It seems that one of the more recent historical developments in January 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections, has created totally unequal access and influence for the rich over the poor. Essentially, now huge campaign contributions from to top one percent of the population can buy or help buy an election and the votes of congressmen to favor legislation for small, medium and giant corporations.
Here is an example of the 2008 election buying example from Opensecrets.org. "In 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 94 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day Nov. 5, the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning, according to a post-election analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The findings are based on candidates' spending through Oct. 15, as reported to the Federal Election Commission., the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning, according to a post-election analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The findings are based on candidates' spending through Oct. 15, as reported to the Federal Election Commission."
As well, the rich are regularly getting richer, more powerful and thus more influential. " Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world's population, worldwide development organization Oxfam International warns in a report published recently. Oxfam says it is an organization " determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty." Please see http://www.oxfam.org/en/about
If that doesn't happen, corruption will expand, as it is now doing worldwide.
"The roots of corruption are often grounded in a country's social and cultural history, political and economic development, bureaucratic traditions and policies," says click here" " Corruption tends to thrive when institutions are weak and economic policies distort the marketplace. Corruption distorts economic and social development, by engendering wrong choices and by encouraging competition in bribery rather than in the quality and price of goods and services, and, all too often, it means that the poorest must pay for the corruption of their own officials. It is a fact that if corruption is not reined in, it will proliferate."
Sometimes it seems like the only way to get government agencies influenced by powerful corporations their just deserts is for consumers and citizens to get together and organize burglaries into agency offices so they can obtain documentation of illegal corporate or government skullduggery.
You laugh! Sounds extreme doesn't it? Yet that is exactly what a group of U.S. citizens did to the FBI in 1971 during the controversial reign of its former director, J. Edgar Hoover. They were the Edward Snowdens of their time. Like Snowden, who blew the whistle on overwhelming government surveillance of domestic and foreign communications on telephones and the Internet, this unique citizen group took amazing actions that threatened their own federal prosecution. But, unlike Snowden, working for NSA, they were never discovered before the criminal statute of limitations on their burglary lapsed.
Snowden, however, fled to Russia, and still, if captured could face trial on serious charges including espionage. He is being called a Russian spy by several leading US legislators even though the FBI has indicated it has no such evidence. If it wasn't for Snowden, there would be no push for reform of NSA's massive violations of people's privacy round the world.
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