Voters and taxpayers, most of whom are economic participants in some measure, whether owners of our own labor, capital, and/or resources, continue to accept, via silent consent, governance that is neither the republican form of government guaranteed by the U.S. and State Constitutions, nor is it democratic representation.
So ask yourself: Exactly what sort of “democracy” are political and business leaders, in lockstep with mainstream media mutts and show dogs, referring to when they bleat in unison memes declaring democracy in existential jeopardy? Or supporting institutional policy that we must defend democracy for foreign interests monetarily and militarily, while indifferent, even hostile, to morality? Is not a forever line crossed when our elected legislators, elected and appointed administration executives, bureaucrats, and lower court judges, including law enforcement and military brass, openly condone and engage these entanglements even though such conduct ignores the unambiguous will of a large majority of Americans? Where is the democracy in this political insubordination?
Perhaps most alarming, and simultaneously insulting, are Article III judges and magistrates, who systematically violate constitutionally protected rights of Americans by adjudicating using administrative law, much of which is little more than lawfare, some of it duplicitous lawfear in its horrific injustice.
And how, exactly, is democracy preserved via “Judicial Review,” if carried out in a vacuum, where the Constitution is not relevant in administrative court proceedings? Judicial Review is one of many judiciary fictional constructs, much akin to “Standing,” neither of which is mentioned in the U.S. Constitution and both strangers to Common Law. More importantly, instead of protecting rights as oaths of office demand, both Judicial Review and Standing, as administrative workarounds, too often prevent true justice.
Americans are being force-awakened, increasingly aware of the staggering lack of representation by both elected and appointed leaders, who are actually more subservient to an entrenched administrative bureaucracy (the real “deep state”) in sync with influential oligarchical pecking orders. These centuries-old unholy alliances between governmentals' and oligarchs' (Oligovs) have always colluded in pillaging treasuries, because that is where the bulk of nations' wealth is accessible for looting and laundering. The meme would be better adapted, “It takes a pillage.”
This sanctioned corruption is as old as time itself and sadly tolerable as long as it doesn't interfere with the incurious' lifestyles. Ergo nurturing incuriosity has become a most desirable outcome for the Oligov's continued looting and laundering to flourish. Who better to deliver than the quintessentially incurious mainstream media mutts and show dogs? A match made in Heaven, and ain’t we just the most accommodating incurious consumers of such low IQ propaganda given our perfectly rigid compliance, fueled by a full supply of intolerance and no demand for what or why.
I remember when curiosity left the mainstream media building, and with it trustworthy investigative journalism. It took the 2012 Smith-Mundt Modernization Act to permission such a foul abdication of professional duty. This aberration was on full display for the world during the Maryland area snipers killing spree. The entire mainstream media crowded onto the front lawn of a small police headquarters in a berg of Maryland to await the periodic appearances of an overwhelmed police chief to literally dole out their talking points on cue. From that incident forward, news has become homogenous, delivering nearly identical scripted vagary. The scripts are centrally derived and are dead give-aways as such because the same vernacular and phraseology is used in concert by different news agencies across myriad news channels. In other words, 21st-century news is largely propaganda, comprised of half-truths, which means half-untruths, too.
You might recall two snipers were randomly shooting people, terrifying everyone across the state. But instead of doing the investigative work of chasing clues, potential sightings, and deploying their own resources, reporters stood in place for days to get the barest skinny at planned intervals from one lead officer that mostly left the public uninformed for weeks without actionable accountings. Meanwhile, 11 people were murdered in total.
Gone was the media's mildly antagonistic competitive race with law enforcement's efforts to scoop the story. Such competition automatically created much fuller transparency that resulted in more accurate and reliable reports as a rule. Accuracy and reliability are two of transparency's best features.
Disrepresentation cannot be denied when viewed through the decades of frivolous, unproductive, destructive spending and borrowing. Yet those directly responsible are reelected decade after decade by voters who also bear this responsibility, therefore are guilty in no small measure.
The national debt is nearing $40 trillion as we begin the second quarter of the 21st century. It is uncontroversial that this debt is completely unsustainable. And this absurd figure does not include unfunded mandates – legislated obligations such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The annual interest due on America's current debt of $38 trillion is $924 billion or $88 billion per month. Most of us cannot comprehend a trillion of anything – or a billion of anything, for that matter.
The lists below are to help readers connect the dots that indict decades of Congressional and Administrative approval of increased spending and the resulting unsustainable build up of the U.S. national debt. It existentially threatens national and economic security by design, sprinkled with an avalanche of unrestrained greed.
In a spectacular revelation of disrepresentation, many of the career legislators listed from 1980-2025, in direct correlation with corresponding presidents' administrations' contributions to the national debt from the same time period (1980-2025), have ascended in their positions and influence, and have ushered arguably unsupported levels of spending for inane projects and felonious expenditures that go unaudited and unaccountable by measures of magnitude.
