February 5, 2010
Here they come!
Custer's last words, or so I heard, were, "We got'em where we want 'em boys! We can shoot in any direction."
How should we describe the lobbyists in D.C. and Madison? They have us surrounded! In Madison, they got together to oust the Speaker of the Assembly. In D.C., the big drug companies went to the White House to cut a secret deal to ban the import of drugs from Canada; they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat universal health care. Unlike locusts, they show up every day not every seven years.
Check out these stories: "Industry Lobbying Imperils Obama Overhaul of Student Loans." Obama called his reform a "no-brainer," and I agree. But the plan is in trouble: "With lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall style meetings and petition drives to plead their case," the no-brainer is looking more and more like "no-guts." In 2009, Sallie Mae spent $8 million on lobbying and, catch this--the company's PACs made $2.1 million in political contributions last year. They ought to be prosecuted for attempted bribery but, no, that might interfere with their First Amendment rights!
The hoard of lobbyists argues that the bill would cost jobs--just like the arguments of two dozen payday lobbyists in Madison. "An Ill-conceived government takeover that could put thousands of people out of work at private lending centers." Note--"banks" or "banksters" are now, "lending centers." Sure!
Next--"Dodd Denounces Pace of Banking Overhaul." No one has mistaken Chris Dodd for a radical reformer, but even this milquetoast is angry. Why? "Frustration over an Army of Lobbyists Sent to Kill Common-sense Reform."
And you had better get used to it. With the loopy declaration of war on democracy issued by the Supreme Activists, big business owns the show and merely permits elected folks to strut up their stage.
This must stop!
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I gotta say Ed, you nail the problem but WTF are us little people supposed to do? With all due respect to your efforts another Fest with speakers etc. grousing and telling us what the problem is and then sending people out to "get involved" or "hold their feet to the fire" is just so much happy crappy.
We need a true, and truly progressive, third party. You have said as much. The nitwit Teabaggers can get something organized but the pathetic left can't find the guts, organization, or leadership to bolt from the Dems and give them a dose of poltical "moral hazard".
I guess true activism and organization on the left is sort of like the female orgasm. It is rumored to exist. It is supposed to exist. It is said to happen. Some say it actually has happened from time to time. But it mostly remains elusive.
Ed, quit the grousing. If you can organize a festival every year you can organize a political convention to actually organize a third party. You may not have the juice of some but you do have a faithful following that respects you. Obambi is shaping up to be the Democratic Herbert Hoover. The Dems in congress are befuddled and gutless and nothing more than a herd of cats. In a three way race 34% of the vote means a win. Time to "get 'er done" and send the feckless Dems packing. They have become the Whigs and their day is done.
-Griebnotz Doerkpfester | Egg Harbor, WI. | February 5, 2010
How did corporations and lobbyists become so powerful in our elections? I am not convinced they did it all on their own. I think we the people let it happen many, many years ago and now we are about to pay the price.
If you want things to change, then we must band together and make change happen. Power and wealth do not make this a nation, people do, people as in you and I.
-Franz Fripplfrappl | Stoughton, WI | February 5, 2010
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