This it politics at it’s worst. The Democrats have just become totally transparent and from my point of view, I don’t like what I’m seeing. Like I have stated over and over, the Democrats have morphed into “Republican Lite”. Why they insist on negating a huge segment of the population that is just finding it’s voice seems like political suicide to me. When Nancy Pelosi first came out and said “impeachment is off the table” that too was an attempt at not alienating the center-right. The truth is that now, at this juncture, the two sides have polarized so much that the center-right is vanishing.
This only proves that the people are not the constituency that the Democratic Party is seeking. Sure, they want to be seen as leading in the polls, they want the public to support their approach to government, and they make an attempt to get the public to support their agenda. The ones that they are truly trying to win over however, are the Corporations and the PAC’s. Once you put that into the equation, everything now makes sense. They want the “appearance” of public support, but more than that, they want and need the corporate and special interest money. It’s no wonder that Nancy Pelosi took impeachment “off the table” when you understand that corporations and special interests paid for 66% of her campaign. When you think about it you might be astonished, but when you find out that she was at the bottom of the list as far as campaign donations from corporate and special interest groups, you then can really see who is running the show.
War is great for defense contractors. Humvees have to be replaces, ammo has to be made, cruise missiles that go for a few million a pop have to be manufactured. That the United States spends 7 times more than it’s nearest competitor, you know it’s big business. Don’t take my word for it, here’s the breakdown:
* The US military spending was almost 7 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender.
* The US military budget was almost 29 times as large as the combined spending of the six “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) who spent $14.65 billion.
* It was more than the combined spending of the next 14 nations.
* The United States and its close allies accounted for some two thirds to three-quarters of all military spending, depending on who you count as close allies (typically NATO countries, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan and South Korea)
* The six potential “enemies,” Russia, and China together spent $139 billion, 30% of the U.S. military budget.
Source: U.S. Military Spending vs. the World, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, February 5, 2007
We spent $420 Billion dollars last year. Our closest competitor China, spent $16.2 Billion. Quite a difference, don’t you think? That is a good reason to pay for your political allies to get into office. I don’t think the Defense contractors are going to be bankrolling Liberal/Progressives anytime soon. The only way we can change the game is to change the way political campaigns are funded. A good place to learn about that is to go to The Center for Responsive Politics or opensecrets.org. They will tell you who exactly took how much from whom.
