You’ve probably heard if you are a news hound or at least an amateur political hack, that the country has gone south since the advent of Ronald Reagan’s reintroduction of trickle-down economics.
When President William McKinley was running for president in 1896 he pushed a similar scheme to give the rich tax breaks. If the rich could afford to eat more, then the commoners could feast on what they dropped from their well-padded backsides. Literally, eat sh$t.
It was called Horse and Sparrow by his detractors like economist John Kenneth Galbraith. President H.W. Bush called it Voodoo Economics when he was running against Ronald Reagan to be the Republican candidate for President in 1980.
Not much has changed since then and as the Christian proverb says, “There’s nothing new under the sun”. The rich and greedy have always wanted more and they won’t stop. That’s why they hate it when we regulate anything for the good of the country, it slows them down a bit from eating everything in sight like Orwell’s hogs at the trough.
They claim a free market without regulations is essential to democracy and a liberated society, but that’s a lie as well because they end up buying up unscrupulous politicians with their wealth and have the laws and regulations rigged against everyone else and arranged to give them the ultimate cash-grabbing position. So it is not a free market when the fatcat’s cash is more effective than a voter’s ballot in passing legislation.
What I’m trying to say is this type of government is more in common/related to fascism than democracy. When countries get on a roll like ours, the rich become oligarchs and the country becomes governed by an oligarchy.
The rich get drunk with money and power and they try to confuse you and me with racist ideals and hate speech to distract us and use the middle class as their own human shield to protect themselves from the poor and marginalized and ultimately prevent the people from joining up together against their oligarchy.
Since the time of ancient Greece, unrestrained oligarchs gradually convince themselves that an authoritarian/dictator that they can control would be preferable to public accountability. Meanwhile, life gets harder and unjust wars are inflicted upon everyone else.
In countries that have a high value or concern for the average citizen, those countries where the rich are not allowed to dismiss the will of the people, laws are made to benefit everybody and the wealthy are not hated the way that they are in fascist or ‘right of center’ countries. Balance, democracy, and freedom of speech work for everybody when everybody has a say.
But when the First Amendment is stifled for the majority, when mega-rich people can buy off crooked politicians, how can you say that that is a democracy? So I’ll say it loud and I’ll say it proud that democratic socialist countries are the true democratic nations while our fascist-leaning country is a democracy but in name only. So it will be until the people’s votes and their will are not disavowed by another man’s dollar!
Daniel Jones says
A fine concise article, this! Well said Jack Jones. You, in my opinion, have captured and presented the essences of Our Dilemma. The rest of the Truths of this matter will come when We Justly “deal” with the exceptions and nuances that are part of it.
I learned some historical things from this article too. I had not been aware of McKinley and “Horse and Sparrow”.
Questions:
(1) So…I was wondering what could be done about bribable politicians?
(2) Should We and could We, sequester them (isolate them) for the time of their terms in office?
(3) Should We weld shut, the “revolving door” that symbolizes the relationship between politician and corporate lobbyist?
(4) Should We outlaw the corporate lobbyist? (all lobbyists”?)
(5) Should We outlaw corrupt politicians, when We fail to block them from “winning” a term in office?
(6) Can We effectively expose the betrayals of corrupt politicians? Do enough of We The People even care about their weaknesses?
(7) Can some other “Governance Leadership Selection Process”, (other than campaigning) be established by Us?
Suggestion:
Design and construct a “National Record Of Citizen Achievement”, with the purpose and intention of developing a list of “Most Qualified and Trusted” Citizens, for Governance Service To Our Nation. This “Record” could be started with, or without, participation by present governance office holders. Eventually it may be adopted and “sanctified”.
One thing, regarding the criteria of this list, that might be scrutinized by Us, is the willingness to “Serve” as a Volunteer. The only compensation being the national maintenance of the Citizen’s Home and Family while He, or She is in Service, in the facilities of Governance.
Thank you, Jack Jones. For this stimulating article. I’ll be looking for more from you.
Jack Jones says
Thank you, for your appreciation and uplifting statements. A lot of your questions and suggestions will be fought against by the right and possibly by the ACLU under pretense of freedom of speech , even though I agree with what you have said . I’ve said this before and I believe that this is what you are driving at as well “The spirit of the law is more important than the letter of the law”. what is so post to be the the intention of laws ? To help society , would be my answer. So about bribing politicians , that would be a hard one to tackle , because we can’t and don’t want to monitor all people’s actions but campaign finance reform could be a great place to start. I personally have an issue with The Supreme Court Citizens United decision of 2010. Yes Sequestering politicians who do unethical behavior would be great . I think that The House and Senate should have a moral code that they live by and leadership should punish offenders who bring shame on these institutions. I think that politicians should not be able to lobby after leaving office . We do have a lobbyist problem in our country the last I looked into it, I heard that we have at least 8 lobbyists for every congressman. Exposing betrayals is another form of getting a house in order but it could also be used as a witch hunt , politics is a dirty game. Having a list of qualified people sounds like a great idea , it would promote new blood and ideas. I heard an idea back that the government should give every politician a defined amount of money , to help level the playing field. I believe it’s obvious to all , or at least it should be that these Super Pacs are a huge problem and we need to get the average citizens needs heard and not just Corporate America. As I stated from the top to all news hounds and political hacks of which I’m preaching to the choir is the intended audience of which I’m one. So I don’t pretend to know everything but try to bring up issues that I believe need further consideration for the good of the people, or at least get it off my chest. Thank you again for thinking deeply on these matters , sometimes political intellectuals get misunderstood or written off as cooks or boring at best , but these things matter , because the affect our lives and the people that we love . Daniel , great to hear from you again! Jack Jones
Jack Jones says
Sorry for misspelling kook , the words that I left out, because I was writing this off the cuff on my phone and the rest of my grammar issues !