The difference between yesterday and today? Corporate run government.

[whereisjustice]

Last edited Sun Apr 19, 2015, 07:30 PM - Edit history (2)

Even school boards are being financed by corporate interest groups. Candidates are freely bragging about how much corporate endorsement they have as a measure of merit

MBAs have taken over politics, much as they have industry. Voters play the role as expendable commodities. In the Larry Summers world of abstraction, we are no different than farm animals or natural resources. We are consumed as the market demands. Whether its war, poverty or sickness or disease, we are harvested as needed to protect/maintain the ruling class.

Profit oriented transformation has changed both parties for the worse. Viewed in context, side-by-side, both Republicans AND Democrats have never been so far (except during civil war) from the stated purpose of our national oath- liberty and justice for all. This is proven by every quality of life measure - prison population, unemployment, poverty, disparity, racism, infant mortality, etc. Every year the numbers, accumulated in total, get worse.

Why is this not just the fault of Republicans? After all, Republicans have always been on the side of the big guy.

Because the Democratic Party is run just like a for-profit corporation. I'm not going to argue the semantics of "profit or non-profit here". For example, the NFL, raking in billions per year for owners, is technically also a non-profit. Hows that for "liberty and justice"?

What people like Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, Wasserman-Shultz and Hillary Clinton have brought to the Democratic Party is this:

The Democratic Party corporation exists to

1 - make money to sustain and reward itself.

2 - yield results for its investors.

To the extent that the best interests of the rich and non-rich overlap, such in the case of abortion rights and gay marriage, there is an illusion that Democrats are "all fighting on the same side".

No, we aren't. Not at all.

100s of millions of people without wealth remain unrepresented. No one is fighting for them.

And least of all, Hillary is not fighting for them. Her generic deference to wealth and power avoids those important emotional issues of fairness, justice etc which interfere with corporate profits. But its our emotional senses that inform us, from an ethics and morality point of view, something is wrong and working against our collective best interests.

Take Ferguson as just one of many examples.

Thousands of lives have been ruined because of fake criminal charges in an organized crime system that should have been immediately charged under RICO (racketeer and corrupt organizations laws).

If you are a person wrongly convicted - you've paid thousands in legal fees and you will never be able to gain employment because of your criminal record. Thus starts the cycle of poverty for the current generation of your family and the next.

Now, if you've noticed a standoffish posture from the Democratic Party (about this and the never ending slaughter and violence perpetrated by police), you are not alone.

Ferguson just isn't good for Democratic Party business. And that business is getting funds from rich, mostly white, donors, the establishment elite who, to put it bluntly, despise us. They hate us.

Why? We believe in a system of basic principals that cannot be corrupted by money.

There really is an absolute right and wrong. For starters:

Starting a war based on lies is wrong.
Torture is wrong.
Stealing pension funds is wrong.
Polluting our dwindling supply of clean drinking water is wrong.
Dragnet citizen surveillance is wrong.
Sending jobs to low wage, unregulated labor markets is wrong.

Perhaps even conservative Democrats agree with these things. Where left and right differ lies in upholding these values by mandatory punishment for those who violate these principals. There must be no amnesty for wealth and/or power. This most important principal is what the right wing has no problem compromising for immediate political profit.

The MBA Democrats are winning. So much so, that a Democratic President considers torture a zealous act of patriotism, rather than a punishable criminal offense.

The growing cynicism fueled by the hypocrisy between speeches and action is corroding the nation. We lack representation. A severely compromised justice system is spreading disparity to every facet of our daily lives.

When the question comes up,time and time again, "why doesn't the Democratic Party represent us?"

The answer is rooted in the economics. Most of us can't afford to buy what they are selling - representation in Government.

[KT2000]

1. woke up this morning

with the a clear understanding of this. I saw the popular election is burlesque - candidates performing for the crowds to get the votes while promising the corporations their pot of gold for donations. We will vote because there is not much else we can do. And even so - Republicans are still worse.

I consider us about the same as the Soviet Union was when the people gave up on ideals and settled into cynicism. Their authority was the party and ours is the corporate world and their wealthy. Our hope is with the immigrants who still believe in the dream.

[whereisjustice]

2. burlesque - that's a good metaphor, our election system is becoming much like soviet/chinese style

a symbolic and sentimental act of patriotism. To this extent Democrats have marginalized people like me who demand simple inalienable principals to represent our system of justice (linked to our government).

When I openly criticize that candidates like Hillary Clinton who represent the problem rather than the solution, I am marginalized at the same order of magnitude as a Tea Party nut job who demands guns in kindergarten and abolishing the EPA.

[840high]

13. I'm ready for someone else....

[rhett o rick]

3. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[L0oniX]

4. I'm already apathetic about this country but thanks for helping my apathy.

Time to learn Portuguese and move to Ecuador.

[whereisjustice]

11. I think it helps to understand that the source of apathy is easily tracable. History repeats

itself. The US isn't the first nation to collectively agree that the rich should be rewarded at the expense of a middle class, won't be the last.

