Over the last thirty-five years the corporate elite and their obliged politicians have sold the American public a bill of goods on the promise of globalization, unregulated free markets, privatization, wealthy tax cuts and an endless pursuit of wealth. This results in good Americans forming opinions based on bad data and the belief we can sustain a viable democracy in spite of the highest rate of incarcerated citizens in the world, the most expensive military, the costliest healthcare, the smallest and least effective social welfare system and the lowest taxes in history.
To orchestrate this masterful slight-of-hand the oligarchs and the corporate elite have managed to distract the middleclass with fears of organized labor, Muslim presidents and socialism. As a result, we have an uninformed citizenry who hate their own government, vote against their interests and protect the corporate elite who systematically pilfered our rights, squandered our treasure and created a concentration of wealth not seen since the gilded age.
The nations founders warned that property and markets had to be restrained and limited by government and law. Absent these restraints the economic disparity would lead to political inequality, which in turn would lead to government policies that reflected the interests of the few. Overwhelmed by this rising inequality, democracy would give way to oligarchy, the very concerns facing us today. The free market zealots will never freely relinquish their destructive influence. However, a tremendous amount of power resides with the people and if America is to once again regain its promise of fairness, shared opportunity and middleclass growth ordinary Americans will have to agree that a mindfulness of politics is the antidote to the casino capitalists who peddle the idea that free markets alone can solve our economic problems and the inequitable status quo will no longer be tolerated.
[ajax_load_more]
Discussion1 Comment
I think you are dead on! Now that you have defined the problem – how do we fix it… or is it too late?????