J L, I fear we succumb to the same spirit as MAGAs and those who would sow hate when we describe the monied interests as enemies. They are, in fact, part of what makes our country strong, but only part of it. As you go on to note, we need to hear from them what they seek, we should require that Citizen's United actually speak up with the…
J L, I fear we succumb to the same spirit as MAGAs and those who would sow hate when we describe the monied interests as enemies. They are, in fact, part of what makes our country strong, but only part of it. As you go on to note, we need to hear from them what they seek, we should require that Citizen's United actually speak up with their "free speech." We do need to hear what they propose and it should become quite clear that many, perhaps even most Americans don't want to follow THAT money if it means working for subsistence wages without reasonable healthcare. Just as Biden declared, we need those with money and who know how to make money just as we need the red states but we need them to apply more of it to the common good and not get flustered or misled when they call that fairer sharing "socialism."
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that." Fritz Hollings, November 16, 2004
After the excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age", the public responded with (in my view) more just and intelligent set of rules for commerce, including anti-trust, Glass -Steagall, workers and union rights, benefits such as healthcare, minimum wage, child labor regulation, consumer protections, especially regarding safety, the FDA, EPA, etc. and on and on. The middle class grew rapidly for a number of reasons, but now demonized "regulation" hardly killed it.
Having piles of money is not in and of itself, a virtue, as Trump proves, but neither is it in and of itself a vice, although a society in which most of the property is in a few hands in no democracy. The thing is that any form of power can be used to concentrate more power, and that, left unmanaged, becomes an enemy of social justice. Too, some of the wealthiest people seem to want the lifestyle of kings while keeping serfs at a subsistence level.
In 1954, Eisenhower said:
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
I think that Ike did not foresee the scale of the propaganda operation that now tells lies on an Orwellian scale. That proven protections against virus spread are worse than nothing, or millions spent to convince the public that climate change is a hoax.
J L, I fear we succumb to the same spirit as MAGAs and those who would sow hate when we describe the monied interests as enemies. They are, in fact, part of what makes our country strong, but only part of it. As you go on to note, we need to hear from them what they seek, we should require that Citizen's United actually speak up with their "free speech." We do need to hear what they propose and it should become quite clear that many, perhaps even most Americans don't want to follow THAT money if it means working for subsistence wages without reasonable healthcare. Just as Biden declared, we need those with money and who know how to make money just as we need the red states but we need them to apply more of it to the common good and not get flustered or misled when they call that fairer sharing "socialism."
But get their $$$$$$ out of politics & stop buying elected people.
That's the big one.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that." Fritz Hollings, November 16, 2004
After the excesses and corruption of the "Gilded Age", the public responded with (in my view) more just and intelligent set of rules for commerce, including anti-trust, Glass -Steagall, workers and union rights, benefits such as healthcare, minimum wage, child labor regulation, consumer protections, especially regarding safety, the FDA, EPA, etc. and on and on. The middle class grew rapidly for a number of reasons, but now demonized "regulation" hardly killed it.
Having piles of money is not in and of itself, a virtue, as Trump proves, but neither is it in and of itself a vice, although a society in which most of the property is in a few hands in no democracy. The thing is that any form of power can be used to concentrate more power, and that, left unmanaged, becomes an enemy of social justice. Too, some of the wealthiest people seem to want the lifestyle of kings while keeping serfs at a subsistence level.
In 1954, Eisenhower said:
"This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon “moderation” in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
I think that Ike did not foresee the scale of the propaganda operation that now tells lies on an Orwellian scale. That proven protections against virus spread are worse than nothing, or millions spent to convince the public that climate change is a hoax.