My theme for 2020 is that the love of money is the root of all evil. Not that capitalism is bad, not that achievement or drive are bad, but that the lust to acquire riches for their own sake corrupts everything it touches.
Forr the love of money, Paul Manafort sold out his country. There was no underlying system of belief, just a desire to live like a king and damn the consequences.
For the love of money, Prince Jared is trying to give nuclear secrets to the Saudis in an effort to rescue him from a bad bet at 666 Park Avenue. Nuclear technology in the hands of the same Wahabi princes who are alleged to have supported the 911 highjackers.
For the love of money, Don Blankenship allowed 26 miners to die in a hellhole because safety equipment reduces the bottom line.
For the love of money the Sackler family pushed a dangerously addictive drug for patients who could have managed will less addictive meds, triggering a nation wide addiction epidemic.
For the love of money Rupert Murdoch laid waste to the integrity of the free press and divided the country in ways not seen since the Civil War
For the love of money the NRA, at the command of its corporate sponsors, fostered a culture of murder resulting in thousands of deaths each year. This death cult self their soul to the Russian Federation and spent those ill gotten gains to thoroughly corrupt the Republican party top to bottom.
For the love of money, Christian leaders turned Christian theology on its head in the form of prosperity doctrine in effect praising the money changers in direct opposition to the words and deeds of Christ himself. While accumulating mansions and private jets, evangelical leaders made it acceptable to hate the "others" whom Christ taught us to love.
For the love of money, too many of our elected officials disregarded the obvious will of the people instead voting to accommodate their wealthy and often secret donors. On guns, on taxes, on environmental policy it is clear the fix is in.
For the love of money the fossil fuel industries prevent even modest efforts to deal with climate change. Their own internal documents show that they know what is happening, but still they persist in fending off necessary change to protect their money.
They call it freedom. They call it God's favor. The call it being a real American. The only fundamental truth here is that they love the money. In Washington today the love of money is fomenting the destruction of our Democratic Republic. Not for any noble cause, but for the love of money.
We must call this out whenever some shill denies climate change or gets elected with secret sources of money. We must demand every candidate disclose who is packing their PACs with cash. Finally for the love of our fellow human beings we must stop reducing our every policy debate to a financial calculation and for once do the right thing even if it doesn't make somebody rich.