Politicians are not good people. That’s why I have a “Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy” series (though I confess they all have the same message).
- Part I reviewed evidence of misbehavior by elected officials and their cronies.
- Part II reviewed evidence of misbehavior by elected officials and their cronies.
- Part III reviewed evidence of misbehavior by elected officials and their cronies.
For our next edition in this series, let’s look at a subset of their misbehavior.
I find electioneering to be a nauseating spectacle. It’s basically commercial after commercial with politicians trying to bribe us with our own money (in the distant past, some politicians campaigned on letting us keep our own money).
But I also believe in the 1st amendment, so if people want to engage in the process by funding those campaign commercials, that’s their right.
That being said, it’s beyond disgusting when politicians misuse taxpayer money to advance themselves.
I have a personal example. Now that I’m over 65 and mooching off the taxpayers, I get occasional e-mails from Medicare. The one that just arrived shows how the Biden-Harris White House is misappropriating our tax dollars to engage in naked politics.
Here are the relevant parts of the e-mail.
As a policy wonk, I would like the email to point out that Medicare is now closer to bankruptcy. And that price controls on prescription drugs will cost lives by hindering the development of new drugs. And that the average Medicare recipient will get $3 of benefits for every $1 they paid.
But I would settle for a very neutral email about the “open enrollment process.”
However, what I received was a message lobbying in favor of Kamala Harris (“Vice President Harris cast the tie-breaking vote” and “Vice President Harris and I believe that health care should be a right, not a privilege”).
By the way, there’s nothing partisan about my argument.
Yes, the current White House is engaged in sleazy self-promotion using the machinery of government. But Trump did the same thing back in 2020 by adding his name to the pandemic “stimulus” checks.
There is one difference between these two examples.
The media made a stink about Trump misusing government to promote himself. By contrast, I don’t expect to see any stories about the Biden-Harris White House doing the same thing.
I think we all know why this double standard exists.