Decades of this sanctioned larceny is finally showing up in all the unfunded responsibilities that were appropriated but never accomplished, such as deteriorating highways, bridges, forest mismanagement, ocean mismanagement, the list is exhaustive. The legislators listed below are central in this half century of pillage and fraud, some legal but immoral, some illegal and immoral, all unaccountable, let alone fiduciary failures in representing their constituencies. And these are just the federal lists.
It is important to note that every year, when Democrats and Republicans renew their animus and infighting over budget items, they are not fighting over ordinary budget items that remain steadfast perverse incentives to spend ever more every year. They are fighting over the percentage increase in the budget categories. Every year the budget is projected to increase by an automatic percentage, anywhere from 2 to 5 percent. The fight is on over that increase and how it is to be applied to the existing budget that increased automatically the year before, and the year before that. That is another pesky detail that always goes undisclosed because when both Democrat and Republican legislators and bureaucrats are fighting for “budget cuts,” they are only talking about cuts to the automatic percentage increase that is on the table. It is disingenuous disrepresentation at its most adept.
Longest Terms of Service for the first 58 Members of the House of Representatives in the current 119th Congress are listed in order by Last name, First name, Terms of service, State, Party, Congresses (inclusive), Beginning of present service, and [Total number of years in U.S. Congress was added at the end of each name for emphasis].
Included are Members of the House of Representatives sorted by number of terms of service (in descending order by beginning of service), and then alphabetically by last name. Bold text denotes individuals elected in special elections. Italic text indicates non-consecutive service.
These seven data points of information for each of the remaining U.S. House of Representatives can be found at Clerk.House.gov/member_info/Terms_of_Service.pdf.
U,S, House of Representatives
Rogers Harold, 23, KY, Republican, 97th to 119th, January 3, 1981, [44 years]
Smith Christopher H, 23, NJ, Republican, 97th to 119th, January 3, 1981, [44 years]
Hoyer Steny H, 23, MD, Democrat, 97th to 119th, May 19, 1981, [44 years]
Kaptur Marcy, 22, OH, Democrat, 98th to 119th, January 3, 1983, [42 years]
Pelosi Nancy, 20, CA, Democrat, 100th to 119th, June 2, 1987, [39 years]
Pallone Frank, Jr. 20 NJ Democrat 100th to 119th, November 8, 1988, [38 years]
Neal Richard E. 19 MA Democrat 101st to 119th, January 3, 1989, [37 years]
DeLauro Rosa L. 18 CT Democrat 102nd to 119th, January 3, 1991, [35 years]
Waters Maxine 18 CA Democrat 102nd to 119th, January 3, 1991, [35 years]
Nadler Jerrold 18 NY Democrat 102nd to 119th, November 3, 1992, [34 years]
Bishop Sanford D., Jr. 17 GA Democrat 103rd to 119th, January 3, 1993, [33 years]
Calvert Ken 17 CA Republican 103rd to 119th, January 3, 1993, [33 years]
Clyburn James E. 17 SC Democrat 103rd to 119th, January 3, 1993, [33 years]
Scott Robert C. “Bobby” 17 VA Democrat 103rd to 119th, January 3, 1993, [33 years]
Velázquez Nydia M. 17 NY Democrat 103rd to 119th, January 3, 1993, [33 years]
Thompson Bennie G. 17 MS Democrat 103rd to 119th, April 13, 1993, [33 years]
Lucas Frank D. 17 OK Republican 103rd to 119th, May 10, 1994, [32 years]
Doggett Lloyd 16 TX Democrat 104th to 119th, January 3, 1995, [31 years]
Lofgren Zoe, 16, CA ,Democrat, 104th to 119th, January 3, 1995, [31 years]
Aderholt Robert B, 15, AL, Republican, 105th to 119th, January 3, 1997, [29 years]
Davis Danny K. 15, IL, Democrat 105th to 119th, January 3, 1997, [29 years]
DeGette Diana, 15, CO, Democrat 105th to 119th, January 3, 1997, [29 years]
McGovern James P, 15, MA, Democrat, 105th to 119th, January 3, 1997, [29 years]
Sherman Brad, 15, CA, Democrat, 105th to 119th, January 3, 1997, [29 years]
Smith Adam, 15, WA, Democrat, 105th to 119th, January 3, 1997, [29 years]
Meeks Gregory W, 15, NY, Democrat, 105th to 119th, February 3, 1997, [29 years]
Larson John B, 14, CT, Democrat, 106th to 119th, January 3, 1999, [26 years]
Schakowsky Janice D, 14, IL, Democrat, 106th to 119th, January 3, 1999, [26 years]
Simpson Michael K, 14, ID, Republican, 106th to 119th, January 3, 1999, [26 years]
Thompson Mike, 14, CA, Democrat, 106th to 119th, January 3, 1999, [26 years]
Sessions Pete, 14, TX, Republican, 105th to 115th, 117th to 119th, January 3, 2001, [24 years]
Graves Sam, 13, MO, Republican, 107th to 119th, January 3, 2001, [24 years]
Larsen Rick, 13, WA, Democrat, 107th to 119th, January 3, 2001, [24 years]
McCollum Betty, 13, MN, Democrat, 107th to 119th,, January 3, 2001, [24 years]
