Comfort the Afflicted & Afflict the Comfortable

By Chuck Marshall

 

                    CNN Executive Ted Turner's Island Estate - He Understands Your Struggles 

     I recently heard a recording on a radio station (yes, a conservative  radio station and yes, I know they are often "unglued") but I like their spunk and I especially like their disdain for the "politically correct" talking heads of our nation who say all the right things but lack sincerity in their coverage.  They're more "real".   Anyway, they played a recording of a  CNN Executive speaking to a group of journalists;   He asks "what is your job?".  They all answer to "tell a story", and he answered  "yes, yes to tell a story" but also "to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable".   First of all, I thought the  job of journalists was to seek the truth, but if "telling a story" is what they teach at the Universities then who am I to argue ?  Second,  I cannot conceive of a more "comfortable"  group of people in need of "afflicting" than the mass media talking heads and their executive masters.  They (CNN, MSNBC, and all the major networks) along with the career politicians, and lobbyists of DC and all the pretty people out in Hollywood, CA cooped up in their mansions (cue the garish Academy Awards from Sunday night, I could gag from their pretentious political correctness- they are the definition of hypocrisy).  ALL of these groups with a total lack of awareness towards how real people live.  These "talking heads" and "stars" and "bureaucrats" would be advised to take out a mirror or go to the nearest restroom to take a good long look.   YOU are the privileged ones   YOU are the comfortable ones needing affliction.  Which brings to mind the old saying;  "You can't see the Forest for the Trees".   Could it be that Donald Trump is the "affliction" THEY all need ?   Could he be the one to "show them to the forest" so to speak ?  We will see.
   

Restoring American Democracy, Part V- The Lobbyists

Legal Felony


I am a simple man.  I work in sales in the foliage industry., and I have no claim to understand the inner workings of our government.  I do, however know enough to recognize when something is going on that just doesn't sit right.  The one big "whopper" in this genre, is the Lobbying industry.  Did you know there are over 13,000 registered lobbyists in Washington, DC ?!  That is not accounting for the massive numbers of lobbyists at the state and even local level.  For our purposes, we will try to keep our minds wrapped around the abomination going on in Washington, and I will leave all of  you readers to consider your own state leaders as it's overwhelming to consider ALL the levels of government as they rob us all blind of our right to a representative government.  A similar objective would be to consider the billions of stars in the known universe and claim you can fathom such size.  Even the very "idea" of 13,000 lobbyists is hard to understand when we have a total of 535 elected legislative leaders, and one President.   How does anything get done?  Well, it doesn't really as we all know by now, our Congress is incapable of DOING anything, which is one of the main reasons I write this blog.

The lobbyists exist under the auspice that our constitution allows for the people's right to petition the government.  Note it says "people"., so right at the very beginning we have evidence that the original intention of our founding fathers has gone astray.  These are not people., 'nor do they represent the people other than the well connected people of our largest corporations, unions, law firms, accounting firms, associations (ie, NRA) and every other "special interest" that you can dream up.  All the people that can afford their services, is what it all has become.

The amount of money spent on lobbying in Washington, DC has gone up by seven times since 1980.   The amount spent is at an astounding $3.4 Billion annually as of 2010 ! That's up from $1.44 Billion just since 1990. Nearly triple in 20 years.


So, who are these lobbyists, exactly ?

The largest contributing industry in 2010?    Pharmaceuticals which spent $241,075,934 in 2010 and they have spent a whopping $2,081,240,642 since 1998.   Consider that fact the next time you pay well over $100 for the newest drug., and I promise you they don't spend that much money because they're so anxious to get the American people the best drugs money can buy.  A close second was the electric utilities at $191,304,085 in 2010 and $1,417,711,382 since 1998.  Although the insurance industry has been losing ground the last year or so, they still get an "also ran" award for placing second overall in this category by spending $1,499,821,977 since 1998 to get their "fair share".   Again, any reasonably intelligent grown up understands they aren't in DC  because they have a mission of good will to all people.  $1.5 Billion to make sure congress does exactly what?

