Evolution of Consciousness

If the Democratic Party were interested in surviving, it would follow the lead of Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) in this video…

The Republican ideology is dead, it just doesn’t know it yet. The practice of the current Democratic Party (being an ever slightly more-conflicted, more-subversive version of the out-and-out Republican corruption) is also headed for extinction. Ignoring the citizenry is simply unsustainable in the long run. You can only exploit the people for so long, before they revolt or perish.

I don’t think the Republicans have any chance of surviving, long term, since representing big business is in their DNA. If the Democrats (and I realize that’s a huge “if”) were to come clean and swear off the bribery, they could hasten both their renaissance and the Republican demise. One fell swoop. But that would take courage and foresight, and I don’t see that coming from many entrenched quarters yet. It is, however, refreshing to hear it every once in a great while, so kudos to Weiner for that!

Maybe they overreached a little too far this time. Perhaps the five black-robed neo-fascists just handed us a gift. The gift of clarity.

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling, giving corporations unlimited influence in politics, represents a giant goose step toward the Corporate State, where Big Money makes all the important decisions in government, and the citizen/rabble get to vote on things like how well Tom DeLay shook his booty on Dancing with the Stars.

The power grab here is obvious, and it has served to wake many people up. There is a growing movement, now, towards drafting an Amendment to the Constitution, to simply clarify the fact that corporations are not people. The stupidity of the notion illustrates just how far we have fallen, but it is sorely needed, for this legal fiction of “corporate personhood” is at the root of how Concentrated Wealth has managed to wrest all political power away from We the People.

Democracy is on the ropes in America. Norquist has got the baby in the bathtub, a cruel smile on his face as he plunges it underwater, watching it cough and sputter. It’s time for us to wake up and fight, or it’s going to slip away.

Here’s a couple places to get started:

1. Free Speech for People
2. Public Citizen

The Supreme Court — the same cabal that swept in the Bush/Cheney Abomination — just ruled (5-4) that corporations can now completely dominate government with unlimited dollars. This pretty much seals the corporate takeover of this country. Say hello to fascism.

Unless the people revolt, I think the American experiment in democracy is pretty much over. Capital won. Serfs up!

Here are the robed retrogrades responsible for driving the latest nail in the coffin…

These are troubled times. Few would argue with that. So the big question is, What’s wrong?

The answer is that we are living under the tyranny of the dollar. Power is solidly in the hands of corporations, or big money. Everywhere you look, you see the effects: money controls everything, and perverts everything. The concerns of real people are marginalized, so that big money can have its way. So the question then becomes: How can we, the people, fix this?

And the answer to that is actually quite simple: corporations are not persons. This goes right to the legal/political heart of the matter. We need to get the Supreme Court to acknowledge the obvious fact that corporations are not persons.

Once that is established, corporate lawyers will not be able to abuse the Bill of Rights, as they do now, on their clients’ behalf. The Amendments were obviously drafted with real people in mind, but corporations have found a way to bend our rights to their favor, by making the ridiculous claim that corporations are persons.

For instance, corporations are able to pump unlimited sums of money into lobbying by claiming their right to the First Amendment. It’s an obvious perversion of a citizen’s right to free speech, but that’s how special interests now justify their ability to essentially own our government.

So we need to get very clear on this distinction: corporations are not people (and people are not corporations). They are two distinctly different entities, and each needs its own set of rights and regulations. We have to stop the muddling, and once we do, we’ll have gone a long way toward clearing up the problem.

Fortunately, there is an excellent book on the subject: Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights (2002). The author goes into good detail about how this folly of “corporate personhood” came about, how it is currently being abused, and — most importantly — how we can go about fixing it. I recommend reading this book and acting upon the advice within.

A look at the “Health Care” section of the “Open for Questions” feature at change.gov reveals a powerful desire from American citizens for single-payer healthcare. An overwhelming majority of the comments on healthcare, numbering in the thousands, asked for essentially the same thing: single-payer (or HR 676). The ratio of yes/no votes on these comments ran about 20 to 1 for single payer. This indicates that the disinformation machine from the insurance/pharma industries is losing its grip on the public. I credit the movie “Sicko” for much of this awareness (if you have not seen “Sicko,” now is a good time). 

I think we are on the cusp of a great battle, essentially between the ascendant plutocracy (governance by the wealthy) and that silly old dream of democracy (governance by the people), and I see the healthcare crisis as representative of this larger struggle. 

For more than seventy years, base money interests (currently in the guise of health insurance and big pharma) have prevented us from adopting the vastly superior single-payer system. The rest of the world has benefitted from this simple concept, but America has not. We lag behind — paying more, getting less, becoming sicker — so a greedy few can continue enriching themselves at the expense of the many others. It’s been an obscene development in this country, and is a direct result of the ideology that puts profit before people.

The majority of American people (and physicians) want single-payer but an extremely wealthy, self-interested minority does not, and thus far they have managed to have their way, because big dollars mean big influence in government. Many Americans have suffered, and many have died, as a result. The for-profit “health” industry continues pumping vast sums from their ill-gotten gains into government, and HR 676 continues to languish — stuck “in committee” — in the House of Representatives.

For those of you in California’s First Congressional District, you should know that your representative, Mike Thompson, has not yet co-sponsored HR 676 (93 reps have, and he’s had years to do it). A quick look at his campaign finances (opensecrets.org) reveals that the “health” industry was a major contributor to his recent re-election, which most likely explains Mike’s reticence to support HR 676. PACs usually have candidates sign “position papers” before the money passes hands, and it is easy to imagine this one saying something like, “I will not support the single-payer solution.” This all-too-common example of concentrated wealth wielding disproportionate influence in government is probably the single greatest impediment to true democracy in this country, and we need to eradicate it from our system.

Tell your representatives (House and Senate) to support HR 676. Tell Obama the same thing (change.gov). Speak up. Join the millions who are trying to turn this ship around. It will take a lot of voices to overwhelm the money interests, but the numbers are in our favor — we only have to use them. 

Let’s take this country back.