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Our political leaders are driving the country into a ditch, because they're under the intoxicating influence of corporate money.
Driving Under the Influence of Corporate Money
Drunk with cash, our leaders serve the demon gods of money and military aggression.
Like alcoholic parents who neglect their families, our leaders neglect their struggling constituents and spend public funds to feed their evil habit.
Our leaders need to enter detox.
Will we stand passively by, like codependent family members, and allow our leaders to continue ruining our lives?
In 2008 millions of Americans thought they were voting for real change when they voted for candidate Barack Obama. They thought that Obama would help our political leaders kick the habit of corporate influence and endless wars.
But President Obama himself seems to be driving under the influence. Alas, money is addicting stuff, apparently.
If Obama is turning around the aircraft carrier of state -- and I apologize for mixing metaphors -- he's doing it awfully slowly. In some ways, he seems to be accelerating towards the abyss.
Maybe our political leaders should be selected by exam and should have to take a vow of poverty.
The thing is, I'm sure many of our leaders come into office with the highest of intentions. But once there, they either succumb to the culture of drunken corruption, or they're outnumbered and helpless.
I don't know whether Obama was sincere when he promised to reform the way things are done in Washington, D.C. But his failure to even try to follow through is frightening, because it erodes faith in the political process. He seemed so smart. He spoke so well. He said the right things. He had the political capital to effect change. So far, he's blown his chance and instead aided and empowered the conservatives who brought the country to the brink of ruin.
It's clear now that our leaders have a serious problem. The system is broken. The question is whether we wean them from the bottle by reforming campaign finance laws, creating effective progressive news media, ensuring fair elections, establishing reasonable controls on corruption, and reversing the obscene concentration of wealth.
(This diary doesn't say much that's new. But I think the metaphor "under the influence" is cute.)
