A high-ranking U.S. Secret Service agent gave up his lucrative career after watching political cronyism up close and he says Americans need to do much more than vote if they want to see positive changes restored to the American system of government.
Dan Bongino served as an officer for the New York Police Department before joining the Secret Service in 1999. He later became part of the protective detail for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Distressed at the way the nation was headed, Bongino left his job in 2011 and won a crowded Republican U.S. Senate primary in Maryland in 2012 before losing to incumbent Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin. He is now a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland’s sixth congressional district.
He is also the author of “Life Inside the Bubble: Why a Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away from It All.”
While Bongino says he didn’t witness much of Obama’s actions on policy, working at the White House as the health care debate intensified forced him to enter the public arena.
“A particularly acute incident was being behind the scenes as a Secret Service agent and just seeing the carousel of insider interests coming in and out of the White House as Obamacare was being passed and just the horror of the American people actually believing that this was meant to give them better access to health care,” said Bongino. “It was an insider-rigged system from the start. There’s no question about it. If there was one moment that was a tip of the spear more than others, that really frustrated me. I knew I had to do something and leave it all behind and take on a bigger cause.”
Bongino says another incident that crystallized the “bubble” mentality in Washington came while he and other agents provided security for a trip President Obama made to Afghanistan. As Obama prepared to meet with various military leaders, a Delta Force officer waited patiently in full gear to have his turn with the commander-in-chief only to have an administration staffer request that the officer disarm before entering the meeting.
“I laughed at him asking me to tell this guy to leave his weapon at the door. The utter absurdity of it really sums up in one story what the book tried to get at, this insulated insider atmosphere that has really destroyed what was the best system of government we’ve ever had, which really represented the interests of the people,” said Bongino.
When asked to explain why he believes the system is already destroyed rather than endangered, Bongino unflinchingly says it’s destroyed because both parties are now contributing to the destruction.
“At least we used to have one side fighting against this insiderism, this cronyism. Now, I feel the real battle is not Democrats or Republicans anymore. I think there are weak Republicans and Democrats all in cahoots together to prolong this insider system. I think the real battle now is government elitist fois gras for lunch crowd versus American populists, just regular middle class Americans trying to get the government to leave them alone. I think they’ve really ruptured that relationship,” said Bongino.
“My diagnosis is that (we have a) polluted DC cesspool of insiders that are really corrupting. It’s not the people that get up and go to work in the morning that are causing the problem. It’s these bow tie-wearing bureaucrats that are really corrupting the system and making what was a representative government only representative of the special interests and that interest isn’t yours,” said Bongino.
The solution, according to Bongino, is a very engaged citizenry that will dedicate their time and resources to restoring America’s greatness.
“Voting is not enough. It’s not. You haven’t done your duty by voting. If you’re not calling your congressman, if you’re not sending letter to the office, if you’re not volunteering for campaigns or volunteering for a cause, if you’re not donating money to a cause or a campaign, even a dollar, then folks you’re not part of the (solution), you’re the problem,” said Bongino.
“We need you. We need your voice. The left has been experts at this for years at whittling away our freedom, Voting is not enough. I cannot say that enough. You have to do. Talk is cheap. Action matters. Action is what changes the world. Talk is only good if it changes action,” said Bongino.
Bongino is challenging freshman Democratic Rep. John Delaney in Maryland’s most competitive district. It was held by the GOP for years until redistricting made it more favorable for the Democrats in 2012. Bongino says the district officially leans left by just a couple of points but he expects to have much larger volunteer forces and be very competitive in the money fight.
