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OpEdNews Op Eds    H1'ed 10/19/14

Ending a 36 year, 17+ Trillion Dollar U.S. Government Ponzi Scheme

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The American people have the right, the need, and the responsibility to question both the morality and the competence of the last 6 administrations regarding both the passage of President Jimmy Carter's 1978 Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) and now an overt failure to question its constitutionality. Why? This legislation introduced the fox (corporations) into the federal government's chicken house by adding a permanent level of corporate-dominant Senior Executive Service (SES) political appointees to "manage" all non-partisan/technically qualified government service (GS) professionals, within BOTH the executive/judicial branches. How could this undermine the U.S. Constitution? Because, each administration's all-powerful, partisan/unqualified executive schedule (EX) political appointees "managed" BOTH the executive/judicial branches AND: (1) those subservient SES political appointee managers, and (2) their also subservient GS level non-partisan/technically qualified staffs. The only checks and balances there were to ensure that both branches remained independent and that the American people's best interests took precedence over each administration's political agendas was the 1978 CSRA's tenet that "whistleblowers will be heard and protected from reprisal.

Then, over the next 36 years, that 1978 CSRA whistleblower protection law was routinely violated and anyone who questioned the U.S. government's wrongheaded policies concerning its corporate-driven deregulation, outsourcing, global warming, pharmaceutical, war-related, and other questionable agendas was systematically eliminated. Both political parties used their EX/SES political appointee managers to undermine the U.S. Constitution by gradually transitioning both the executive/judicial branches' 2.8 million GS level civil servants from non-partisan/technically qualified to partisan/unqualified, either by actively undermining the government's infrastructures or by covering-up that fact. One of the covert/unconstitutional strategies used in dumbing-down the government included the elimination of the minimal college degree requirements from at least 3 (and probably more) of the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) GS level accountant, auditor, and Department of Energy (DOE) electrical engineer professional position standards. As the ranks of the GS level partisan/unqualified civil servants grew, they also now had a vested interest in working with the partisan/unqualified EX/SES political appointees to eliminate even more GS level non-partisan/technically qualified civil servants, this time to hide their own incompetence. Now, each incoming administration's presidents/vice presidents unconstitutionally controlled (or was controlled by) both executive/judicial branches' 3 levels of 2.8 million corporate-dominant EX/SES/GS partisan/unqualified civil servants. How?

The executive branches' corporate-dominant EX/SES/GS level civil servants worked hand-in-hand with corporate contractors to procure bogus/unconstitutional corporate goods/services and then hid all levels of collusion/corruption from the new/incoming administration. Then, the judicial branches' corporate-dominant EX/SES/GS level civil servants gave "free get-out-of-jail passes" to corrupt politicians, EX/SES/GS level civil servants, and corporate contractors who knowingly procured those bogus and unconstitutional corporate goods/services, via the government's also corrupt grants/contracts processes. An equally corrupt legislative branch (Congress) was also outsourcing its law-making responsibilities to the highest paying lobbyist. How could anyone possibly not doubt that corporations did not unconstitutionally own/control all 3 government branches, and even a now also partisan U.S. Supreme Court, to the detriment of the American people, and all citizens (worldwide)?

A coincidental 36 year, 17+ trillion dollar spike in the debt from a 1978 low of under a trillion dollars to its current 17.9 trillion dollar total documents this increase in the debt for what it really is. That is, a redistribution in wealth from the American taxpayers to the corrupt politicians, corporate-dominant EX/SES/GS civil servants, and corporate contractors who still manage the U.S. government and consistently undermine their best interests. Another way of describing the obvious is that the last 6 administrations, all 3 corporate-dominant EX/SES/GS level government branches, and their fellow corporate partners-in-crime have misappropriated 17+ trillion dollars of the American people's money by consistently undermining their best interests in but a few of the following ways:

- Used the National Security Agency's (NSA) corporate contractors to covertly implement over-the-top surveillance systems that violated the privacy rights of all citizens (worldwide), as detailed by Edward Snowden, to monitor and control those citizens.

- Required the use of deficient corporate contractor services (AICPA firms, financial software companies, management consulting firms) to eliminate the audit trails identifying the recipients of trillions of dollars of the taxpayer's money, as documented in the 2009 Congressional hearings. See the National Accountant Whistleblower Coalition (NAWBC) website, http://www.nawbc.com, for details.

- Used the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) corporate contractors to covertly militarize the American people's space shuttle program, as detailed by an NASA whistleblower, Richard C. Cook, in his book "Challenger Revealed" to perpetually bully/control all governments and their citizens.

- Flooded DOE with the Ronald Reagan/George H.W. Bush-era (unqualified) electrical engineers needed to rubberstamp George W. Bush's corporate-friendly energy policies, as evidenced by Dick Cheney's secret corporate energy meetings.

- Harassed/retaliated against NIEHS and FDA scientists for questioning the use of unsafe chemicals, drugs, and devices that killed/maimed patients.

- Flooded the Veterans Administration (VA) with the partisan/unqualified civil servants needed to covertly use our veterans as guinea pigs.

- Congress and the last 6 presidents made a mockery of Abraham Lincoln's False Claims Act by rewriting/approving that law to exclude all 3 government branches' public officials from prosecution for procuring unconstitutional (NSA)/bogus (AICPA, NASA, DOE, FDA, VA) and all deficient corporate goods/services.