The largest single contributors?    The US Chamber of Commerce for 2010 which was at $132,067,500. They have spent a massive $738,825,680 since 1998.  Second: PG&E Group (Pacific Gas & Electric Co.) at $45,460,000 for 2010.    The all time "winner" for 1998-2010 was the American Medical Association at $243,277,500. The American Medical Association and the Pharmaceutical lobbyists must have a good time discussing strategies at the taverns and bars in Georgetown. The two together have spent nearly $3 Billion since 1990.  That much money chasing what results?  It's not as if our health care systems is a shining example of human capabilities !  I guess it works well for them.   They're not stupid enough to spend $3 Billion for nothing,......only the government does dumb things like that.

This has been one of the hardest blogs for me to write because I tend to acknowledge both sides of arguments, but I see no argument to support such obscene amounts of money being spent by the moneyed and powerful.  They steer our government to make specific decisions that would obviously be in their favor.

In "Common Sense", Thomas Paine began by writing:  "Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right". Thomas Paine was talking about the King of England,  I think it applies today to the lobbying industry.  We've seen it so long, that it seems like an ordinary way of "doing government business".  An unfortunate necessity.   But,  what's going on is wrong.   Like slithering snakes, these lobbyists have coiled themselves around the very freedoms and liberties our young men and women fight for over seas, choking those freedoms into submission in the name of corporate welfare.  These people have an undue influence on our government  and its operation.  I am afraid that our leaders in Washington, DC consider, first and foremost,  "what would be the best course of action to grease the palms of those that will get me reelected?".  Any benefit to the American people would be a happy circumstance..... a pleasant coincidence.  With lobbyists whispering in their ear, the focus and targets and ambitions of our leaders is rooted in the matter of how they might yield more power to the already powerful.   Indeed, it is today not uncommon for legislative leaders to simply "hand over" the writing of laws to the lobbyist so that they might construct laws according to every detail of his or her clients' needs.  Subsequently  the legislator simply submits a facsimile to Congress for approval., a practice shocking in its audacity.  Such unmitigated gall.  Few people on earth could sleep at night having vowed in their elections to work "for the people", and do so much to the contrary once they reach our nation's capital.  There must be training at the Universities or in the law schools that teaches young minds how to shut off their conscience so that as they doze off to sleep they aren't jolted back awake by memory of their daily interactions.

So, what is the solution?  Remove the money from the process.  In this case, an elected official is much less inclined to listen to the lobbyist if there is no need for the money to be re-elected.  Although, each official is certainly open to being "bribed" as would any person in power, such an arrangement becomes a felony rather than the "protected" felony that today's lobbying industry is.   An elected official will certainly still be the source of the lobbyists attention and I'm not so gullible as to think they would disappear entirely, but their influence will be reduced drastically once the rewards for all that work yields simple "attention" and not "obligation".   Once again, the solution is to remove money from the process of electing officials, let the best leaders rise to the top and let the most moneyed go back to the business of earning a fortune, not stealing it from the American people.  

Restoring American Democracy, Part IV The Snake

Before we start getting into the elections themselves, and how removing money from the process will make such a difference in the leaders that we get, I wanted to spell out the biggest causes of concern in modern America so that ALL our big problems are there, on one page, ready to review.  The simplicity of what I'm proposing will eventually reveal how these very big problems don't have to be such big problems after all.

As I think about all the frustrations regarding our government today, these daunting obstacles keep surfacing in my mind and I'm sure in the minds of any thoughtful reader as well.  They are like the five major parts of a snake, each of them functioning together, dependent on one another as they slither their way around Democracy and constrict thus rendering the ordinary citizen powerless.  The five parts are;   The Lobbyists,  The Elections, The political parties, The media and the National deficit.

     1)  The lobbyists.  Our government is in the palm of all those interests with enough money to gain influence.    Usually this involves lobbyists that essentially hold our leaders "hostage" that no Congressional leaders should expect financial support if "things" don't go the way of these moneyed interests in society.  The largest lobbying organizations are Pharmaceuticals, Medical, the US Chamber of Commerce, Big Oil, etc.... Have you noticed substantial good being done by our government to help the American Citizen regarding any of these groups?  No, of course not.  The lobbyists aren't there to help the American people, they're there to help themselves.  So then, how can our leaders claim to be representing the American people when the truth is so contrary and so obvious to all ?

     2) Elections.  In the 2012 national elections the following amount of money was spent by our wonderful leaders ;  The presidency;  $2,000,000,000.  House of Representatives; winner spent on average $1,400,000 and the average winning Senator spent $9,800,000 !

