Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann (Harper-Collins, New York, NY 2008)

Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the United Nations, Congressional Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade Protection, and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off . . . and What to Do About it
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann (Harper-Collins, New York, NY 2007)

Dick Morris, former adviser to President Clinton and current Fox News Channel contributor, and Eileen McGann are basically telling the same story in these two books, I so put them both together in this review. Among other topics, they tell many stories of how the US Federal Government, elected officials and other insiders are ripping us off. Politicians are using their positions as custodians of federal money and policies to enrich themselves and their cohorts at the expense of the American people.

It's hard to say which of the individual abuses discussed in these books is the most troubling. But one certain message is how plainly we have a political system that rewards this corruption with re-electing its participants. How is it that voters keep supporting such a system? Is it because voters just don't know, or they just don't care, or they just assume everybody does it so what difference does it make? I don't know-- but after reading this book you will know and care. And you will probably be pretty angry about it.

Here's how the system works. Elected officials need money to run for office. Mostly because their opponents spend money to try to get into office in their place. Money is needed on campaigns, particularly advertising, to portray candidates in a way that will get them elected. So, this campaign money is the key to getting elected. Plenty of people are eager to contribute that money (or other things, like free trips to desirable locations), in exchange for influence and, uh, "considerations." It is just plain shocking to see how much money is out there, and then how many projects get pushed through to "help the local economy"  and reward the contributors. Rather than be outraged by it, citizens just appear to be happy whenever they get a piece of the pie thrown their way-- a federal appropriation here or there in their area of interest. Little do they realize this piece of the pie actually costs them a fortune in mere money, and even more in the loss of the integrity of their government.

And, if the spending wasn't bad enough, then there are the laws and policies that are enacted to favor some groups and businesses. What this also means is that these laws and policies penalize other groups and businesses. We may wonder why the economy is messed up, but we really shouldn't. We've had the government fiddling around with the free market in everything from home mortgages to ethanol subsidies. Fleeced and Outrage explain and document these things in many, many areas.

Americans ought to be outraged by this, but most people don't have any idea that this goes on. I am a pretty well-informed person, but these sort of stories never seem to make the news-- I guess it just seems too boring or something. Or, perhaps the media has a dog in the race as well and doesn't want to expose the system except for when it suits them. It seems our citizens would rather watch celebrity gossip than know how their government is being run.

After reading this book, I had a few other ideas:

• never, ever, ever vote for another incumbent candidate for Congress
  
• never, ever, ever give a cent to any political candidate or political action committee
• find out what federal earmark money is spent in my district. (I personally think any place that receives federal earmark money ought to have a gigantic sign out in front stating this fact and how much is provided to it annually. Maybe bored high school kids can TP these things regularly. I'll even offer to buy the TP every now and then.)