Today has been an interesting day when it comes to campaign finances and talk of a third party. First of all, The Supreme Court seems ready to take another look into the constitutionality of the McCain-Fiengold Act that has supposedly brought us campaign reform. Even though McCain-Fiengold is just about obsolete, the Justices are clearly looking at the 1st amendment in relation to stopping special interests from donating money, or placing limits on when they may donate. This is something that we should all be watching closely. If they do revisit McCain-Fiengold and strike down parts of it, or possibly all of it, we could end up having a free for all where the corporate world could throw it’s weight around even more than it does now and effectively “buy” public opinion even more than they do today.
Another coincidence, Burton Wolfe sent out his newsletter today and it had a quote from Aristotle on the front. According to the great philosopher: “The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy.” Apparently anyone that can think rationally must come to the conclusion that here in America, at this moment in time, The United States of America, does not fit the definition of a democracy, but fits the description of an oligarchy to a tee. This is becoming more and more apparent to Americans as they discover that campaign finance and corporate control of our government are two parts of the same problem. At last I feel that Americans see that corporate control is actually means that elected officials are bought and sold by corporate special interest groups before they even take their seats in Congress. This corporate control also makes itself felt in the Executive branch when Presidential campaigns are expected to hit the billion dollar mark during this Presidential election cycle. A visit to Opensecrets.org run by The Center for Responsive Politics will do wonders as far as opening anyone’s eyes that thinks what I am saying here is leftist propaganda. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or someone with a degree in political science to realize that this countries elections are nothing but legal bribery by the corporate sector. It’s a disgrace and a crime against the people that we no longer have a say in just who runs for office anymore. This will eventually destroy the fabric of this nation.
In light of what I have just said, Sam Waterston and former Maine Gov. Angus King (I) are part of a new washingtonpost.com series called PostTalk. Waterston and King are leaders in a new movement known as Unity '08 -- a bipartisan organization aimed at fielding a legitimate third party candidate for president in 2008. They point out that Ross Perot managed to grab 22% of the vote after he bowed out of the campaign and came back in a few months later. They feel that if they could run a heady campaign in the time that they have left before the next Presidential election, they could double that number and therefore capture the White House. I read an interview with these two by Chris Cilliza of the WAPO and they seem to be a centrist bloc that is definitely NOT Conservative but lean toward Republican candidates. In my opinion, the more parties the merrier. If we had more than just two parties that sometimes you can’t slip a razor between as far as viewpoints go, we will have a better representation of the political leanings of the majority of Americans. It would be great if we could have a Progressive Party that could actually function as a major player.
Seems like the political landscape is changing. Maybe we needed to have someone almost destroy the country with neo-right political views. If not for the cost of lives and money that this President has wrought, I would say that it was just what we needed to wake us up. Still, the Presidency of this madman isn’t over. Dennis Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment against Cheney presented yesterday were greeted by derisive laughter by Glenn Beck and other empty-headed neo-cons. We still need to focus on getting these two men out of office before we have no chance to see how our political future shakes out. This is where we all have to pitch-in and call our congressman and support Kucinich. Even if he fails to pass these articles of impeachment, it still brings attention to the crimes of this administration. We need to make sure that they leave when they are scheduled to, if not sooner.
Another coincidence, Burton Wolfe sent out his newsletter today and it had a quote from Aristotle on the front. According to the great philosopher: “The real difference between democracy and oligarchy is poverty and wealth. Wherever men rule by reason of their wealth, whether they be few or many, that is an oligarchy, and where the poor rule, that is a democracy.” Apparently anyone that can think rationally must come to the conclusion that here in America, at this moment in time, The United States of America, does not fit the definition of a democracy, but fits the description of an oligarchy to a tee. This is becoming more and more apparent to Americans as they discover that campaign finance and corporate control of our government are two parts of the same problem. At last I feel that Americans see that corporate control is actually means that elected officials are bought and sold by corporate special interest groups before they even take their seats in Congress. This corporate control also makes itself felt in the Executive branch when Presidential campaigns are expected to hit the billion dollar mark during this Presidential election cycle. A visit to Opensecrets.org run by The Center for Responsive Politics will do wonders as far as opening anyone’s eyes that thinks what I am saying here is leftist propaganda. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or someone with a degree in political science to realize that this countries elections are nothing but legal bribery by the corporate sector. It’s a disgrace and a crime against the people that we no longer have a say in just who runs for office anymore. This will eventually destroy the fabric of this nation.
In light of what I have just said, Sam Waterston and former Maine Gov. Angus King (I) are part of a new washingtonpost.com series called PostTalk. Waterston and King are leaders in a new movement known as Unity '08 -- a bipartisan organization aimed at fielding a legitimate third party candidate for president in 2008. They point out that Ross Perot managed to grab 22% of the vote after he bowed out of the campaign and came back in a few months later. They feel that if they could run a heady campaign in the time that they have left before the next Presidential election, they could double that number and therefore capture the White House. I read an interview with these two by Chris Cilliza of the WAPO and they seem to be a centrist bloc that is definitely NOT Conservative but lean toward Republican candidates. In my opinion, the more parties the merrier. If we had more than just two parties that sometimes you can’t slip a razor between as far as viewpoints go, we will have a better representation of the political leanings of the majority of Americans. It would be great if we could have a Progressive Party that could actually function as a major player.
Seems like the political landscape is changing. Maybe we needed to have someone almost destroy the country with neo-right political views. If not for the cost of lives and money that this President has wrought, I would say that it was just what we needed to wake us up. Still, the Presidency of this madman isn’t over. Dennis Kucinich’s Articles of Impeachment against Cheney presented yesterday were greeted by derisive laughter by Glenn Beck and other empty-headed neo-cons. We still need to focus on getting these two men out of office before we have no chance to see how our political future shakes out. This is where we all have to pitch-in and call our congressman and support Kucinich. Even if he fails to pass these articles of impeachment, it still brings attention to the crimes of this administration. We need to make sure that they leave when they are scheduled to, if not sooner.
