The people’s representatives no longer represent the people

The republic is dead
February 13, 2010 earthblognews
The people’s representatives no longer represent the people

In order for a democracy or a republic to function, the citizens must have a voice. This essay will argue that the people have lost their voice, and will be fundamentally unable to regain that voice regardless of who is sitting in the political seats. Even the president is powerless to affect change, and is wholly subservient to the money interests who put him there. That has become obvious to people paying attention.

Over the past decade, polling has shown that the American public is extremely dissatisfied with their representation in Washington. During the 8 year reign of the self proclaimed “great decider”, public approval of congress ranged from 20% down to 12% by the end of his reign as idiot in chief. 12% is roughly one in ten people, and this is among a population where a majority of the population are incapable of finding Louisiana on a map. Arguably, the approval ratings could not under any circumstances fall much lower. In fact, even among the most miserable and totalitarian regimes across the world and at any time in history, public approval ratings of the leadership were higher than in the US over the past decade.

Voters demanded a change.

The problem is that there has been no change. Mr Barak Obama, elected on a platform of change, is currently leading the effort in change=no change. At the present time Mr change=no change is registering record low public approval ratings, and the latest polls are showing only 13 percent believe that Congress represents the interests of the people. So once again, we are back to great decider levels and arguably as low as possible.

So think about that for a minute. For the past decade, under the leadership of both political parties, public dissatisfaction with their representation in congress is arguably as low as it could possibly be. How is that possible?

Lobbyists didn’t suffer a slowdown in 2009
Health industry spent $544m
By Jonathan D. Salant
Bloomberg News / February 13, 2010
Address

The obvious problem is that the politicians in Washington, regardless of whether they call themselves Democrats or Republicans, are all bought and paid for by lobbyists and special interests. Their hands are tied. While seeming powerful, their only power lies in determining which lobbyists and special interest groups are going to buy them first. When Mr Obama was campaigning, he made a point that if elected he would address this situation, and yet a year after he was elected, lobbyists and special interest groups are two of the only thriving industries amid 20% real unemployment among the general public.

What we have now is not a democracy and not a republic.

When the people have no voice, they have no representation. We have a government today whose policies are dictated by a small group of very powerful corporations and special interest groups represented by lobbyists who lavish gifts and cold hard cash for votes on issues. These corporations and special interests throw billions of dollars annually at approximately 500 people for the express purpose of buying a vote.

It is bribery, and it is unfortunately all legal.

The reason it is legal is because these lobbyists and special interest groups are so powerful they made it legal. In a disgusting display here in 2010, these lobbyists are now so powerful they bought the Supreme Court with an unprecedented ruling that allows unlimited political contributions by corporations. Now the corporations can not only influence the vote, they can also pick the candidates.

Where is the press?

The media in the United States has undergone a rapid consolidation and transformation. Two decades ago there were thousands of independently owned media outlets, and guess what happened? The largest of these operators lobbied the people’s representatives to relax important rules regarding the media and monopoly behavior. As a result, instead of thousands of independent media outlets, in 2010 six mega corporations control 96% of what Americans, read, hear on the radio and see on Television. Journalists are the watchdog of a democracy. When media becomes one with the government, the people become disinformed and uninformed and a democracy cannot function.

While you were sleeping…

The people have lost their voice. The power has been transferred to the few. According to the literal definitions of words, the United States is now a Fascist Oligarchy. The will of the people is of no consequence. The people are to be placated, disinformed and entertained while less than 0.1 percent of the population make the rules and rule over them like kings. The government and big corporations are joined at the hip. The banking system controls the money and the power. The people have lost their voice and they are not going to get it back.

The republic is dead.

I will now join good company with Thomas Jefferson, the primary architect of the US constitution who stated:

“When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.” -Thomas Jefferson

The fundamental issue is that once power has been transferred to the few, they are not going to willingly relinquish that power. In the past decade, that has become painfully obvious and there is no one person who can stop the progression.

Categories: Thomas Jefferson, democracy, lobbyists, politics, special interests