From the LA Times:
corruption is everywhere!
Sacramento's scandal-in-waiting
By Jamie Court, JAMIE COURT, author of "Corporateering," is president of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
IN THE WAKE of the Abramoff, Cunningham and DeLay scandals, all eyes have turned to lobbying reform in D.C. And deservedly so. But Washington is just the beginning. In fact, the kind of lobbying that goes on in the nation's capital also exists -- often more brazenly, more openly and with bigger dollar amounts -- in every state capital in the country, including Sacramento.
Pick up any local rag and you will see that corruption exists at the local level as well. The whole damn process is corrupt from top to bottom.
Where is the rule of law when politicians of every stripe and at every level of government can be bought?
Central to this huge fuckaree is who gets a seat at the table and why.
We elect politicians to represent our interests but have you ever wondered why? Who is it that would `oppose' our/society's interests?
We need only look at who is sitting on the other side of the table, society's fat cats.
In most cases these same fat cats financed the campaigns of the people sitting across the table from them.
Framing is important here because it's been said that conflicts between business and civil interests are natural and government is essential to keeping the two sides working together.
Understand that mercenary business practices were assumed as a given from the start. Who the fuck in their right mind would establish a government with the central premise being customer = prey?
Wouldn't be 45 wealthy merchants who conspired in secret would it? Not the same guys whose founding principal was, and I quote, "Let those who own the land, rule the land!" would it?
Monied interests on one side of the table, their bought and paid for politicians on the other and us, the hired help? Nowhere to be found.
This begs the question good citizen if in fact the monarchy of money is indeed corrupt?
This is the set-up we were given to govern `our' affairs with and it looks like it does what it's supposed to do...just so long as no one actually points out that the public's `participation' is merely for show, an illusion.
Making you complicit in your own serfdom was a stroke of genius on the founder's part.
45 wealthy merchants founded this country and, not by accident but by design, you have no way to challenge their power.
The revolt wasn't five years behind us and the public was already being referred to as the `rabble', the `unwashed masses'.
Don't cry over stolen elections, they have maintained control of the electoral process from the start...with many founders being appointed as `electors'. Ever wonder why the ballots are secret, so secret that only `trusted' election officials ever get to see them before they're destroyed?
Can you say `conflict of interest?'
Fast forward to today.
Disenfranchisement has an odd effect on the individual. Some tune out and become hedonistic while others turn opportunistic, willing to stab anyone that crosses their path on their relentless climb to the imaginary `top'.
The system is corrupt by design, money talks, bullshit walks.
Times have changed considerably since 45 conspirators sat in Philadelphia, sequestered in a guarded courtroom for several months working out the details of their power grab.
We now have unimagined pools of money attempting to buy influence over a radically shrinking pool of assets.
No longer content with what is locally available our monied class has set its sights on global conquest...a conquest that uses the children of workers as cannon fodder.
Enough!
It only takes one law to bring down the tyranny of the monied few. Voting for change is far preferable to fighting for it. If we are ever to manage the resources of this planet for the benefit of all humans we need but enact one simple law.
Prohibit the exploitation of any human by any other for personal gain; outlaw the employer/employee relationship...
NOW!
None of us was put here to be anyone else's cash cow but that's how it is. All wealth is the product of labor. Money is meaningless save as a means of regulating access to goods that are in short supply.
It is not in the interests of the monied class to provide employment for all who need it yet every one of us must somehow make our way in the world and employment is the only `legal' avenue open to us.
You can't live off the land if the land isn't yours. Thank you founding fathers and your fucking corrupt politicians!
Doesn't it make sense to base a society on the idea that producers and customers are one in the same? We can no longer tolerate the `customer as prey' and `workers are an expense to be shed' mentality that drives both corporate and government decision-making, decision making that the worker/victim has no voice in.
In a rational society commerce exists to serve the people, all people and not just the people that own commerce.
If you want to live in a rational world where the resources of this planet are managed for the benefit of all creatures that call this planet home, support the abolition of the employer/employee relationship.
Let no human make their way in life by selling the sweat of another.
If working for a paycheck is good enough for 99% of us, it's good enough for all of us.
Time to make it unanimous, we all work for a better world and we all reap the benefits, not just a few.
A society of peers will be far more effective than a society of drudges where less than one percent are `free' thanks to the sweat of the remaining 99%.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner