Cliff Somers

I wrote this book because I was angry at the performance of the elected officials in our federal government. (Not an unusual feeling, I know.) We elect them based on their assertions about all the good things they will do for us, the voters of this country, then they so often turn around and do things antithetical to the common welfare and beneficial to interests groups to whom they have become indebted. However, this rotten outcome is in substantial part our own fault because we don’t pay attention to what they do after they are elected which falling leads to our re-electing the same bums. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Thus, I wrote this book which covers many of the issues where we common folks get taken for a ride, explains how it is done and whodunit.

While the poor performance of our government and especially our Congress cannot be blamed on only one actor, the primary problem has become the acts of the Republican Party. Going back to the reign of Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House, the aims of that party have been overtly and outspokenly about the accretion of power in order to further the aims of the rich and powerful and to stifle the attempts of the Democratic Party to pass legislation that benefits individuals and protects them from the predations of those rich and powerful. Issues covered include education, national health, global warming, ill effects of smoking, acid rain, cost of pharmaceuticals and more.

The book quotes the rich and powerful and their spokes politicians so that the reader can get it “in their own words.” It traces the rape of our environment by greedy corporate moguls and shows their outright crimes. It discusses the efforts of right wing billionaires to purchase and geld the government. It shows the efforts of men such as Newt Gingrich and Mitch McConnell to proudly and loudly prevent government from doing anything (such as affordable health care for all Americans or allowing government to assist the common citizen following the 2008 economic collapse or spending money on climate change mitigation or infrastructure) that benefits the people to the perceived detriment of the monied class. The book name names, points fingers and backs up the accusations with facts. If you want to know what led up to the disaster of Trump as president and who is responsible, read this book. If you want to know how they did it and would like to prevent it in the future, read this book. -Cliff