What In The World Are We Doing?

Why have we allowed our government to be put for sale? If you don’t think we have, then what does it mean when they say the insurance (or some other) industry is spending millions lobbying hard to defeat or change some legislation.

If we follow the dots, let’s see where they lead:

• An industry is made up of a particular trade or branch of business.
• The goal of business is profit.
• Lobbyists seek to influence legislators on behalf of a particular interest or industry.
• Therefore, the underlying goal of lobbying is to help the industry make a profit.
• There are often conflicts between the industry "wants" and the common good
• In such a conflict, if the industry gets its way our legislators have sold us out.

It sounds simplistic doesn’t it? But it is just that simple and it happens all the time.

Most of us have heard that corporations are considered persons and as such, fit the profile of a psychopath. These psychopaths are programmed to exploit others for profit. Their only goal is to make profits for their shareholders. They operate without any moral, (and more and more without any legal),responsibility for the interests of workers, the environment, or the good of society as a whole. The truth of their claim that they have the right to operate that way is questionable but we don’t question it.

Our Legislators have become the enablers of these psychopaths. Instead of looking out for the interests of the people they were elected to represent, they allow the lobbyists to influence the laws they pass. Perhaps they are simply misled by the lobbyists in which case we should question their intelligence instead of their integrity. They are fully aware that corporations are all about profit so when lobbyists start talking about how what they want will benefit the people, common sense dictates skepticism not cooperation.

A review of just a few laws and who really benefits from them leaves no doubt that our elected representatives sell us out over and over:

Medicare Plan D prescription coverage gives minimal help to seniors, costs taxpayers big time, and allows insurance and drug companies to make millions.

New bankruptcy laws offer much less financial relief to those who need it but save the banks and credit card companies from losses many of which are caused by their own poor lending practices.

Government subsidies sold to the public as help for the small farmer, the consumer, or various sectors of the economy, actually take taxpayers money and funnel it directly into the coffers of profit rich corporations.

Before dismissing this as anti-capitalist rhetoric, remember who we are talking about. First we have legislators who claim to be working for the common good but keep passing laws that don’t benefit the majority of the public. Then we have psychopathic corporations who spend millions of dollars to convince the public that they are the good guys with the people’s interests at heart but readily admit their only goal is to make a profit.

We need to open our eyes, and then open our mouths, and then use our votes to fix this!