Liberal Words
. . . . The American system of government is broken, and it cannot be fixed by just holding elections.
. . . . There was a time when the art of the political deal was reasonably effective, earning politicians a certain amount of respect. Today, our system of government is dominated by a privileged economic minority. Catering to these elites has resulted in the political profession being widely reviled. Such a situation calls for leaders of courage to change the balance of power.
. . . . This can only be done by going directly to the people and building a grassroots movement. The goal of this movement would be to force our representatives to reject the power of corrupt, concentrated wealth and embrace the public interest.
. . . . The failure of Barack Obama has been his inability to understand that conventional political solutions frequently require capitulation to those who wield the real power. Likewise, the tea-party movement has failed to grasp the threat posed by private tyrannies. These are the highly organized market players who manipulate and ultimately steal the economic and political wealth of this country.
. . . . It can be difficult for the public to grasp the depth of this problem because unrestrained greed dictates the messages and policies of government, media and big business.
. . . . If we are ever to be free again, we must learn how to defeat the moneyed elites, and harness the power they have usurped, so that our public officials may one day serve the many instead of the few. We must begin to realize that markets, with their narrow focus on profit, cannot govern society and that government, as our servant, has the duty to regulate the private sector for the public good. (Jan R. Young, Daytona Beach News Journal, December 10, 2010)
Discussion
. . . . Ms. Young is clearly right on in her thinking, here and there. Her letter focuses quite narrowly upon what she expresses as the corrupting power of wealth, money, markets, and the private sector which is so focused upon profit that they must be controlled by government. She concludes that the government, responsible to the people, has the duty to regulate the private sector for the public good.
. . . . It is fascinating that Ms. Young uses so many politically loaded terms to make her case as follows: the privileged economic minority, these elites, capitulation to real power, power to corrupt, concentrated wealth, organized market players who manipulate and steal both economic and political wealth, unrestrained greed, moneyed elites, and a narrow focus upon profit. Clearly any government must reign in such evil monkeys. These are clear earmarks of the political left, a strategy calculated to divide the haves from the have-nots, and gather in the “middle class” vote. This is also known as “Workers of the world unite”.
. . . . Her reasoning, or lack thereof, suggests a clear line which differentiates the public from the private sector. In her thinking the private side, narrowly driven by profit, suffers from unrestrained greed, while the public sector somehow escapes these evil monkeys. Is there some process by which the evil monkeys choose to stay in the private sector, while only the good monkeys become politicians and government bureaucrats? With this natural selection (think Darwin) it is then fitting for the good monkeys in government to regulate the evil monkeys in the private sector. Right??
. . . . When compromise forms the core of federal laws, this vote buying procedure guarantees the worst of all worlds, as illustrated by the passage of Obama Care. The clearest case for organized vote buying (bribing) is in the passage of this federal law. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas tried to extract hundreds of millions of dollars from the country’s taxpayers in exchange for their support of Obamacare. Here we have the ruling class paying off each other in order to pass a bill for the good of the country. It was performed virtually behind closed doors within a single party. This sounds very much like the ruling elite to me.
. . . . The voter would feel completely left out of the equation if it were not for the 14,000 annual earmarks which are never voted on, the pork that flows back to individual districts and others without discussion. When quasi-government enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are allowed to give millions of dollars in campaign contributions to those writing their laws, Ms Young is clearly right. But wait, these are the good monkeys in government, Barney Frank, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama who received campaign contributions from these government organizations. The money has corrupted all of the good monkeys in government, too!!
. . . . Looking carefully, one may see little difference between the good monkeys in government and the evil monkeys in the private sector. Since all the monkeys are now cut from the same evil cloth, one must ask “Were the monkeys good when elected to government, or did the government systems corrupt them after their arrival?”
. . . . The real difference between the two is very clear. Businesses must cover all expenses to remain in operation. Failing this they enter bankruptcy appropriately. When the federal government does the same, they increase current debt or print more money, which businesses can’t do. Our governments are approaching bankruptcy through excessive borrowing and under-funded retirement and pensions that are unsustainable in the near future.
