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We have spent the last 69 years preparing to fight the Cold War, which ended 25 years ago. That means that for the entire duration of those 25 years we have maintained a military readiness, funding all the weapons that won’t be used and all the soldiers who will not fight, in order to fight a war which will never be waged At the same time, we have failed to be prepared politically or militarily for the conflicts that actually did present themselves to us.
We elect legislators who manipulate the system, who are rewarded by that same manipulation, and then we re-elect them because they have rigged the system so that they win. Later we complain because we lost and the system doesn’t solve our problems. We’ve done this dance countless times, yet here we are yet again.
We complained about the Too Big To Fail banks, then allowed most of the lawbreakers to get away with their lawlessness without penalty. Of course, those banks make very big donations to people in Congress who need that cash to get elected and stay elected. I wonder why Congress doesn’t write tougher laws that would crack down on those Too Big To Fail Banks. Also, the oil companies, the gun manufacturers, Big Pharma, big agriculture and a bunch more.
I keep saying this because it is true: Big Money in our politics is the mother of all of our political dysfunction. It makes otherwise sensible, good people in Congress do things that shoot most of the rest of us in the foot. Changing that will require an amendment to our Constitution that explicitly allows for regulation of donations and expenditures relative to political activity. For that to happen, our legislators will have to feel the heat from millions of us. Pathetically, less than 15% of eligible voters bothered to show up for the primary elections just held and less than 37% are likely to vote in the general election in November.
So, go sign a petition calling for an amendment to the Constitution to start the process to stop our national insanity. Contact a group local to you that is working to get this difficult task accomplished and find out how you can be part of the solution, because if you aren’t, you’re just another part of the problem.
And show up to vote on November 4. Your vote counts big time.
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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue. Please help by passing this along and encouraging others to do the same. Thanks. JA
Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.
