It seems unlikely that the current members of the United States House of Representatives will effectively rise up against their Democrat and Republican leaders to require that the House be run in a fair and honest manner. Yet, the potential of more Republican members opposing on Tuesday the reelection of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as speaker of the House than the 12 Republican representatives who chose not to vote for Boehner in 2013 is helping bring to light the crooked process by which “the people’s House” so frequently operates.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Saturday lifted the veil some on corrupt House process, explaining in a press release why he will join other Republican House members in voting against Boehner’s reelection as speaker. Massie, who joined the House in November of 2012, states:

During my first two years as a congressman I discovered a significant source of the dysfunction.  I watched the House Leadership:

• Schedule a fiscal crisis in a lame duck session on the last legislative day before Christmas to get maximum leverage over rank and file members,

• Mislead members into thinking that a vote on an unpopular bill was postponed, only to then conduct a rushed voice vote on the $10 billion unfunded spending measure with fewer than a dozen members present,

• Give members less than 72 hours to read bills over 1,000 pages long, and

• Remove members from committees simply because they voted for the principles upon which they campaigned.

Massie thus presents a disturbing though incomplete list of instances of procedural corruption.

Continue reading at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.