. . . . This monkey would propose that all monkeys are essentially the same, and that within given “systems” such as our governments, most all monkeys evolve to reflect the processes and constraints of their working environment. Our current government monkeys in Washington readily vote on 2,000 page bills they have not read, and many justify this process. Our monkeys in Washington have the power, individually, to spend billions of dollars through earmarks that never come to a vote. Our monkeys in Washington write inducements into law to bribe the states into matching state tax dollars with federal dollars to support a federal initiative. Many federal laws are simply unfunded mandates with which the states must comply.
. . . . There are dozens of legislative, judicial, and procedural shenanigans at all levels of government that the good monkeys on Main Street have never heard of. Yet these good monkeys continue to elect powerful, and eventually arrogant politicians back to their governments through election after election. Will the good monkeys ever prevail, or does the government turn our perfectly good monkeys into legislators who will stand for nothing and are accountable to nobody??
. . . . These good government monkeys are often totally protected, personally, from the very laws they pass and require the rest of us to live by. They live in a different world. Once elected to Washington, they automatically inherit lifetime retirement, free medical care in a system separate from the one they passed for the rest of us. Why should they read the bill when it will not influence their own lives. It is just for the man on the street.
. . . . The idea that money or markets are the primary corrupting influence is vastly over-rated. It is more likely that it is power that corrupts.
The Antidote:
. . . . With legislators who spend 60% of their time raising money for re-election rather than representing their constituents, maybe it is time for most of them to be limited to a single term of office. This saves them 60% of their time.
. . . . Maybe it is time for our federal legislators to become part-time employees with no benefits, requiring that they remain citizens of the same world the rest of us inhabit.
. . . . Maybe it is time for all legislators to be required to read every word of every bill that he or she votes on. This might encourage them to write bills which can be read in an hour.
. . . . Maybe it is time for laws to be written so clearly that it is not necessary to provide an exemption process by which select constituents opt out of the provisions of the law.
. . . . Maybe it is time to pass laws which are permanent, rather than those with an expiration date. The current fiasco of tax rates with an expiration date keeps the man on the street, and all businesses constantly on edge. How can businesses hire new folks when their cost of operation for the next year may go up substantially.
. . . . Maybe it is time to require all legislators to live under every bill he or she passes into law.
. . . . Maybe it is time for Washington to fund every piece of legislation they pass into law.
. . . . Maybe it is time to end all government subsidies which primarily interfere with market forces, and distorts cost, value, and prices consumers pay.
. . . . Ms. Young is wide of the mark when she demonizes profits as the evil monkey. Profits are the basis for all tax calculations which produce a huge proportion of the revenue to all our governments. Our business tax rates are higher than in virtually all developed countries in the world. Without profitable businesses, which support families and employment, there is no revenue to the government.
. . . . Ms. Young is wide of the mark to demonize markets. Many businesses operate on incredibly small margins, like grocery chains. Their market efficiency provides less expensive food and other essentials. Wallmart, which many demonize, has provided virtually everything folks need at the least cost across much of the world. Multi-national corporations expand because they are efficient market players, and bring goods to market for the least cost. The pharmaceutical industries may be an exception to this rule, thanks to their purchasing power in Washington.
. . . . When Ms. Young refers to the economic wealth of the country, where exactly does this wealth come from? A huge proportion of this “wealth” comes from business and corporate profits through federal, state, and local taxes.
. . . . Without these profits we would all be working for the government. The Soviet Union tried this experiment of government run by the good monkeys, until their system went bankrupt. There must have been a flaw in their system somewhere, but surely it was not in the government monkeys who were in charge?
. . . . Hello!! You want freedom??
. . . . Hello!! Ms. Young. Are you there?
. . . . Do you want freedom, or government slavery where there is no wealth, no profit, and no money?