Know Your Congressman: Steve Israel
October 2, 2008
By Cyd Malone
(Wyandanch, N.Y.) American democracy rests on one of our more absurd delusions – that the average voter will actually take the time to study political science, the Founding documents, and pay attention to what their Congressional representatives are up to – in sum, that they are willing to pay the price of freedom. Since most Americans believe the phrase “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” comes from the Constitution, it’s sadly apparent why America is so easily plucked and bamboozled by our politicians.
Long Island’s Second Congressional District has been home to a world-class hustler in the person of Steve Israel since 2000. According to his biography, he was active politically from his high school years, and if anything should warn us that there is something wrong with the boy, that is it. Showing a desire to become a politician – to make people obey – at such a young age should not bring encouragement but a strong regime of Ritalin and therapy.
His recent vote in favor of giving $1 trillion of our paychecks — $3,400 for every man, woman, and child in his district — while reprehensible should not, in light of his past behavior and voting record, be surprising.
Mr. Israel has long been the poster child for Conflict of Interest, in that he receives a small fortune in “donations” from, and gives away a king’s ransom of our paychecks to, the very same group of people who provided those “donations”. In the radio industry this is called “pay to play” and would land him in jail. Luckily for Mr. Israel, it’s perfectly acceptable behavior in the brothel of Congress.
Since he ascended to his perch in 2000, Mr. Israel has taken in “donations” from the financial industry totaling in the hundreds of thousands. Naturally, he saw his haul from the financial industry increase by almost double the election cycle after being placed into the House Financial Services Committee, no doubt an innocent, if lucrative, coincidence.
This vote for the Wall Street bailout is not the first time Mr. Israel’s habit of enriching those who enrich him has been noted. An article from the August 24, 2008 Daily News reported that after Mr. Israel received $180,000 in “donations” from three Long Island defense contractors, those contractors, though the direct efforts of Mr. Israel, received $5 million in taxpayer funds. This Wall Street bailout sees Mr. Israel taking this game to a new level.
Mr. Israel’s explanation (posted on his website) as to why he voted the way he did, while breathtaking in its economic illiteracy, is particularly notable in its failure to mention the Constitution a single time. Like too many Americans, he forgets to remember that his sworn oath is to protect the Constitution — not to hand out taxpayer money to his friends and fellows. He has forgotten his job’s noble purpose, reducing his post to little more than that of a street corner hustler, albeit better dressed.
It is a truism that when politicians control buying and selling in the economy, the first thing to be bought and sold are the politicians themselves. Yet, this is not completely true, for the politicians have but one thing to sell – our paychecks. At base, that is what is being continuously horse-traded in the halls of Congress.
As time provides him with more experience in playing this sordid game, Mr. Israel is getting better and bolder at selling us out, as our standard of living collapses and the Constitution falls further into irrelevance. With the economic and legal chaos unleashed by the depredations of Mr. Israel, come Election Day this November it’s high time to ask how much longer can the Second District afford his plundering?
Cyd Malone writes from Wyandanch and may contacted at peloponny1 (at) aol.com
Posted by News LI Editor · Filed Under Politics
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