The government of the people, by the people, and for the people, has perished. Democracy was terminally ill for a long time and just lingering on life support. Freedom of individuals to choose their leadership has been trumped by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision known as Citizens United which gave corporations equal rights with the people. As then-candidate Mitt Romney famously quipped, “Corporations are people.” Importantly, that SCOTUS decision was not a fluke or accidental, it was part of a strategic long-game designed and engineered to shift the balance of power even further into the hands of plutocrats. It was a culmination of carefully packing the courts at all levels of government with judges favorable to big business at the expense of middle class.
With the legalization of political action committees (PACs), the amount of money that can be spent on elections is virtually limitless. Even worse, PACs often are allowed to conceal their donors and thus it is impossible to determine who is supporting the ads. Masquerading under innocuous sounding, and often misleading names, they sway unsuspecting voters, usually […]
Stephen-I admire your work and what you do (especially with regards to consciousness). Your letter is one of only two I subscribe to. You fall for the same conditioning as most though about “democracy” and the delusion that this was what the US was founded on. It was a Republic-meaning “Rule of Law”, not MOB RULES or Rule of Majority as with Democracy. Democracy in its’ purest sense is 7 wolves and one sheep voting on dinner-we all know that grass and hay will not be served. EVERYONE votes “their” interests-it is the Human thing to do! Eventually a true “Democratic” society will eventually become polarized (as we see now with no true chance of any independent winning) because the “power” needed for winning is purely a numbers game and the best odds of winning are to have only two choices. This will always be the endgame in any competitive form of governance. We would probably be better off if there was a lottery or draft for political positions and those interested in honestly preforming a civic duty could enter the drawing. Democracy though will NEVER serve the people or the marginalized-only the vocal majority.
Trump spent almost nothing compared to other Republican candidates. Money is not everything in politics. Having the right message at the right time matters.
Trump is a t.v. media expert, he gets all of it for free. Remember, though, average 70 year old get their news from that media, people younger are the future and they have moved on.
If corporations have the right to free speech and person hood, I want to see that also bleed, go to prison and die. We will not have a future without a changed political system of finance, that is from someone over 70.