"So this how Liberty dies... with thunderous applause..."

by Duckandcover

As I watch the uber-rich buying the Presidency, I'm not sure which is sadder: The death of our democracy or watching half the country cheer it on as if the interests of the uber rich align with theirs.

This isn't just about a campaign; it's about wholesale bribery. No matter who gets elected they will be more beholden to their mega donors than ever. The bottom line is that unless you're one of them, you simply don't count.

We really are, apparently, too stupid to live...but the Supreme Court should be doused with gasoline and set on fire for this.

In 1970 there were less than 250 lobbiests, now there are more than 14,000.

Lobbying has turned into a 30 billion dollar a year industry here in DC. And it's really lucrative.

"A study by the investment-research firm Strategas which was cited in The Economist and the Washington Post compared the 50 firms that spent the most on lobbying relative to their assets, and compared their financial performance against that of the S&P 500 in the stock market; the study concluded that spending on lobbying was a "spectacular investment" yielding "blistering" returns comparable to a high-flying hedge fund"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying_in_the_United_States

The price however, is getting higher and higher to the point you and I mean less and less. I encourage you all to fight this problem because it is the REAL CORE Issue. Please put aside your social concerns that the Right and Left purposely put forward for us to become emotional about and distract us while they take our freedom away.

The Constitutional clearly states, "for the people by the people." Not for the people by the dollar. Let's mandate publicly funded elections (either or combination by public money/individual payees). Let's set up a government site that has streaming equal air time for all candidates who meet the requirments for candidacy for all issues to be heard. Let this site be blogged and controlled by the government ethically and transparent to the people. Let the site be streamed with professional journalists who bring the candidates into waiting rooms and homes across the world without bipartisan politics/agendas.

There is NO reason we cannot do this economically and efficienctly that would pay huge dividends in the long run.

As it stands, however, it is commercials and political pundits who are payed million dollar salaries deciding our future.

A future that is not an democracy but an economcracy.....