To break a dam wall, you have to exert extraordinary pressure. Politicians of all colours are responsible for constructing the most formidable barrier between progress, fairness, prosperity and ‘we the people’.
In a decades long bipartisan act of self preservation, far too many elected members have merely paid lip service to their responsibility to serve those who elected them to serve. Instead, they have used your vote, not to represent you, but to represent the corporate benefactors who funded their campaign.
Elected office for far too many, bears little relationship to public service, it’s become more about ‘self service’, where constituents are an afterthought. They will tell you they simply can’t represent you without the help of corporate money. BULLSHIT.
If those you elect were voting to represent only the will of the people, you would now be enjoying:
Paid family leave
Healthcare as a right
A living wage
Affordable childcare
Affordable college education
The right to choose
Sensible gun control
Politicians, time and time again, have said ‘we just can’t afford it’, despite living allegedly in the richest country on earth. Americans have been sold lies for decades as wealth was being quietly transferred from the bottom and the middle to the top. Do you not think it bizarre, it’s accepted as normal for markets to experience corrections, but we never see corrections to the cost of living or housing prices? The only corrections everyday Americans experience, is how much austerity they must endure to pay the tab of the rich, whose greed caused the problem in the first place.
Citizens United was the Supreme Court’s ultimate gift to the top one percent, at the expense of the future prosperity of every American family. Once the people are no longer protected by the highest court in the land, because their ruling was paid for by the very corporate entities seeking to pick the pockets of everyday Americans. I’m afraid it was only a matter of time before we arrived at where we find ourselves today.
Many of YOUR representatives have helped build a fortress from which the oligarchs now stand on the ramparts, smiling and looking down on YOU, having installed a king as their useful idiot. Is that how democracy should work? I think not.
CHANGE IS NOT YOUR ENEMY, IT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER.
My question to you is this. What happened to authenticity in politics and politicians? I’ll tell you what happened, it was buried under billions of dollars of dark money which flooded into politics following the Citizens United ruling. We see politicians having no shame inverting their values or political positions at the drop of a hat, if it will personally benefit them. Then they wonder why nobody trusts politicians. Money has always bought influence, whether or not we like to admit it. However, the level of money now involved, delivers complete control of the legislative agenda. These corporations were not elected because that’s not allowed, so they simply went ahead and bought the politicians who were elected.
America has reached a stage in public service, where integrity and moral decency are no longer seen as values, but rather a sign of weakness. Until we change this, we are destined to remain the hostages of corporate welfare recipients. A consistent set of values is a rare thing in politics today. I am not of the opinion that politicians shouldn’t adapt their position to reflect the times in which we live, but there’s a difference between adapting your values and selling them out and that’s why I admire Bernie Sanders. Love him or hate him, his position is absolutely consistent. He believes and always has, no child should go to bed hungry and no family should be left behind. That society can and should sustain a living wage, affordable housing, childcare and healthcare. He’s fought for these principles all his life and never once bowed to the pressure from either corporate interests or party leadership.
Never forget, the vote of the richest man in America has no more value at the ballot box than the teacher, the soldier, the care worker, the Amazon driver, or the small business owner.
Remember, this is YOUR democracy, NOT their THIEFDOM. Your voice matters, so make sure it’s heard, because only then will this nightmare end.
