beltway on the taxpayer's dime!
Once they are there beyond six years, they are almost forced to sell out mom and pop back home, for their own future. No wonder these guys and gals act like they are special - they ARE!
They no longer have any concept of what it takes to live in the real world and funny thing about that, nothing matters to them.
It reminds me of my kids in their teen years.
They knew everything - except how to get by, how to earn a living, how to pay the bills, take care of the home, the car(s), even themselves but they sure could tell us "how hard it was, going to school, turning in papers on time, studying for tests, making or keeping friends," etc.
We, their parents "just didn't understand" and I guess it's the same with all of our Congress. We, their voters, "just don't understand how hard it is to do what they promised" when they wanted our votes, our money and our support!
Well buddy, after reading this article, now I get it. I don't like it but I do get it so from now on, I'm for term limits to save them from themselves!
The founding fathers got rid of the kings. Unfortunately, they’ve been recreated in the House and Senate. The leadership system corrupts representative government. I haven’t figured out a better method, but there must be one.
Give me a break. Most of them are freaking lawyers. They shouldn’t have been elected in the first place. But once they have been then they should properly represent their constituents. That’s right, represent. Properly. Then they should go back home to chase ambulances or whatever.
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