John Adams - Dan Rather - Harry Truman - Aaron Russo - Milton Berle - Robert Reich - Mark Twain - Anatole France - Will Rogers - Howard Zinn - Nicholas Biddle - James K Polk - Thomas Jefferson - Red Skelton - Mark Udall - Victor Hugo - H L Mencken - Plutocracy: Political Repression in the 2015 - Knock Down the House 2019 - The Swamp 2020 - CNN online - BBC News: Storming the Capitol TV - Storming the Capitol TV - The Crime of the Century TV - Four Hours at the Capital TV -
I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate. John Adams
We may see Michael Jackson’s baby before we know the final outcome of his race for the House of Representatives tonight. Dan Rather
I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America. Harry S Truman
Silence is golden but when it comes to your freedom it’s yellow. We have to stop being scared. We have to stand up and do what’s necessary, to stop these bankers, this elite, this government full of lies, these Congressmen full of liars ... There is a rising tide but we have to mobilise. Aaron Russo, interview Alex Jones
You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think. Milton Berle
The dirty little secret is that both Houses of Congress are irrelevant. America’s domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve. America’s foreign policy is now being run by the International Monetary Fund. When the President decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress. Robert Reich, 7th January 1999 USA Today, member of Clinton’s Cabinet
Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. Mark Twain
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress. Mark Twain
America – where thanks to Congress, there are forty million laws to enforce the Ten Commandments. Anatole France
The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets. Will Rogers
With Congress every time they make a joke it’s a law, and every time they make a law it’s a joke. Will Rogers
There obviously was a kind of culture of timidity in Congress, deference to the executive branch, and the fear of being called unpatriotic. Howard Zinn
Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress. Nicholas Biddle
There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the US. James K Polk
If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? Thomas Jefferson
Congress: bingo with billions. Red Skelton
There is no getting around it: Congress is failing the American people. Mark Udall
I don’t mind what Congress does, as long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses. Victor Hugo
Congress consists of one third, more or less, scoundrels; two thirds, more or less, idiots; and three thirds, more or less, poltroons. H L Mencken
The robber barons took every opportunity to bribe politicians and crush their competitors. Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA I: Divide and Rule, 2015
Congress became known as the Millionaires Club. ibid.
In 2018, record numbers of women, people of colour and political outsiders set out to transform Congress. Many established Democrats face primary election challenges from other Democrats running for the first time. Knock Down the House, Netflix 2019
Of the 435 members of Congress, more than 100 actually live in the building. The Swamp, Gaetz, Sky Documentaries 2020
This guy [Trump] has got some rough edges … He could be a change agent. ibid.
We are going to drain the swamp of Washington. ibid. Trump
If people are going to drain the swamp like the president wants to do, they need better information about how this place is broken, and that’s my mission in Congress. ibid. Massie
Ken Buck: Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse that You Think. ibid.
He [Newt Gingrich] has changed the agenda, changed the culture, changed the language and changed the dialogue … ibid. television interviewer
A lot of people would be surprised to find out that members of Congress are expected to pay their party for their committee assignments. ibid. Massie
As a member of the clergy so eloquently said – As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore. ibid. Barbara Lee
CNN: As I wrote this, the US Capitol building was being stormed by right-wing protesters trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
This was an attempted coup, encouraged by the President of the United States, in an attempt to derail today’s congressional certification of the electoral vote that will lead to Joe Biden’s inauguration in two weeks.
Donald Trump’s legacy is American carnage. Our country is far more divided and violent and deluded than before he entered office. His misrule has led to this moment, but it is not his responsibility alone. Trump’s fear-fuelled lies and extremism and conspiracy theories have been indulged for too long by partisans. His rhetoric has directly led to death threats against election officials who have done their job honestly and independently. Now we are all reaping what they’ve sown, as the President watches it all burn from within the White House. But then, there are some men who want to ruin if they cannot rule.
Make no mistake: this is sedition. And it’s coming at the hands of self-styled super-patriots who have been amped up by the President’s lies about non-existent mass voter fraud to excuse losing a free and fair election by a large margin.
They are not conservatives – they are radicals. Because patriots don’t break the windows of the US Capitol building and storm inside when they lose an election. No hostile foreign power has done more damage to what President-elect Joe Biden called ‘the citadel of our democracy’ since an invading British army burned down the Capitol in the war of 1812. But certainly, the enemies of democracy have taken great comfort from their actions today.
We are still in the fog of war. But some things are clear. The politicians and hyper-partisans who have coddled this President’s autocratic impulses have enabled this assault to our democracy. The Republican members of Congress – like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – who have tried to benefit politically from contesting the election results without any concrete evidence of fraud are culpable in this violence because they have stoked its fears. So is Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who demanded ‘trial by combat’ to resolve the election dispute at a ‘Save America’ rally this morning, after his legal team lost some 60 cases in court because of an absence of evidence. CNN online article 7 January 2021, ‘Donald Trump’s American carnage ends with a coup attempt’
The 6th January 2021: the day that shook the foundations of American democracy, where hundreds stormed the seat of government. And tried to overturn an election result. This assault didn’t come out of the blue. It was by people they were carrying out the wishes of the sitting president, wishes they felt he signalled to them loud and clear. BBC News 9th January 2021: Storming the Capitol, Aleem Maqbool reporting
‘I call on President Trump to go on national television now and demand an end to this siege.’ ibid. Biden