One of my favorite movies of all time is Mr. Smith goes to Washington, the story of an honest guy who somehow ends up in a place where he can say the honest truth and stand up for the little guy. That was over 50 years ago.
Since then, lobbyists have taken over.
Our elections are really auctions at this point, whoever raises the most money is the most likely to win, and whoever wins is certain to owe a bunch of favors to their previous campaign financiers. The average American can not afford a lobbyist. The average American can hardly afford the increased cost of living set against decades of stagnant wage growth and job outsourcing overseas. Now, at a time when average people everywhere are hurting, and after a decade where poverty exploded while the majority of wealth created went to the wealthiest of the wealthy, the lobbyists are acting as if nothing ever happened, and they descend upon D.C. and state and local governments in a daily migration like locusts, ever demanding more and more and more for the special interests who fund them.
Meanwhile, in the last decade, millions of people have fallen below the poverty line, and millions more in the middle class have seen the costs of health care and education rise at a rate that far outpaces wage growth, and time and again we have seen the lobbyist influenced politicians say NO!, NO! and HELL NO! The banks and special interests that have pillaged the working class for decades want to go right back to the business practices they used to create the collapse that we are still mired in today. Because of their ability to bribe politicians they are getting away with it.
The lobbyist influenced politicians on both sides have created a permanent super-majority of Republicans and Blue Dogs, a few New Dems and Joe Lieberman, and within this lobbyist funded power structure we have seen that there will always be a wall of obstruction standing in the face of sensible reforms. Consumers can't afford a lobbyist, but Bank of America sure can. The Gulf of Mexico can't afford a lobbyist, but BP sure can, just ask Republican Congressman Joe Barton (TX-BP). The bribery in our government has gotten out of control, and I can't afford my own lobbyist, so I got on a bus today with my good friend Tool and we are going to Washington D.C. today and for the next few days we are going to try to talk to as many members of Congress and congressional staffers as we can.
My main line of questioning is going to be about campaign finance reform, Wall Street reform and tax cuts for the rich, but please feel free to let me know what Tool and I should be asking any congressmen or staffers that we might meet.
We as citizens need to pressure our local, state and federal officials to do the right thing for consumers, employees and citizens. At all levels of Government, honest people who will not be bribed and who want accountability for the Bank of America's and BP's and BlueCross/BlueShield's of the world, among others, at all levels of government We The People should start running our own folks for office in order to get the lobbyist corrupted establishment out, and we need to get our people registered to vote, because it is the only way to counter the enormous amount of special interest bribe money that floods our system every day.
Today, Tool and I and a bunch of other people are going to D.C. because we couldn't afford our own lobbyist. Whose Democracy? We The People, that's who.
Millions of Americans are starting to understand that they have no power at all within this bankster rigged system of war profiteering, corporatism and political bribery. We are the 99%, we are the source of all your wealth, we are your consumers, your employees, your teachers, your policemen and your soldiers. Millions upon millions of people who can't afford a lobbyist like you can, Mr. 1%.
Dear Mr. 1%, screw us and we multiply
And we all understand, right and left, that the banks got bailed out and the people got sold out.
So we are heading to D.C. to be our own lobbyists and our own representatives, for ourselves and for people like us who can't afford a lobbyist. I guess my first question to you, dear reader, is to ask ""What would you like me to say to congress?"
I have my own ideas, but I would love to hear yours.
I know about lost causes. These people don't know about lost causes. This is merely the beginning of the beginning.
Peace and love to all,
Cheers
You can follow me on twitter at @JesseLaGreca