In 2016 there were more parties than the Big Two.When was the last time we had candidates to choose from who weren't obligated to corporate interests?
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"We live in two countries"
- Thread starter Stevicus
- Start date
Uh....yeah...that'll do.
I am utterly revolting!
And may all your oilers be full too.
We see in many exchanges here how discomforting news
items are dismissed with the claim of biased source.
It was this way before Trump, & will be after.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
That actually goes for all sides concerned.When was the last time we had candidates to choose from who weren't obligated to corporate interests?
It doesn't even have to be corporations it's actually special interest overall . Its killing our country and relegating people like you and me to second-tier. All because the Supreme Court decreed lobbying as being protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Sure, but only the Big Two have any chance at winning. We don't have ranked choice voting here.
Back in the '60s we used to ridicule the Soviet's 'democratic' elections because all candidates were chosen or vetted by the state.
We pretty much have the same thing. Any potential candidate who threatens the power structure has no real chance of nomination. In a real pinch there's always the electoral college to protect the oligarchs from the threat of democracy.
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Hear, hear!
And it's not just lobbying legislation. It's a thousand little legislative moves: rewordings, deleted commas, 'interpretations', and bills sneaked in when no-one was looking.
Ever since the Libertarian, free-market, small-government, free-for-all of the early 20th century crashed the economy in 1929, the "economic royalists"-- as Roosevelt called them -- have been clawing their way back to the top.
First they attempted an outright coup against Roosevelt's "socialist takeover," but General Butler blew the whistle ( @&%^!$ whistle-blowers!)
Smedley Butler: The Retired General Who Stopped a Wall Street Coup
After that the Right-wing was more subtle, but progress was slow.
In '71 Lewis Powell (later Supreme Court Justice Powell), frustrated with what he saw as "an attack on the American free enterprise system" by socialist government regulation, wrote a secret manifesto encouraging industrialists to unite against Big Government.
The Powell Memo: A Call-to-Arms for Corporations | BillMoyers.com
It launched the American conservative movement and inspiring Right-Wing/Libertarian think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Manhattan Institute, Americans for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in Academe, &al.
These had a huge effect in the '80s.
When Reagan was elected in '80, with his Neoliberal, Chicago School agenda and "trickle down" economics,
the whole Right-Wing agenda went into overdrive. Government regulation shrank, taxes decreased, (then increased, then decreased), and have been dropping steadily ever since.
Wealth trickled UP, corporations were free to crush unions, close factories or move them overseas. Wages stagnated, social services were slashed, education, medical costs, &c. soared, and Americans eventually became so pissed-off that -- with the encouragement of the now corporate-owned press, and think-tank organized "movements" like the Tea Party -- they blamed the whole thing on the Left-Wing and elected Trump.
America's problems are a product of a Right-wing conspiracy being blamed on the "socialist" Left.
I find it ironic when Democrats are accused of communism when it's Trump's policies moving us closer to being like Russia and China.America's problems are a product of a Right-wing conspiracy being blamed on the "socialist" Left.
The offerings of the Big Two offer us the lesser of 2 evils.
And voters can also influence their party primaries.
The fundamental problem is that they like the paths
chosen, eg, higher taxes, bigger government, more war.
Can't blame oligarchs for voters' choices.
True. Not when they choose the candidates and agendas.
Maybe we should try a Democracy.
The results would be the same.True. Not when they choose the candidates and agendas.
Maybe we should try a Democracy.
We don't like the voters' choices.
But we voters don't want to blame ourselves.
So we find a boogeyman...
The Oligarchy! It must be them!