Average, hardworking Americans blindly go forward, looking for answers of why they work so hard and yet prosperity goes to the top 1 percent while wages stagnate for the rest of us. The answer is clear and yet because it seems impossible to accomplish, we continue to look for other ways around it; raise the minimum wage, raise taxes on the wealthy but none of these things ever happen and they never will. The reason is because there is no motivation in our U.S. Congress.
As long as we have a campaign system that allows private donations to flow unfettered to elect those who decide our campaign laws, nothing will ever come of any effort to change the status quo. Certainly, there will be those who will give lip service to the idea, and maybe for some in their heart of hearts, they really want to see change but in the end, they will have to play fiddle to those who fund their own campaigns, which is the wealthy and well-funded special interests.
The Koch brothers are set to spend a record-breaking $889 million for the 2016 campaign season. That means they intend on buying themselves some government loyalty from lawmakers and maybe even the newly elected president in 2016. Much of that money will be considered “dark money”, which will keep it secret from the American public exactly how it is being spent and where it is going.
Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate, also intends to spend more of his money to help elect a Republican president who will fulfill his own agenda in 2016. There are also Democratic billionaires who intend to spend a wad of cash themselves to influence the 2016 election. Maybe the voters should just stay home and let the rich guys fight it out with their billions; may the richest guy win.
It is easy to see where are nation is heading, which is into the pockets of the super wealthy. The year 2016 also is a mark for the halfway point for the 1 percent finally to obtain over 50 percent of the world’s wealth.
Average working Americans are trying to just get Congress to raise the minimum wage by a couple of dollars and it is like pulling teeth. We are being sold down the river by billionaires and we only want a little higher wages. In the 2014 Election, voters went out and gave full control of our Congress to the Republicans, the very guys who refuse to give average workers a raise or raise taxes on those billionaires who are raking in more money than they ever have.
When are we going to wake up America? The more wealth that flows into the pockets of the super wealthy, the less we will have to say about anything. Our elections will become nothing but shams, where the only people who can get elected will be those who can suck up the most to the wealthy. The only laws that will get passed in the U.S. Congress and in statehouses across the country will be those that serve the interests of the super wealthy.
We will continue to talk about how we think that if Congress would only give us a minimum wage increase, we might be able to afford a few things. In addition, we will continue to talk about if Congress would only raise the capital gains tax a little, maybe there would be more in the government’s coffers to pay down the national debt, but those things never happen and they never will. Sure, some Democratic lawmakers will talk about it to and maybe they will put a piece of legislation forward but it will go nowhere quickly. Sure, our Democratic president will get up and say during his State of the Union speech that he wants to raise the minimum wage and he wants to raise the capital gains tax and I am sure he means it, but it will never happen. The rich guys are buying up the country and the world, and they are almost halfway there.
The only answer, as many of the members of Occupy Wall Street know, is a revolution of great proportions. The problem is; does America have it in itself to bring it on before it is too late to do so? Occupy Wall Street had the right idea but bad implementation and organization. We need a movement that is much bigger and much more sustained. The only answer is a full publicly funded campaign system where private money plays no part in electing our government’s officeholders. In fact, private donations need to be illegal with strong enforcement; otherwise, we will continue to see our government manipulated by a few wealthy interests.
A revolution is needed because our lawmakers are not going to bite the hand that feeds them. We can protest all we want and we can vote all we want but nothing will come of it unless we stand resolute and strong in demanding a full change.
Money is not free speech but a manipulator of not only free speech but of democracy itself. We will never fully enjoy a true democracy until we kick to the curb the undue influence of those who would buy our nation from beneath our feet. For that, revolution is required.
This is a republish from my website: Fidlerten Place