According to a Gallup Poll taken this fall, 23% of Americans are satisfied with where America is today while 76% of Americans are not. Another Gallup poll tells us that a mere 25% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans, 31% as Democrats but those who call themselves independents have swelled to a massive 42% of our electorate. The last midterm election produced an unacceptably low turnout of 36.3%, the lowest in 72 years. We have mass killings by crazy shooters, police killings of black perpetrators without criminal indictments at such as level that we are under investigation for human rights violations by the United Nations, school quality is eroding as access to higher education is becoming unaffordable, we have more economic polarization than we have ever had in our entire history, real earning power continues to fall, and a Bloomberg poll tells us that 53% of Americans believe that race relations have deteriorated in the last decade.
Despite these hard numbers, with strong influence from gerrymandering and voting restrictions, the new Republican Congress is telling us of their “mandate.” Get over it! Folks don’t like you, they just rebelled against incumbents, and you will be the “incumbents” in the next election. Healthcare in this country remains a bad joke, and there isn’t a meaningful “fix” that is going to happen to fix that path. But the Citizens United decision has made it abundantly clear that in the United States, it is money that votes.
As global climate change is hammering coastal communities and farmland, as parched cities and desertification devastate mile after mile… while other regions experience the worst flooding in memory… we are seeing a push-pull of growth advocates against those who truly fear the impact of climate change. Why aren’t problems that are clearly destroying our democracy, our environment and fostering the coddling of the uppermost economic classes at the expense of everything else being dealt with effectively?
Because our elections are subject to manipulative disenfranchisement of voters who care, and public office appears to be open to the highest bidders. Those with money have become the go-to power brokers, as the cost of running is increasing far more than any other major American cost. Money talks. While Democrats and independents want their share of that financial kitty and will take what they can purloin, it is GOP traditionalists who have handed over their votes and control to those with the biggest bucks.
Nowhere is this more evident than in state law enforcement, where big companies are trying to stem financial, regulatory and environmental controls to maximize their profitability. Their focus has been the GOP cadre of state attorneys general, many of whom might as well be on their benefactors’ corporate payrolls. With 27 out of 50 AGs being Republican, you can bet that the impact on relaxing those standards that impact our life, health and even our vote has just taken a giant step into the hands of corporate America.
GOP AGs are actively collaborating with each other in formulating a unified approach to de-regulating businesses within their communities. And when individual results pour out of this cabal, results like this are flooding into the heartland: “The letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma carried a blunt accusation: Federal regulators were grossly overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in his state.
“But Mr. Pruitt left out one critical point. The three-page letter was written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma’s biggest oil and gas companies, and was delivered to him by Devon’s chief of lobbying… ‘Outstanding!’ William F. Whitsitt, who at the time directed government relations at the company, said in a note to Mr. Pruitt’s office. ..
“The email exchange from October 2011, obtained through an open-records request, offers a hint of the unprecedented, secretive alliance that Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda, an investigation by The New York Times has found.
“Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year…
“For Mr. Pruitt, the benefits have been clear. Lobbyists and company officials have been notably solicitous, helping him raise his profile as president for two years of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a post he used to help start what he and allies called the Rule of Law campaign, which was intended to push back against Washington.
“That campaign, in which attorneys general band together to operate like a large national law firm, has been used to back lawsuits and other challenges against the Obama administration on environmental issues, the Affordable Care Act and securities regulation. The most recent target is the president’s executive action on immigration.” New York Times, December 7th.
How does this make you feel? Regardless of the underlying issues. Think rich voters should have multiple methods to instill their philosophy on government? Think this is sustainable over the long term? Nations that shift power so violently away from the original vectors of the “founding fathers” are unlikely to last. What seems like a momentary victory for those on top may actually be sowing the seeds of their own demise.
Clever marketing has moved a large body of voters to believing that we have a free market, that the free market will operate in everyone’s best interest and that federal interference is the biggest issue of the day. If free choice were so naturally a solution, then why do so many mega-wealthy powers think they need to buy the result they want? And when people figure out exactly who is screwing up their lives and trying to take away their vote, exactly how long will those on top be safe from the inevitable, historically-immutable truth of angry rebellion against abusive incumbent powers?
Take a look at the number of people who have migrated into gated communities (which doesn’t even cover the well-guarded mega-apartment complexes for the rich in cities like New York) based on our last census numbers: “Across the United States, more than 10 million housing units are in gated communities, where access is ‘secured with walls or fences,’ according to 2009 Census Bureau data. Roughly 10 percent of the occupied homes in this country are in gated communities, though that figure is misleadingly low because it doesn’t include temporarily vacant homes or second homes. Between 2001 and 2009, the United States saw a 53 percent growth in occupied housing units nestled in gated communities.” New York Times, March 29, 2012. Unless we take steps to restore balance to our balance to our political system, in a well-armed nation, what might be coming is not exactly subtle.
I’m Peter Dekom, and if so many Americans believe we are headed in the wrong direction, why then don’t we change that direction?
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