“And the banks – hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created – are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place,” Durbin said.
But as I said yesterday in the first installment of this series, it is not just the banks that own Congress. Yes, the banks have bought our government in order to use our government, a government that is supposed to be By The People, Of The People and FOR The People to legislate to give more of The People’s tax money to the Banking Corporations…and to keep banks deregulated, and to do all they can to subvert legislation on credit cards after making us all dependent on credit cards….and to generally screw The People…. and the world economy.
And yes you can bet that Big Pharma, Big Med, and the Insurance industry Corporations are going to do their best to but as much of Congress to shape legislation of Health Care to screw The People so that they can continue to make bucketloads of money as We The People grow sick and die for lack of affordable Health Care.
But today, let’s talk about the Corporations and industries that are directly working to buy our Congress….in order to kill as many of We The People as possible by defeating or subverting any progress on Climate Change.
Because if they succeed in getting our Congress to defeat legislation that will keep the sea levels from rising, wiping out vast areas of agricultural production, creating millions of Climate refugees and ultimately making the planet uninhabitable, nothing else really matters.
As most of you know, I have been concentrating on torture so I am not as up to speed as possible on this. But the great part of having a blogosphere is that someone else is! In this case, Brad Johnson over at Think Progresses Wonk Room. Please click through and read his excellent piece.
He spells out how the Corporations most involved in killing our planet are buying our Congress to keep killing the planet so that they can commit Climaticide in the interest of short term profits. He spells it out beautifully and ….graphically!
Average lifetime contributions from the automotive, steel & chemical, oil & gas, and mining & utility sectors to members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Energy & Environment Subcommittee (Center for Responsive Politics). Position on Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act estimated by E&E News. Chart by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Carbon-sector contributions to members of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce.
Click through to get the enlarged versions.
Subtle, isn’t it?
It is bald, it is bold….and it works.
If you want to know why our country is so screwed up, why our government doesn’t work for us, but does work for them you can just look at those charts. Again this applies across the board on every issue…Banking, Health Care, Insurance….and “The Defense Corporations.” Better known as the Military Industrial Complex.
If you have ever wondered why The Republicans are dead set against progress on any of these issues…this is why. If you ever have wondered why the Blue Dog Democrats cooperate with The Republicans in obstructing any progress, this is why.
Money.
Why do these politicians need money? To buy our votes. To get us to vote for the politicians who then sell our government to the corporations.
Or as I put it yesterday…
In order to get voted into office politicians need money. The candidate that spends the most money usually wins the election. Once they are elected, they need more money to win the next election. The corporations controlled by the Ruling Class “donate” that money. In return the politicians do what they want.
But what is that money for?
To buy votes.
Our votes.
They have succeeded. We no longer have a government By The People, Of The People and FOR The People. We have government By The Corporations, Of The Corporations and FOR The Corporations.
All bought and paid for by those Corporations, Corporations that have bought the politicians…..so that they have money to buy our votes. Our votes are the most important commodity in this equation. Without our votes, politicians cannot get into office, to then be bought, and then to sell our government to the Corporations.
So who is it up to to change the system, who has the ultimate power in this system?
We do.
All we have to do is…
3 comments
Author
If the Obama campaign taught us anything, it is that this can change. Hear me out on this.
The immutable law of politics is that the money will never be removed from politics. Campaigns are just too expensive and those costs are driven by media (mainly television) buys. The simple fact is that almost universally the campaign that spends the most money wins the election (although I can say that this was not the case in Pa-05 in the 2008 GOP primary).
The money has to come from somewhere and the established industries that do not have our best interests at heart have the money.
Now look at what the Obama campaign did. They raised three quarters of a billion dollars, much of that from ordinary citizens and activists like us. Sure he had a lot of corporate money, too. However, the fact is that his election would not have been possible without our support. So, instead of being beholden largely to the oil and gas industries like one former president I could name, Obama is beholden to we the people.
However, citizens are not nearly as inclined to donate to Congressional candidates. That has to change. We as a progressive community need to decide that we will withhold our donations to members who take funds like this. In other words, before you donate to Act Blue, check on candidates they are supporting.
Looking at the link provided:
That is a lot of money to match, but we need to send a message. I would happily support a candidate who eschewed such obscene amounts in favor of real grassroots financial support.
This needs to be a collective effort, though. Your member could care less about your donation, even if it is maxed out. The current limit is $4,600 ($2,300 for both primary and general). If just 11 maxed out donors withheld donations, they would just about equal Mike Doyle’s haul from steel.
Just something to consider.
this diary needed way more cowbell
or sex
…