Tightening The Screws

Everyone wants to know the truth and everyone also wants to know the current news. Very few people don’t care about these things, it is just human nature. Sometimes people are too busy trying to support their families and run their daily lives to get into the intricacies of what is happening with the daily operation of the government. In a way these people are lucky, because they are not disappointed like some of the rest of us. Over the years those of us or are old enough to become disappointed have learned the government does not operate the way we were all led to believe. I remember when I was in school and my head was filled with all these noble ideas about how Washington operates. It seemed true for quite a long time, until I realized it was all fiction. We were told a lot of things which weren’t true, especially when it came to history. How many of us today really believe Columbus discovered America?

I can’t help but remember those famous words, a government by and for the people, to paraphrase. The government has proved itself to certainly not be by the people. When we see the same powerful people and companies supporting both candidates we should realize there is not going to be any difference as far as the programs supported by our representatives and you can bet your bottom dollar these programs will probably have no benefit to us and might even hurt us. In the last few terms presidents have either passed or extended laws which take away a lot of our guaranteed liberties. The term Habeas Corpus might not mean much to most people. It means to bring the body. A writ of Habeas Corpus can be drawn up and the judge who signs it commands a person who claims to be unlawfully detained to be brought before the court for a decision on their confinement. The last president Bush did away with this in cases which are claimed to fall under Homeland Security. The next president the guy who was going to reform everything President Obama, extended the Bush laws.

One of the reasons people fled to this country was because of unjust imprisonment. In earlier times in other countries a neighbor could say something bad about you and it didn’t matter in some cases if it was true or not, it still got you locked up without a trial and this is why the Writ of Habeas Corpus was instituted in this country. Now all anyone has to say is you are a terrorist and even if it isn’t true you can be locked up without a trial. I never thought I would see this happen in the United States of America. One of the problems we have is we have turned into a corporatocracy. This term is used to denote a political system which is controlled by corporations and if we look at our system of government how can we conclude anything else? Lobbying itself has turned into a system where the more bucks are invested in it the better the results and where do the most bucks come from, the corporations. How can any individual who is an average person have any lobbying leverage in Washington? The answer to that question is he or she cannot. Only those with plenty of money or those who belong to a very large organization have any chance of getting anything passed. The problem is large organizations cannot outspend large corporations and even if they could they are not designed to put forth the needs of an individual, only the average needs of the group.

Since we have only two major parties in this country it is possible for them to be controlled by some higher power. Let me give you an example. In New York State you can see some judgeships which are supported by both the democrats and republicans. They call this an election but it is not, it is just a farce since the candidate cannot lose. The only ones running against someone like this who has both endorsements might be someone from the Green Party or some such thing who has no chance at all. I remember talking to a judge who was put into office this way and he got angry and said he was elected by the people. It is kind of hard not to get sick hearing these things, sometimes I think it would be better to have not known the truth. In the old days both parties would alternate these types of candidates and are probably still doing this to some extent. I say if you are going to do this why not just have a whole ticket of people who have the party endorsements of both sides and be done with it. Taking it a step further why have an election at all, since it is just a farce anyway. Just put these people into the job because that is what is being done anyway.

I don’t recall things being this bad in the old days. I am not saying politicians were honest, but I am saying an individual could get some help from their party leaders if they needed it. An example of this was if you needed coal for heat and couldn’t afford it, the party leader might send someone around with some coal for your fire. I don’t think you would see much of this today. The same was true if you needed a few dollars for rent. There used to be an old time political expression and that was they would allow people to wet their beak. I guess it meant they gave back a little of what they got to the common folk who may have needed it. You were known on a personal level, which isn’t very true anymore unless you were doing work for the party.

Most of us have been disconnected from our government and have been forced to the outside. Sometimes it is possible to request free tickets and such to places like the White House tour, but that is just a crumb. When it comes to important things which might benefit us if a bill was passed, forget it if it doesn’t benefit some company or some rich person. That is the true reason the tax code hasn’t been reformed. It is overly complicated and very large so companies can find loopholes in it to either get out of paying taxes or pay very little in taxes. As Warren Buffet said, his secretary pays a higher percentage in taxes than he does. Don’t think for one second the legislators in Washington don’t realize a flat tax for all of us would be the fairest way to tax.
The screws are being tightened on us and if things continue this way, things will be getting worse.