Sycophants In Washington
By Timothy V. Gatto
03 September, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Recently the big subject on the internet has been the Fair elections Act which calls for public financing of candidates for public office. I'm not surprised as I have been writing non-stop about this subject since 2004. I just wondered when the rest of the country was going to catch up. There is no one that could be as happy as I am that people are finally “getting it”.
Not that I'm calling anyone stupid. It's just that campaign finance reform has never been the sexiest thing to write about. I should know as I've written my share. Once I thought I had the catchphrase that would make CFR the latest big deal by calling it “The Reform that Enables All Other Reforms”. Here is what I said:
“What I believe...no, what I know is, we will never, ever have true reforms until we start with The Reform that Enables all Other Reforms. That reform is campaign finance reform. Unless we implement that, unless we publically finance all election campaigns, we will never get rid of what is stopping us from getting these reforms passed in the first place, corporate and special interest campaign money. This is the "grand poobah" so to speak. The elephant in the living room, the hidden family secret, the real reason that Congressmen and Senators don't respond to their electorate, the people that put them in office, the billion dollar payoff to government , and the way the elected officials keep their jobs; corporate and special interest campaign money.” http://www.opednews.com/articles/
opedne_timothy__061230_the_reform_that_enab.htm
There it is… hat big elephant. Finally people are catching on. Robert Greenwald had a video today that featured campaign finance reform. I'm getting all flustered and exited. If only the mainstream Democrats and the people on the right would get it into their heads that this isn't a partisan issue, it's an issue that all Americans should be united on.
The facts are clear for every American not just for people on the left. The issue is whether we want corporate sycophants that obey every whim of their corporate donors or whether we want our Congressmen and Senators to represent their constituents. I can see watching out for corporations in a constituency that employs many people there, this is watching out for the people that elected you. Otherwise, I see no need for an elected representative to have anything to do with a corporation that is located out of a Congressman's district or out of a Senator's state. Representation for money paid into an election campaign by the practice of “bundling” employee's campaign donations and giving them to a selected candidate that will work in their behalf is not what the architects of the Constitution foresaw.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who gets to influence the elected officials. Money talks and bullshit walks. That is human nature. A person who may be very altruistic when they take office will find after a short time in office that if they don't play along, they will find themselves on the periphery of real power in Congress. The truth is, nobody trusts someone that doesn't “play the game”. Unfortunately, that is also human nature. Only by legislating proper behavior in Congress will we stop the influence pedaling in Washington. The system there has been compromised and no amount of letter writing or articles like this is going to change the status quo. We need the President with the support of Senators like Bernie Sanders(I-Vermont) and Russ Feingold D-WI)and Congressman like Ron Paul R-TX) and Dennis Kucinich(D-Il) to get involved maybe with the help of Lindsay Graham R-SC) and others from the GOP.
This is a matter of conscience. It is unthinkable that big corporate money should decide where this nation goes. We already have seen the endless wars that are fought for corporate gain take place. Eisenhower was right when he warned us about the “Military Industrial Complex”, only now it has become the “Military Industrial Corporate Complex”. We as citizens need to end this perversion of the American political system. People need to go to The Center for Responsive Politics frequently to see who is donating to whom and also to see how their representative or Senator is likely going to vote on an issue because of corporate influence.
[email protected] Read Tim's political book "Complicity to Contempt" and his novel "Kimchee Days or Stone Cold Warriors from Oliver Arts and Open Press or any online bookdealer.
