Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) receives almost all of his campaign contributions from donors outside his native Connecticut. Michigan’s laughable excuse for a governor, Jennifer Granhom, received the maximum allowable contributions for her last reelection campaign from notables such has Madonna, who originally hailed from Bay City, Michigan, but now resides in England. Granholm, a Democrat, also received the maximum contribution from Ed Begley, Jr., a California resident who likely has never set foot in Michigan. Charlie Rangel, (D-NY) regularly accepts money from Hollywood types, even though he represents a congressional district in New York City that’s largely black and poor. Races for governor and secretary of state in all 50 states are flooded with money from the East and Left coasts. Congressional seats are funded with union dues from a national pool of money.  The vote of every congressman and senator is a hotly contested commodity to a well-financed and nationally integrated leftist movement. There are no ‘local’ races any more and they haven’t existed since the 1960s when the Left made its bid for national power.

A key strategy for Democrats and their leftist leaders has been to nab the secretary of state position in each of the 50 states. This is an extremely important position because secretaries of state certify elections, decide whether nor not recounts are undertaken, and whether or not investigations into voter fraud or election irregularities are necessary. As evidenced in gubernatorial elections manipulated or stolen by Democrats in Oregon and Washington recently, the secretary of state plays a key role in determining the outcome of an election. The Democratic Party and its union allies have spent untold millions to ensure that most secretaries of state are Democrats, placing Republican candidates for local, state and federal office at great peril. The mainstream media, of course, don’t bother to report this troubling development.

There are no laws that prohibit leftists from California to fully fund the congressional aspirations of leftist candidates in Virginia except for the individual campaign contribution limits. But, given the success of ‘bundlers’ who contribute hundreds of thousands under questionable circumstances to Democratic candidates, the current campaign finance laws leave huge loopholes open to abuse. The McCain-Feingold Act is a joke, perpetrated by two of the most cynical and self-serving members of the Senate: John McCain (a Republican in name only) and Feingold, a left-leaning Democrat. This piece of legislative garbage all but assured that incumbents would enjoy an overwhelming advantage over their challengers, while at the same time silencing critics of the incumbent officeholder. It may as well have been crafted by two Democrats.

Further, the McCain-Feingold Act doesn’t prohibit lobbyists for government-sponsored organizations such as Fanny Mae or Freddy Mac from contributing to the campaigns of Barney Frank or Chris Dodd, both implicated in the mortgage meltdown that triggered the greatest economic decline in the US economy since the Great Depression. Conflicts of interest and outright corruption riddle the election process, but the mainstream media keep this from the American public.

Organizations like A.C.O.R.N., funded with tax dollars, and unions like the SEIU and the UAW, funded with member dues, add another layer of fraud and intimidation to the election process. Both entities are national in scope, with incredible reach and enormous resources. There are no opposing organizations or funding mechanisms on the side of conservatives. In fact, the country can rely only on the fragmented, amateurish attempts of grass-roots movements like the tea-party and tax protesters to mount any kind of response to the well-financed, nationally-coordinated efforts of the Left.

So, what’s the solution? It’s critical that local candidates for office and their supporters find out who is financing the election of their Democratic opponents. For example, in Michigan, the 2008 congressional race for the 13th district was financed unknowingly by Michigan taxpayers. The Democratic candidate, Gary Peters, was appointed to a faculty position at Michigan State University through the efforts of governer Jennifer Granholm. Peters spent very little time at the university while he collected a nice taxpayer-funded salary during a two-year campaign against Republican Joe Knollenberg, who was busy in Washington fending off the Democratic majority in Congress. During this time, Knollenberg endured a signficant personal financial crisis, but didn’t even advise his own staff. In the end, supported by teacher and labor unions, and free to compaign 24/7, Peters cruised to a narrow victory over Knollenberg and promptly aligned himself with the most radical and leftist elements of the Democratic Party, per the guidance and wishes of his mentor, governor Jennifer Granholm.

This is taking place across the country. Secretaries of state are certifying elections they know to be flawed, local candidates are being outspent by Democrats funded by outstate donors, and Democratic politicians are providing state jobs for their favored candidates so that they don’t suffer any economic consequences when running against their Republican rivals. Ths is corruption at its most extreme. It makes Democrats voterproof and ultimately impervious to accountability. It smells like the Soviet Union.

Why are liberals so happy to raise your taxes? Because so many of them benefit directly from higher taxes - entitlements, government contracts, holdbacks, employment and just plain cash, or because higher taxes don’t affect them. They are either too rich or too poor to care. It’s the folks in the middle that end up carrying the load. The math is rather simple: Raise everyone’s taxes to 50% or more. Then, pour all that money into the pockets of those who don’t pay taxes or don’t pay their fair share. Or, maybe they make their entire livelihood from taxpayer dollars. It’s like winning the lottery for these people. They don’t care what the tax rate is because any money that’s realized is still a jackpot. And, if you’re politically connected, the government doesn’t expect you to work very hard to make that money.

