An “army of attorneys” protects the federal government. Who’s protecting you?

Here’s yet another example of government waste and inefficiency.

A government watchdog group, Open the Books, has released a new report which informs us Americans that the federal government has a sizable “army of attorneys” who are highly paid to form a hedge of protection around the lawmakers in Washington.

Open the Books founder Adam Andrzejewski said about his report:

“Today’s federal government is protected by a pervasive army of attorneys. At a force size of 25,000, that’s bigger than a conventional combat division.”

Those numbers are staggering, but it gets even more mind-boggling. The cost in combined salaries and bonuses for this army was well over $26 billion between 2007 and 2014. The top salary for a federal lawyer was $266,469 in 2014, with the average being $132,817. More than 50 attorney earned over $250,000 and bonuses for these lawyers regularly exceeded $50,000 and even peaked at over $80,000.

That’s a well funded army, to say the least. But Andrzejewski says it’s not necessarily the fault of the lawyers: “They simply serve the pleasure of entrenched politicians and bureaucrats.”.

“Federal spending on attorneys both reflects and perpetuates the size, scope, expanse and inertia of today’s federal government,” Andrzejewski added.

A Forbes article accurately described what this really means to the average American:

“American citizens and the business community have good reason to fear the feds army of 25,060 lawyers. In The Godfather, Mario Puzo had it right. Today, the heavy boot of government often comes disguised wearing a pair of wingtips delivering intrusive subpoenas devoid of due process.”

The level of protection the feds enjoy is astonishing. That abuse of power comes crashing down hard on you and I when they come knocking. That’s our money protecting the Washington elite and that protection is not a two-way street. They’ve decided that what’s good for them may not be good for us.

If they are busy protecting themselves, who’s protecting you?