Death Of U.S. Democracy

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  • #165273
    soldier
    Member

    As many of you may, or may not be aware, the U.S. Supreme Court within the last few days; ruled that corporations may now basically write blank checks for the presidental and congressional elections. Corporations now have the power to determine the outcome of elections, and, whom will be elected. Say goodbye to the Constitution, The Bill of Rights and the voting power of the U.S. citizens. The founding fathers must be spinning in their graves! The U.S. has now become merely a corporate entity.

    #165274
    sueandchris
    Member

    Soldier: Powerfully and well said.

    #165275
    jdocop
    Member

    post removed so as to avoid any risk of offending forum members.

    #165276
    DavidCMurray
    Participant

    Sadly, soldier, I’m afraid that this is just one more chapter in a long line of non-democratic/anti-democratic developments that stretches back to the Constitutional Convention. The constitution was written by and for the elite. The myth of American democracy has been that and only that ever since. It didn’t begin with Nixon and it certainly won’t end anytime soon.

    The founding fathers are not spinning in their graves. If anything, they are grinning in their graves.

    #165277
    kordan
    Member

    As far as we are all concerned–when someone gets elected–its because they could afford the millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars (like our good President) to pay for TV ads, flyers, posters, billboards etc. Yes–there is democracy–you are free to vote for 1 of the 2 guys who all accepted lots of money from the same people and have millions of dollars in favors and kick backs to return once they get into office.
    Thats why anyone believes that any of the corporate sponsored candidates will do anything to change anything of meaning to you and me–and why Ron Paul wasn`t even allowed after he was too popular in the 1st debate to participate in any other ^reindeer games^
    Its called SELECTION–not ELECTION
    And besides, the Electoral college makes the final decsion anyway–so no you have no choice
    George Carlin said it best…

    THIS VIDEO IS NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

    #165278

    While the previous post may be true, I think it should have been prefaced with the comment that some of Carlins Language is not child appropriate.

    #165279
    jdocop
    Member

    post removed so as to avoid any risk of offending forum members.

    #165280
    soldier
    Member

    Kordan,

    Thanks for the George Carlin clip. George Carlin was not only a comedian, but also a philosopher. He sought to enlighten anyone with more than two active brain cells.

    #165281
    sprite
    Member

    Who knows how many citizens are aware of our true situation?
    Even if it is an overwhelming majority, which I doubt, would it matter? What could anyone do to change it?

    People simply cannot manage belonging to groups with over 25 members. Our innate sense of community and human morality dissolves somewhere after the point when we no longer know all members personally. Once a group grows too big, it becomes a mob and we succumb to gross, brutal tools of manipulation such as patriotism or religion or some political ideal.

    I think the best thing any American can do is to look after himself and his family as best he can. I don’t know how possible that may be within the United States. What I find encouraging about Costa Rica is that there is still a naive sense of community due chiefly to the fact that there are so many tiny villages everywhere throughout the country.

    #165282
    maravilla
    Member

    so basically with this new Supreme Court ruling, the corporations are what control gringolandia and that corporate control is the first premise of fascism. and what about the new development where the IRS is now part of homeland inseucurity? so if you don’t pay your taxes, or file your taxes, you are now a terrorist, who can be locked up with absolutely no rights at all. what is going on up there? have they all gone insane? sadly, i am beginning to understand how little my vote really meant. obama isn’t going to change anything because he isn’t in control. as for wanting some of that money back from the banks, why aren’t those people being prosecuted and put in jail for bankrupting the nation? it doesn’t matter who you vote for anymore because the chips are in long before the average person goes into the polling booth.

    #165283
    DavidCMurray
    Participant

    Sadly, maravilla, (and I mean “sadly”), the bankers who brought on the financial crisis have not violated any laws. That’s why they aren’t in prison where they belong.

    Remember, if you own the legislature, you get to write the laws.

    #165284
    grb1063
    Member

    Sadly, the memry of the Amercin voter is extremely short. The motivation for the collapse of the financial system, specifically mortgage backed securities, was caused by the government itself via several pieces of legislation starting with Carter, exacerbated by Clinton and then the younger and dumber Bush. Basically, these legislative acts extorted banks into lending to those who could not afford a mortgage or the bank’s expansion and ability to open additional branches would be disapproved and their access to discount rates with the Fed would be controlled. This created the “cooking the books” sceanario that was eventually exposed and brought down the system. Of course, the current administration is using the corporate scapegoat angle to divert any blame away from them. Unfortunately, most of the American public accepts this as truth for their sole source of infomation is the sound-bite on te news.

    #165285
    sprite
    Member

    I think you are missing the bigger picture, GRB…
    Placing the blame on certain flavors of government and presidents is exactly what the Owners want citizens to do.
    This promulgates the false belief that changing presidents and political parties might fix the problem. The point is that the Owners are the ones who manipulate economies and governments and, thereby, entire populations. This is how wealth and power is funneled into their hands. This is pure fascism.

    The latest dismissal of a regulation which supposedly limited corporate political contribution is also a farce. That money found its way to its targets even with the regulations only now it will be even easier. There is less pretense on the part of the Owners because there is less need for it now that there is little citizens can do or would do to turn things around. And as long as US citizens are relatively well off compared to others, rebellion is not on the table….it is not even in the room.

    And if the US economy worsens bringing standards of living down (which seems probable) and citizens become more restless, it might be useful for the owners to have more efficient and faster means of controlling government and media. Legal, unlimited corporate contributions is a quick way to do this.

    I used to get angry at flag wavin, right wing patriots. I believed they were responsible for voting all the stupid wars and capitalistic aggression against workers. Now I see that their votes were as useless as the progressives and independents. This whole thing has been a farce for quite a long time now.

    #165286

    [quote=”jdocop”]And, this site is subject to heavy child traffic, I suppose.??? Come on. Everybody knows what kind of language George Carlin used, so why in the world should any sort of disclaimer have been necessary?[/quote]
    Uh,,. “Everybody knows?”
    How do you know this?
    If I had been playing this with headphones on it might have been different, but I played it where it played out loud.
    Would a few keystrokes to make mention to use discerment when around kids have hurt?
    Why would anyone come to the defense of not at least a small warning just to be safe? I’m not even upset at the original post that had the video at this point as I was just mentioning a possible reminder for later.

    #165287
    jdocop
    Member

    post removed so as to avoid any risk of offending forum members.

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