Daily Kos

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  •  Conflict of interest (none / 1)

    Add this to Kos's "Of Faith and Values" post on the front page and consider them together with Blackwell's conflict of interest.  What do they all have in common?  These people are in thrall to Big Money, which subverts democracy by coopting political operatives, media voices, and election officials.  Do I exaggerate?  Maybe, I'm not sure.  Sure looks that way, though. Interesting that a media pundit feels no need to disclose to his audience that he receives hundreds of thousands of dollars from the government to "comment" in favor of positions the Administration advocates. How likely is he to disagree publicly when he's being paid to advocate in favor of an issue?  Is it relevant to inquire whether Roemer receives money from Scaife's posse in exchange for sitting on one of its boards?  

    by tompaine2004 on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:05:05 AM PDT

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    •  Seperation of powers (4.00 / 2)

      If you thought combining power from religious imporance with power from political importance was bad...

      Well, you already know how bad combining power from economic importance with power from political importance is.

      Power needs to be seperated and fragmented as much as possible. It's the only way to ensure accountability to the powerful.

      It's not a campaign. It's a movement. Will you stand up?

      by danthrax on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:10:02 AM PDT

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      •  Yes (4.00 / 2)

        I agree.  The Framers got that one very, very right.  Unfortunately, the Constitution focuses on maintaining a separation of political powers as exercised by government officials but does nothing to prevent the influence of financial/economic power from working its will on all three branches of government.  In fact, the First Amendment and other provisions of the Constitutions assure that that influence may be freely exercised.  I suspect the Framers were all for that as well.  So am I, as long as the press remains independent and does its job.  It gets tough when economic interests, all three branches of government, and the press are in cahoots, and the national opposition party is relatively weak or rudderless.

        by tompaine2004 on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:57:15 AM PDT

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