Non-stop conditioning by our own party to accept the purity of the rich certainly speeds things along.

On edit I should add, that the destruction is easily avoidable, but requires challenging conventional wisdom spewed out by those in power. But even at an institutional level our school systems are doing a good job of beating that behavior out of us.

[QuestionAlways]

5. If You Don't Vote, You Don't Count

is the first rule of politics.

[L0oniX]

18. LOL ...you vote and the 1% still run everything.

[sabrina 1]

23. Just vote! Then what? Voting is important. So you vote, your candidate wins. What next?

Voting is where citizens decide who to hire to fill the position they advertised for. Lots of people apply, only one can get the job.

So we hire one of the candidates for the job.

And then what do we do?

Let's say we want an employee who will make sure the ban on Offshore Drilling remains in place. We choose the applicant who sounds like the most likely person for that job.

But then, once hired, the applicant uses the job we gave him/her to do the opposite.

What is the duty of the citizen/employer at that point?

[zeemike]

6. Excellent post...I could not agree more.

Big money has corrupted everything...and has stole our soul.

[ROYDOG999]

7. Well said !

The Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party is controlled by Robert Rubin and the Clintons. This is not a conspiracy theory it's a fact I cannot stomach when Democrats or the news media talks about centrism. There's no centrism it's economic conservatism and that's what they are or if you will, Eisenhower Republican's. I wish that the blue dogs, DLC, new Dems and moderate Republicans would form a new Republican Party a rational one. The rationale for the last 20 years has been vote Democratic because even though they're business oriented they're progressive on social issues and that's the fallacy. Social justice and economic justice goes hand-in-hand you cannot separate them.

[840high]

14. Welcome to DU.

[whereisjustice]

15. " Social justice and economic justice goes hand-in-hand" - well said.

[turbinetree]

8. Why

do we let the election process be run by a Diebold machine, it use to be pencil and paper and they hand counted the votes-------this is how this country has been dumbed down----let's have a corporation make and count a vote

[whereisjustice]

22. Diebold machine - couldn't agree more. Even the mechanics of an election is now a huge conflict

of interest. THe powers that be complain that we are too dumb and need to learn about technology. Then, as we educate ourselves we learn the inherent risks of this technology and we are mocked as ignorant and paranoid.

I don't get it.

Tampering with US voting machine as easy as 'abcde', says Virginia report
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/04/17/tampering-with-us-voting-machine-as-easy-as-abcde-says-virginia-report/

[libdem4life]

9. There are two entities to blame for this travesty of a political process...Republicans and SCOTUS

Candidates from both parties are forced now to become slaves of the big donors. Do not think they like it. They literally have to Appear before these rich scumbags and Prove Themselves. Now, tell me what politician looks forward to that appointment. Then they have to tap dance the whole time they are in office and start fundraising as soon as they get there. They hate it.

With decent political finance, things could be changed. Overturn 1%Citizen's United.

[whereisjustice]

12. Russ Feingold tried to rally Democratic leadership to challenge citizens united and was tossed

out. Instead, DNC said "no problem" we'll join the Republicans.

Remember Obama said he would immediately address the issue and work to correct it.

That didn't happen because Citizens United is actually quite compatible with 3rd way philosophy of the new Democratic Party.

Now those same monied voices are regularly heard on DU advocating for laws that benefit corporations at the exclusion of middle class and/or below.

It really isn't true that candidates don't like it. The ones who don't like it don't run as candidates.

So we are left with those who are willing serve only for the pleasure of their wealthy sponsors.

[libdem4life]

17. Well, you can pick it apart, yet it's hard for these who are already there to go back. I'm not

fending for them, and I agree with you, but the ship has sailed. It's hard to turn it around. Perhaps that's what created the 3rd way and I've missed the threads calling for more corporate money.

It is a fact. It is installed, and I think we'll find out again as to how Bernie is received. Maybe they can get a Progressive Caucus to apply some pressure. Can someone run who wants to break up the banks? I don't know.

Perhaps he can bring it up again during this time of open discussion. I think he's started the conversation. And I'm hoping he'll be the Democratic Candidate. I think what used to be called Liberal...what I've been for decades...may now be called a Social Democrat, because I agree with about everything he says. I'm not sure what a Progressive is.

[whereisjustice]

19. It's possible you just didn't recognize the threads calling for corprorate money... $300,000

speeches to Goldman Sachs have been called shrewd and essential ways to build campaign finances.

Accepting Clinton Foundation donations from wealthy foreign countries while Clinton is Sec. of State is called a great way to leverage the advantage of her position.

I call it something else.

[libdem4life]

21. No, hadn't seen them. Got kind of overwhelmed with all the political/Hillary threads.

[WillyT]

10. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[Thespian2]

16. K & R !!!

Thanks. You said it much better than I could.

[bbgrunt]

20. Thank you! So well said. Needs to be shouted from the rooftops!