Lynch Stephen F, 13, MA, Democrat, 107th to 119th,, October 16, 2001, [24 years]
Wilson Joe, 13, SC, Republican, 107th to 119th, December 18, 2001, [24 years]
Carter John R, 12, TX, Republican, 108th to 119th, January 3, 2003, [22 years]
Cole Tom 12, OK, Republican, 108th to 119th, January 3, 2003, [22 years]
Diaz-Balart Mario, 12, FL, Republican, 108th to 119th, January 3, 2003, [22 years]
Rogers Mike, 12, AL, Republican, 108th to 119th, January 3, 2003, [22 years]
Sánchez Linda T, 12, CA, Democrat, 108th to 119th, January 3, 2003, [22 years]
Turner Michael R, 12, OH, Republican, 108th to 119th, January 3, 2003, [22 years]
Issa Darrell, 12, CA, Republican, 107th to 115th, 117th to 119th, ,January 3, 2001, [24 years]
Cleaver Emanuel, 11, MO, Democrat, 109th, to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Costa Jim, 11, CA, Democrat, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Cuellar Henry, 11, TX, Democrat, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Foxx Virginia, 11, NC, Republican, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Green A, 11, TX, Democrat, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
McCaul Michael T, 11, TX, Republican, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Moore Gwen, 11, WI, Democrat, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Wasserman Schultz Debbie, 11, FL, Democrat, 109th to 119th, January 3, 2005, [20 years]
Matsui Doris O, 11, CA, Democrat, 109th to 119th, March 8, 2005, [20 years]
Bilirakis Gus M, 10, FL, Republican, 110th to 119th, January 3, 2007, [18 years]
Buchanan Vern, 10, FL, Republican, 110th to 119th, January 3, 2007, [18 years]
Castor Kathy, 10, FL, Democrat, 110th to 119th, January 3, 2007, [18 years]
Clarke Yvette D, 10, NY, Democrat, 110th to 119th, January 3, 2007, [18 years]
Cohen Steve, 10, TN, Democrat, 110th to 119th, January 3, 2007, [18 years]
Courtney Joe, 10, CT, Democrat, 110th to 119th, January 3, 2007, [18 years]
U.S. Senate
The 12 current Senators listed below have served in the U.S. Congress for a period of 25 years minimum up to 50 years and running. *Denotes service in both the House and Senate:
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), 50 years* (House 1975-1981/Senate 1981-present) [ends 2029]
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), 48 years* (House 1976-2013/Senate 2013-present) [term ends 2029]
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), 44 years* (House 1981-1996/Senate 1996-present) [term ends 2029]
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), 44 years* (House 1981-1999/Senate 1999–present) [ends 2029]
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), 42 years (1983–present) [term ends 2027]
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 40 years (1985–present) [term ends 2027[
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), 35 years (1991–present) [term ends 2031]
Sen. Pat Murray (D-WA), 33 years (1993-present) [term ends 2029]
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), 29 years* (1997–present) [term ends 2027]
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), 29 years (1997-present) [term ends 2027]
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) 27 years (1999-present) [terms ends 2029]
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) 25 years (2001-present) [term ends 2031]
Quorum.us/data-driven-insights/who-are-the-longest-serving-members-of-congress/
Britannica.com/topic/United-States-senators-2236815
Clerk.House.gov/member_info/Terms_of_Service.pdf
Presidents of the United States
In chronological order from 1980 thru 2025, this list includes the increased spending/borrowing that contributed to the growing national debt under each U.S. President's four-year term.
Jimmy Carter, D-GA, 4 years (1977-1981), $699B to $998B; added $299B +42%
Ronald Reagan, R-CA, Term One - 4 years (1981-1985), $998B to $1.82T; added $825B +83%
Ronald Reagan, R-CA, Term Two - 4 years (1985-1989), $1.82T to $2.86T; added $1.03T +84%
George H. Bush, R-TX, 4 years (1989-1993), $2.86T to $4.19T; added $1.33T +47%
Bill Clinton, D-AR, Term One - 4 years (1993-1997), $4.19T to $5.31T; added $1.12T +27%
Bill Clinton, D-AR, Term Two - 4 years (1997-2001), $5.31T to $5.73T; added $420B +7.9%
George W Bush, R-TX, Term One - 4 years (2001-2005), $5.73T to $7.61T; added $1.89T +32.9%
George W Bush, R-TX, Term Two - 4 years (2005-2009), $7.61T to $10.63T, added $3.01T +39.6%
Barack Obama, D-IL, Term One - 4 years (2009-2013), $10.63T to $16.43T, added $5.81T +54.6%
Barack Obama, D-IL, Term Two - 4 years (2013-2017), $16.43T to $19.95T; added $3.51T +21.4%
Donald Trump, R-FL, Term One - 4 years (2017-2021), $19.95T to $27.75T; added $7.80T +39.1%
Joe Biden, D-NH, 4 years (2021-2025), $27.75T to $36.21T; added $8.45T+30.5%
Donald Trump, R-FL, Term Two - 13 mos. (2025-present), $36.21T to $38.52T; added $2.31T +6.4%