How can any ordinary American hope to get a position of leadership when the cost for such endeavor requires a "King's Ransom" for this ascension?  They can't.  That's why half of all Congress is occupied by millionaires.  If they're not millionaires, it's actually  worse because these individuals are most assuredly in debt to a lot of people.  This will require a lot of favors and therefor a lot of  "maneuvering" in our Capitol.  This activity will occupy much time and effort that would otherwise,  rightfully be devoted to the good of the American citizens they represent.

     3)   The political parties;   The Democrats and Republicans.   These consummate enemies  have had all the power for far too long.  Not only do they have too much power, but they've turned the governing of the greatest country in the world into a perpetual "Football Game".  All touchdowns and/or penalties are for the benefit of each team and the only group that always loses is the American citizen sitting in the stadium, frustrated at their lack of influence on the players below.   The power of the parties will continue as long as they stick to hating the opponent and swearing they will do all in their power to bring them down, no matter the consequences to the people themselves.  They've suckered us all into believing that the art of governing must be in perpetual dispute, a tug of war over ideology, a necessary evil.  In actuality, it is the job of our leaders to "lead" not argue.  Disagreements should be the exception, not the rule.  There are far too many American citizens who are hurt because this simple act of leadership is so sorely missing today.   I doubt it is their conscious intention (as a blithering "herd", neither group really thinks),  the political parties have neutered the power of the American people by dividing us.

     4)  The media, aka, "the enablers".  They criticize and provoke and instigate, and then sit back and watch the fun.  I'm sure they all enjoy the news with a bag of popcorn clutched in their claws,  the way human beings watch movies.  The media power brokers would most assuredly recoil at the idea of removing money from the election process.  Not only do they stand to lose a lot of money from political campaigns, but they also lose the pure joy of stirring the pot every 2-4 years.  In the end it will be a benefit to them as they will be the window we all watch into a new process of election., and they can perhaps learn what it is to remark on intelligent, coherent problem solving rather than the the "cock fights" they are so use to encouraging.

     5) The national deficit.  Right now it's $17,000,000,000,000.  That's disturbing just typing it.  I don't think I really need to elaborate too much on this topic., in that it's alarming unto itself.  If you imagine the interest on this debt, and let's say the world's interest rates spike up, then we're all screwed.  The reason this has happened is because we have an incompetent government.   They get us into wars and then refuse to pay for said wars.  They spend on bloated government bureaucrats for positions and departments that sometimes are replicating the work of another department.  They offer life time jobs to incompetent people  They spend your money and my money on over-priced medical procedures, military equipment, etc... because all their vendors know they can get away with it.  They are incompetent., but because of this incompetence we are all stuck in debt with no apparent way out.    Make no mistake, this is everyone's problem.  The fact of the matter is,  there is NO incentive for them to stop spending once their party holds the power in government.  It's  like their reward for getting into the office.  They seem to think that once they've won, the money is all THEIRS to spend.  We have to change that mentality.

We can sever the head of this "snake of incompetence" by withholding its source of power;  Money.    

Of, for, by lobbyists- forget the people

Published in the Orlando Sentinel on May 29, 2010 - I'm very proud of this one.

Regarding the article "U.S. rains subsidies on drillers" in Wednesday's Sentinel: Once again there is an example of how decisions are made by the lobbying industry and whoever has employed lobbyists for their profitable services.

Why shouldn't anyone who can afford it hire lobbyists to represent them within our government? Whatever they want, they will be given. The interests of the people, whether in the country as a whole (as in energy policy, banking policy) or our locally run government (the right of developers to do whatever they want), are all up for sale.

These are important issues that should require the government to step up and protect the people. Protect us from the exploitation of our security, welfare, health, economy, environment and our right to a life free of the hinderances that come from an unfair advantage bestowed upon the powerful and wealthy. The interests of the people as a whole should be paramount.

Should I throw up my hands and accept that my country is no longer a country of the people? This country is of the lobbyist, by the lobbyist and for whoever is paying the lobbyist. While the most important issues of our day are auctioned to the highest bidder, the Democrats and Repulicans go on and on with their petty bickering, accomplishing very little.

'Round and 'round they go, always with the next election on their radars, rarely with the interests of the people they represent.