Prosecuting Politicians

Running for political office is an expensive proposition. The candidate must ask contributors to enter a speculative enterprise with no guarantees.

With such long odds, the investors insist on a disproportionate reward. Often, this involves criminal activities. This opens the candidate to blackmail and extortion.

Success opens the new official to the suspicion of his peers. They arrange for law enforcement to examine his background fully to establish evidence to prosecute him. This forces him to comply with party orders the wishes of his faction.

They increase this hold on him with fresh bribes and a laundry list of privileges. If he indulges in aberrations frowned upon by the conventionally wise, so much the better.

Thus, with few exceptions, politicians are afraid to rock the boat. Whistle blower types rarely appear in the Congress. Even a temporary fit of good conscience or a sudden burst of public service can ruin a promising career.

The Congress is a millionaire’s club and a society of enemy combatants one step from Gitmo. By executive order the President can assemble the dossiers already compiled and send the lot of legislators to detention and torture without trial.