- Congress took nepotism to a new low by hiring members of their own families to fill their office's House/Senate staff positions, per a 60 Minutes 2014 program.

Look at the above documentation and realize that the American people have unwittingly subsidized a government that was covertly and unconstitutionally transitioned from a democracy to an oligarchy in just 36 years. This unconstitutional oligarchy misappropriated $17+ trillion of the American people's money by procuring unconstitutional / bogus corporate goods/services that undermined both their interests and those of their fellow citizens (worldwide), under the guise of national security and government efficiency. The ripple effect of implementing this unconstitutional oligarchy's outsourcing, deregulation, and war-related agendas includes the 1980's collapse of the S&L companies, 2008 economic crisis, 2 unnecessary Iraq/Afghanistan wars, and now an ISIS crisis created by those wars, and more. The last 6 administrations have maligned the good names of the American people and their U.S. government and created a hatred of our people that is rightfully redirected at our greedy, and morally-bankrupt politicians, Republican and Democrat, alike.

In David C. Korten's book, "When Corporations Rule the World," he rightfully states that each one of us, and all citizens (worldwide), must become participants in crafting a more symbiotic relationship between corporations, governments, and their citizens. The emphasis of including (and not eliminating) whistleblowers in this very necessary federal dialogue is important for 2 reasons, the U.S. government: (1) cannot continually claim to be a democracy when it has systematically eliminated a never-ending array of security (FBI, CIA, NSA) and non-security related whistleblowers over the past 36 years for rightfully questioning its very flawed corporate-driven, national/global policies, (2) cannot continue to use its corporate-dominant EX/SES/GS level partisan/unqualified civil servants to break the U.S. government's laws, undermine the Constitution, and then unilaterally declare their actions as secret by then abusing its state secret privilege (SSP) and confidential business information (CBI) policies. But, how is it possible to transition a corrupt U.S. government into a David Korten-style government when that government is owned/controlled by corrupt politicians/corporations who also control all levels of power and misinformation?

This effort begins with the realization that this 36 year, 17+ trillion dollar spike in the national debt should not only never have occurred, is reversible in the short term (30 years), and began (and continues) complements of the legislative/management deficiencies created by the 1978 CSRA. Albert Einstein defines insanity as the act of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The American people, and the citizens of all governments (federal, state, local, and foreign) are living proof of Albert Einstein's definition of insanity. Citizens elect partisan (corporate-friendly) politicians who then hire partisan/unqualified EX/SES political appointees who then covertly sabotage their government's GS level non-partisan/technically qualified infrastructures to procure unnecessary corporate goods/services, thereby causing unending levels of taxpayer waste and angry, disillusioned citizens. What politicians and their EX/SES political appointees always fail to mention is that their feigned interest in cutting government waste (like the 1978 CSRA) creates (as intended) even more waste and an exponential increase in the booty (17+ trillion in just 36 years) that is then shared by corrupt politicians and corporations, alike.

Now, consider a more logical, David Korten-style approach that excludes political appointees (EX/SES) from managing (and covertly undermining) any facet of a federal (state, local, or foreign) government operation. The only public sector employees involved in managing the federal government's executive/judicial branches now includes only those U.S. Constitution-based executive/judicial branch non-partisan/technically qualified GS level professionals whose only job is to cut the government's costs. GS level professionals, unlike those EX/SES political appointee managers, have no vested interest in undermining the government's infrastructures because that would only increase the government's costs, and their taxes. Given the government's coincidental 36 year, 17+trillion dollar spike in the debt, politicians are now accountable for explaining and justifying, the logic of continuing: (1) a failed 225 year practice (1789 -- 2014) of placing each administration's partisan/ unqualified EX political appointees in managerial positions over those GS level non-partisan/technically qualified professionals, (2) an also now documented failure involving a 2nd level of SES political appointee managers that opened the flood gates to all levels of political/corporate corruption and precipitated a 36 year, 17+ trillion dollar spike in the debt, and (3) the last 6 administration's violation of the 1978 CSRA and 1883 Pendleton Act by harassing, retaliating against, and firing civil servants for rightfully questioning the U.S. government's national/global policies that cost 17+ trillion taxpayer dollars, and produced nothing of value.

Just as corporations could not run a profitable operation without qualified staffs/managers and a supportive board of directors, this same logic also applies to the federal (state, local, and foreign) government operations. The problem (massive government waste) is not the fault of the GS level civil servants but of the unending ways that all 3 government branches' politicians and their political appointees have undermined them in promoting more and more government waste, and to continually increase their share of the booty. If the American people want to cut each annual federal budget by as much as 50%, then it's time to demand the necessary changes within all 3 government branches to support those GS level professionals. For the executive/judicial branches, this effort includes restructuring both government branches (top to bottom). For Congress, it's time to clean house by demanding retroactive and fixed term limits for all members and the very same benefits enjoyed by all GS civil servants, no more and no less.

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I graduated from Michigan Technological University (MTU) in June 1968 with a BSBA in accounting and have been a federal accountant for 40 years, mostly as a whistleblower, now 11 years retired. During the period 1980 - 1986, as the Veterans (more...)
 

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