American politics is suffering acutely from the gridlock of entrenched officeholders and election financing controlled by special interests. Over 300 of the 435 congressional districts almost never change partisan hands. Most congressmen have safely gerrymandered districts, receive the bulk of their financial support from one or a few sources, and are reliable legislative supporters of those sources. Their main additional activities are to add “earmarks” favoring their own districts to legislation in exchange for their support of other legislators’ bills. It is a log-rolling and back-scratching exercise that has nothing to do with the Periclean exercise in disinterested law-giving envisioned by the authors of the Constitution. In a 2008 campaign that was otherwise a geriatric blunderbuss, John McCain at least raised the issue of the impropriety of these methods (to the bemused dismissiveness of the winning candidate).
The role of money is greater in U.S. politics than it is in that of any other advanced country, just as the U.S. is in other respects the most commercialized of all advanced countries. Campaign-finance reform has been an exercise in futile and self-serving hypocrisy. Organized labor gave the Democrats $400 million in the year leading up to the 2008 election. Labor has already received an impressive return on its money, although its most cherished goal — the abolition of the secret ballot in union elections and the restoration of thuggish self-perpetuation of labor leadership (card-check) — has foundered on the shoals of public concern, which, beyond a certain point, overwhelms the loyalties of those legislators in whose fidelity supporters have invested.
The federal government intervened to gut the rights of the General Motors and Chrysler bondholders, and delivered those companies into the hands of the United Auto Workers, one of the most retrograde and Luddite unions in America — and the chief author, even beyond decades of incompetent management, of the demise of those companies. President Obama, in complete consistency with his effort to nationalize health care to reduce its costs, secured $50,000 of union health and pension benefits per manufactured vehicle by crushing the shareholders and robbing the other supposedly secured stakeholders.
5 Comments
Interesting! By someone in the media as powerful as Conrad Black naming Joe Fosco in one of his articles, Fosco has achieved national spotlight attention, in the mainstream arena. This is very impressive considering that Fosco’s publication, KTF, is a grassroots media group. I congratulate Joe Fosco on his success! Joe, when is the book coming out?
Way to go joe! Accolades like these not only lend further creedence to your work, further draw attention to a culture of corruption that chicagoans have accepted as status quo, but i believe will also aid your personal safety as you battle what i see as a dangerous group of juvenile minded ill intentioned thugs.
Thank you Rick and Vince. I am not pretending to be an Angel. I made my share of mistakes in the past, however, I am a new person the last several years and I fight crime the best that I can. My safety is a concern, but not as much as the safety as my loved ones.
joe,
you were never a labor arbitrator. prove it.
yes, you’ve never been… (YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN MODIFIED – repetitive rants are considered harassment by our management team and forbidden on this site. Thank you, American News Post).
i hear you owe… money. why is that? (YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN MODIFIED – repetitive rants are considered harassment by our management team and forbidden on this site. Thank you, American News Post).
oh no! joe fosco has an ip address. did you ever think i could be using a computer at an apple store, library, or borrow someone’s comoputer at a coffee shop for $5? i could use someone’s cell phone for god’s sake… (YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN MODIFIED – libelous statements are forbidden on this site. Furthermore, your comment proves your intent to harass. Every time you ask someone to barrow their phone to send harassing comments to this site, you are exposing your physical identity to an eyewitness. Thank you, American News Post).
mr. cerone still has all the voice mails you ever left him… (YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN MODIFIED – libelous statements are forbidden on this site. Thank you, American News Post).
i never… (YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN MODIFIED – false statements and insults are forbidden on this site. Thank you, American News Post).
Dear IP Address 66.251.244.218,
I thought it was understood that I was never an actual labor arbitrator; I have never stated that I was. In fact, I explain it in detail here: http://americannewspost.com/?p=66
Yes, my finances are somewhat compromised right now. You are asking me why my finances are compromised. Ask John and Peter DiFronzo, Rudy Fratto, Jack P. Cerone, Esq., and Joseph L. Giacchino, Jr.
As to the voice mails that I left Jack P. Cerone, Esq., regarding the threats on my life that he played a part in, you may read the court transcripts, which detail the voicemails, here: http://americannewspost.com/?p=278
In addition, you may access this article, http://americannewspost.com/?p=819, which provides a very clear understanding of the details pertaining to the voicemails that you have mentioned. Thank you.
Please Cease And Desist With Your Lunacy!
Sincerely,
Joseph Fosco