If you make a few million with a well-placed phone call (can you spell B-I-D-E-N?) and then give up half in taxes, who cares? It’s the cost of doing business and it’s free money, anyway. In fact, it’s taxpayer money. More on that thesis: In early 2009, Andrew Wilkow, conservative talk radio guy, stated he could prove that a significant percentage of Obama’s ’stimulus’ spending would end up in various Kennedy family-owned enterprises. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ted Kennedy’s or Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama would come cheaply. Further, Barack Obama netted million-dollar paydays for ghost-written books as an unknown Illinois legislator. Did all those books get sold through real booksellers at full price? And then there’s Al Gore. By creating panic over non-existent global warning, Gore amassed a $100 million fortune in less than 8 years. Finally, there’s the grand-daddy of all political hacks — Bill Clinton, who manages to snag outsized ‘consulting’ gigs that can net him $100 million in a year’s time. What’s certain here is that liberals can make a darn good buck at being ‘concerned’ and ‘compassionate’.

Liberals and liberal politicians spend taxpayer money with a zest and enthusiasm that takes your breath away, and for some of the stupidest reasons imaginable. The basic premise is simple - if you are incompetent, lazy, stupid, ignorant, irresponsible, incorrigible and/or immoral, you will be rewarded. If you live within your means, pay your taxes and take personal responsibility for your actions, you will be preyed upon. In fact, if you uphold the law and carry your own weight, the liberals consider you a stooge, a dupe, someone who deserves to be ripped off.

The secular progressives, the liberals and the out-and-out socialists have turned this country on its head. The strengths and virtues that made this country the single greatest expression of man’s intellectual and socia potential has been perverted into a culture of entitlement and a cesspool of personal excesses. Is America perfect, or was it ever perfect? Of course not, but that doesn’t mean one gives up the effort to better oneself or society. That’s what liberals want average Americans to do: give up on the American Dream and instead opt for the false hopes and promises of socialism. They want to create a dark, dreary utopia where only the liberal elite can have a chance at happiness and prosperity.

It’s heartening to see the thousands of people who came out to protest the runaway spending of the Obama administration and the clowns in Congress. It’s disheartening to see the mainstream media avoidingcoverage of these events, or even acknowledging that they happened. Even local TV stations, who will send out camera trucks to cover a backyard barbecue fire, have ignored this groundswell of opposition to a socialist regime. In Michigan, where local media totally ignored the invasion of a church service by militant gays earlier this year, the silence on the part of local media is disquieting. It means that beyond a shadow of a doubt, the electronic, print and online media have taken on the role of official government propagandists and information managers. Across the country, the media coverage is about the same. The only network carrying any meaningful coverage is Fox News Channel. Unfortunately, even on its best days, Fox can’t outpull reruns of American Idol. So, despite its fair and balanced coverage, the message is being broadcast to those who are already convinced that Obama and the Democrats mean to impose a huge tax burden on working Americans as they strip away our personal rights and economic freedoms. The people who need to see this so that they fully understand what’s really happening are instead busy watching CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS, where they get their daily dose of propaganda from the news mafia.

The DHS brief regarding ‘right-wing extremists’ and President Obama’s not-so clever references to government surveillance was widely publicized just days before the planned tax protests. This wasn’t intended to be subtle. It was intended to intimidate would-be protesters and make them think twice. Couple that with the lack of coverage for the tax protests and the manipulation becomes rather obvious.

But, the tea parties will serve a purpose. The unexpectedly high turnout across the country was a welcome sight to those brave souls who showed up, wondering if they would be the only ones holding a placard. Much to their relief, hundreds, if not thousands, showed up at every single tea party. To the participants, it has become very clear that they’re part of something big and something that’s going to get bigger. Now, they’ll go back home and tell their friends and neighbors. They’ll get on the web and blog. They’ll put a bumper sticker on their car. Maybe, they’ll work up enough nerve to call or write their Congressman or senator. But most importantly, they’ll realize that they can do something, even if it’s just getting together at a protest rally and venting their frustrations.

The producers, the ones who work and pay taxes, have to regain control of the government. Just because Obama and his gang of socialists in Congress have enacted legislative and passed an irresponsible budget doesn’t mean that these bills can be gutted with amendments or even repealed. But, it takes constant, unrelenting pressure on both houses of Congress to do so. Obama doesn’t care. He’s a committed Marxist who thinks what he’s doing will ensure him a place in history. It’s an all or nothing game with him, and the ends justify the means. But still, a Congress that’s faltering under massive pressure will back away from Obama’s Stalinist agenda. Politicians have a habit of getting weak in the knees when confronted with an angry constituency.

The tea parties are a great start. Next? Recall sitting members of Congress, beginning with the worst of the worst: Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Russ Fiengold, Patrick Leahy, John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Sander Levin, Carl Levin, John Kerry, the list goes on and on. Actually, it would probably be better to just name the three or four senators and congressmen worth keeping. And, just in case Al Franken gets too comfortable in his new office, the citizens of Minnesota should begin filing those recall petitions tomorrow morning.

After that? Let’s work on governors, secretaries of state and state legislatures. It’s never too late to throw the bums out.