Franklin D. Roosevelt
Money matters, in politics maybe more than anywhere else in our system. The people who know this best are the politicians, and perhaps their largest campaign contributors. Why would Corporations spend four billion dollars this election season if they didn't expect anything in return? In fact, after the Citizens United case was decided in the supreme court (giving corporations the "right" to spend unlimited money to manipulate our electoral system), there's little stopping them from simply buying the results they most desire. Corporations receive more money and power back from every donation dollar that goes out, they are experts on getting returns on their investments. They are already more powerful than any natural entity can be, and with the new laws they are bound to grow at an even more alarming rate. And this power buys elections, they can simply put a pile of money on any candidate, any proposition, they want to win. And no surprise the Republicans are getting 7 dollars for every one dollar going to Democrats.
Can anyone see the vicious cycle forming here? The more money they spend to manipulate our elections, the more money they get back from the system. The more money they make, the more money they have in their coffers to spend in our elections. Simultaneously, they are driving our economy into the ground and supporting candidates who push deregulation and privatization, so they can dismantle and buy up the commons and the defunct apparatus of the state. Everything we think of as being our government has fallen into the hands of private corporations, or soon will. They control the Pentagon, the Federal Reserve, The departments of agriculture and the interior, they write the farm bills and send them to congress for a rubber stamp. We already have privately owned fire departments who will put out your burning house for a fee, or they can just watch it burn if you can't pay. But what if the house burning down is Democracy, why would private interests want to save Democracy when their bottom line is at stake? In Ray Bradburys' classic novel Fahrenheit 451 the "Firemen" were in charge of burning books that challenged the authority of the state, letting some houses burn down for the sake of a corporations bottom line seems to be the missing link between our world and that dark dystopia.
Not only can corporations now put the necessary funds down on the heads of any candidate they'd like to win, but they can also draw up their own legislation and insert it into our proposition ballots. Earlier this year in California our local private energy Goliath PG&Evil, brought us Prop 16 designed to eliminate any potential competition springing up, especially renewables. Now less than half of one year later we are being sold Prop 23 designed to put a hold on Californias' Assembly Bill 32 which addresses global warming with new energy standards. They put the bill forward, funded it to the teeth, and then tell us if we vote against it we lose jobs. And they should know, they can fire people in the thousands so they can make sure it happens, almost like,... a threat? They could just as easily adapt or get out of the way and let others develop the renewables industry, creating more jobs, maybe more than coal, gas, oil, and nuclear combined. Luckily Prop 16 was defeated and it seems to suggest that 23 will go down in flames as well. But why not keep trying, the energy companies have plenty of money to throw at the system.
There was a recent story of a McDonalds franchise owner who sent a letter out with the weekly paychecks of his employees suggesting they may not get raises if they don't vote Republican. It was a classic case of voter intimidation in the workplace, or was it? I mean, we live in a new world, things are different now since corporations are people with the "right" to freedom of speech. If the supreme court can decide that A: corporations are people, B: Corporate persons have the right to Freedom of Speech, and C: political contributions equal speech, then would those same people tell the corporation that they don't have the right to write a letter? If funding a campaign is "Free Speech" then writing a letter to inform your employees of the potential consequences of their votes is definitely "Free Speech." The former is a giant leap for reason, the latter seems like a small step in comparison. If legally challenged, all this boss has to do is fight the case all the way up to his good friends on the supreme court, a very corporate friendly crew.
This nation, this system, this so-called democracy is heading for the ultimate wipe out. The wealthy ownership class has been executing their plan perfectly; ruin the economy so that the people are weak and desperate. When the people are poor and starving they will do anything the wealthy want for a pittance, just to have a meal and a roof over their heads the poor will do the bidding of the bosses and the landlords. As resources dwindle the wealthy will grow their private security forces to protect them, will you protect the rich if you need a steady job and they're the only ones hiring? Even as the people realize who is the source of their woes, they will have little choice but to do whatever the rich want just to get by from day to day. Those "Tea-Baggers"who now cry for their lost liberty under Obama will vote today for people who will sell them out to the highest bidder and turn around and blame it on Muslims. And will it be better if the Democrats retain their "control" over the house and senate? And if only slightly better, is that good enough?
HELL NO! When you choose between Democrats and Republicans it's like Thelma and Louise deciding whether to launch off the cliff in drive or overdrive. The only hope for change we have is a global uprising, a revolution of the people, by the people, and for the people of the world. We need to give up "ownership" and "wealth" and all of the delusions that we have in our world that lead us to believe it's all there for the taking. We belong to the world, to the land, to each other. We are spiritual creatures who have very temporary lives on this planet and we allow our minds to be so bloated with spyware and malware that we act as parasites actively and passively contributing to the demise of our host organism, in a long drawn out dance of self destruction. If democracy is to exist it will take an electoral revolution, a revolution OF the electoral system (not through it). The system is designed to prevent and sabotage true democracy, if we cannot change that we can change nothing of any significance with our votes. Stopping a tea bagger or corporate sponsored proposition here and there will not save the planet, we need to break up the party system before it's too late.
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