by Nomad
Government Doesn't Care What you Think
A couple of years ago, Anticorruptionact.org produced a video which sought to explain why our system of representation has broken down. The question was: how did corruption become so pervasive legal in Washington and in state governments around the nation?
A Princeton University study uncovered things we all, on whatever side of the political spectrum you might be on, have long suspected.
Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. To put it another way, researchers compared what the public wanted to what the government actually accomplished. What they found was extremely disturbing:
Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. To put it another way, researchers compared what the public wanted to what the government actually accomplished. What they found was extremely disturbing:
The opinions of 90% of Americans have essentially no impact at all.
Check out the video.
It is getting harder and harder to deny that corruption has become institutionalized. It is destroying the country and making America ungovernable in any fair and productive way.
What Americans Fear
In October 2016, a Chapman University study found that more than 60 percent of respondents in the said they were afraid or very afraid of corrupt government officials. Compare that to acts of terrorism which ranked at 41 percent.Yet, candidates would generally be more likely to campaign on protecting the nation from radical Islamic terrorists than producing a sensible and comprehensive approach to tackling corruption in government.
While the opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America have a “statistically non-significant impact,” economic elites, business interests, and people who can afford lobbyists still carry major influence.
Professor and writer Robert Reich explains that the problem
The Party’s moneyed establishment – big donors, major lobbyists, retired members of congress who have become bundlers and lobbyists – are part of the problem. Even though many consider themselves “liberal” and don’t recoil from an active government, their preferred remedies spare corporations and the wealthiest from making any sacrifices.
Corruption in its Latest Incarnation
This year we witnessed the most appalling spectacle in American political history- the conning of the American voters by a super-wealthy flim-flam man. Moneyed interests were not content simply to buy politicians. The 1% cut out the middle man altogether.Billionaire Republican candidate Donald Trump, a man whose business career was largely based on greasing the palms of local and federal politicians, promised to clean up the swamp in Washington.
A lot of people, despite the pretty obvious contradictions, believed him, believed he could care about the problems of the middle class who struggle with wages that have been stagnant for decades. And so, they voted for Trump.
And yet, even before being sworn in, Trump's cabinet post choice revealed the truth: voters had been swindled.
Columnist David Horsey, writing for the LA Times, was quick to point out:
The Trump team is composed of billionaires, retired generals, hard-right Republican politicians and one eccentric neurosurgeon, Ben Carson. If there is a thread that connects almost all of them, it is a deep commitment to making America great again for the financial industry and major corporations at the expense of workers and the environment.This is not exactly the anti-establishment revolution Trump voters were expecting.
It's not business as usual. In terms of corruption, things are going to be even worse. Trump has ratcheted up the size of the problem and, in effect, laughed in the faces of all those who trusted him. (And even now, the majority of them haven't fully realized they have been made fools of.)
It is no surprise, therefore, that on Inauguration Day, Trump has a significantly lower favorable rating than his three immediate predecessors received when they were presidents-elect.
Gallup noted that President Trump's 40% favorable rating is roughly half of what Barack Obama enjoyed before his inauguration in 2009 (78%) and is much lower than the pre-inaugural ratings for George W. Bush (62%) and Bill Clinton (66%).
As Americans look to what is shaping up to be the most corrupt administration in its history, the question is now how long this farce will continue and what angry voters plan to do about it.