There has been a steady progression in this country that has landed us in this very unfortunate spot. Originally our founding fathers created a blueprint for our country that strove to strike a balance between the types of controls that are needed to create a civil and ordered society, and the individual liberty and freedom of the common person. In those days, that quest for freedom was primarily borne from forced religious doctrine and monarchal whims & taxation.
Today we face the very evils that our original young country rebelled from, and over the last 60 years we have sown the seeds of corruption and defeat into our system, and forgotten the intention that our founding fathers had for our country.
This problem is endemic, and comes from many angles. First, our founding fathers could not have seen the rise in mega corporations, as most industry in those times were smaller private ownerships. The concept of a world wide mega corporation was something not on the radar. It would have been equally as impossible for them to make some form of constitutional framework regarding the exploration of the moon. So our founding fathers understandable lack if prescience has left a system that's been easily subverted by money.
And so it is. Our political system has very little to do with the original founders intentions of preserving freedom and liberty for individuals, and now is very much for preserving the wishes of the highest bidders, which almost every time, is a corporate interest. There are no citizens lobby giving campaign contributions, taking politicians out to lunch, and buying them vacations in order to preserve the health, welfare, and liberty of the average person. But there is a motivated daily influx of soft and hard money that slowly bends every politician to the whims of business.
Take the health care industry, as an example, since we're on the verge of introducing some sort of corporately benefiting public health care plan. (an oxymoron to be sure) For every congressman there are 4 health care lobbyists trying to persuade them to favor the industry over the individual. Last year over $24 Million was given in hard donations to politicians, that does not include the soft donations of under 100$ such as lunches and dinners. $14 million of this years total contributions to politicians has been from the health care industry alone, and we're half way through the year. This is an industry that sees a system that is NOT broken. As a system that relies on money donated in order to keep their jobs, how could ANY politician not acquiesce to the desires of those giving them the money. It's not the politicians fault really, they are just playing by the current rules. "I need to pay for my campaign to continue my job and so I appease the people that give me the most money." Unfortunately that is never someone looking out for the individual.
And so we have a country that has turned into a Corporatocracy. That is not very different from what our founding fathers sought to rebel from. Increasingly our populous is being dumbed down and taught to worship the ideals of capitalism over democracy, consuming rather than producing, and praising ignorance over intelligence. At the same time that corporations rose to stratospheric levels of power in this country, religious groups have sought to subvert their own influence and control of factions of the government and education. We have evidence of clear religious dogma being insinuated into the various political institutions happening around the 50's, and then with historical revisionism being presented as examples of how we are and always have been a christian theocracy.
Currently these factors are playing out as they have been for years. The shining examples being our upside down position on individual health care rights vs. corporate health industry profits, C-street type religious factions creating secret religious orders within our elected officials vs. the rights of the people to have representation without secret agendas, and the old yet persistent fight in this country for all people to have equal rights.
The US ranks 37th in the world for adequate health care delivery.
The US ranks 30th in life expectancy.
The US ranks 34th in infant mortality.
The US ranks 11th and 9th on Science and Math respectively.
But the US ranks 1st in "defense" spending.
We spent 623 billion dollars for our military expenditures in 2008. That ranked us #1, it was a close race though, China came in at #2 spending 65 billion.
Our Government is owned by corporate greed and the principles and intentions of the founding fathers have been murdered. With the continued dumbing of our citizenry, and the constant overt corporate control system in place we will never fully realize the promise this country once had. The kind of change that needs to happen in this country can't happen, since the people that need to benefit from the change have no real power, and there are no longer men of intelligence and virtue around to effect it.
This is a good post. I agree with allot of what you say, lobbiest must go, it's individuals that elect these monkeys in not corporations. But if you take greed and capitalism out of the picture were toast. America hasn't become the strongest economically and militarilly in the WORLD in just over 200 years because of geographic position. It was the Constitution and Bill of Rights. So if it was good up till now leave it alone. Manage what needs managed by regulation.
ReplyDeleteBring back Glass Steagle legislation, Kick Barney Frank and Dodd out and break-up Fannie Mae and make the gov stop subsidising everything. That includes so called green jobs, what a scam. Get back to the basics. But Thats not fun cause there is no social justice and lasting power(Acorn) involved.
This is the words of Mr. Breggin a psychiatric Dr. he makes allot of sense in a more simple way.
I knew these hateful leftist well from a time when my own life was loveless and my own creativity was trapped inside my fears. I immersed myself, not in life, but in the grim ideology of the farfetched left. Unwilling to face myself, I blamed my suffering on conditions in the world. I believed that any decent person should feel depressed—and should remain so until the world changed.
But the world wasn’t changing, so I learned to blame them—the selfish ones, the capitalists, the fat cats, the polluters, and warmongers. And of course religious people. I resented people who managed to be happy despite conditions on Earth. Later I began to take more responsibility for my own emotional life and to recognize that reform must begin within me—with taking responsibility for my happiness and for living by my ideals. Then I became an effective reformer—and a lot happier with myself.