We’ve All Been Stiffed: It’s Time to Shift from Complaining About the Plutocratic Corruption of Our

[polly7]

Country to Stopping It


Anti-Big Money sentiment has fueled both Sanders' and Trump's run. The moment is ripe to rally a People's rebellion.

By Jim Hightower / AlterNet March 24, 2016

The time has come. Six years after the Supreme Court’s malignant Citizens United ruling, nearly every American plainly sees how our nation’s historic, political ethic of citizen equality — “one person one vote” — has been buried in a roaring avalanche of corrupt, corporate money and voter suppression. Moreover, nearly nine years after Wall Street thieves wrecked our economy, the great majority also plainly sees that the court’s turbo-charge of money politics has produced economic policies that richly reward the plutocratic robbers and coldly abandon the robbed.

There’s no need to convince the American people that they’ve been stiffed. As they reveal in poll after poll, they know it, for they’re experiencing it personally, and they’re furious at the business-as-usual establishment that has done it to them. A major, non-partisan survey taken last September by Public Policy Polling found:

— 80 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats “strongly agree” that special interest money has too much influence in political campaigns. Only 4 percent in either party disagreed.

— 85 percent of GOP primary voters and 86 percent of Democrats agree that elections would be less corrupt if candidates focused on small donations from ordinary people, rather than on big money from special interests.

Full article: http://www.alternet.org/local-peace-economy/weve-all-been-stiffed-its-time-shift-complaining-about-plutocratic-corruption

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

[PatrickforO]

2. Outstanding! Here's what I posted on Alternet:

As long as we're talking about money, have any of you ever thought about the national debt? If we really have a government 'of, by and for' the people, then it is money we owe to ourselves. THEN WHY ARE WE PAYING IT BACK TO BANKERS WITH INTEREST??? Seriously, most people believe the Fed is 'quasi-governmental' but it is not. Its two main owners are Citi and JP Morgan Chase. We are allowing these Wall Street parasites to attach to our treasury, and like the tapeworms they are, they are systematically stripping us of monies that can be used for programs that benefit Americans, like single payer healthcare, free or dramatically reduced tuition at public colleges, strong Social Security and so on. Instead, we pay interest to bankers and most of the money gets funneled away to the military industrial complex and our nice 'forever war.'

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the responsibility of 'coining money.' So let's do that ourselves as the early American colonies did, and as Lincoln did. That would be a REAL revolution and would allow us to have an economy that promotes abundance, rather than the one of artificial scarcity we have now, where the bankers and corporatists suck more and more of our money to the top and leave us less and less. Right now, the only money we have that actually directly benefits us is called 'non-military discretionary,' and it is the FIRST thing the corporate-owned weasels that supposedly represent us in Congress cut. The programs that benefit us.

Trivia point: Did you know that the US Secret Service was created on July 5, 1865 to fight counterfeiting? When Lincoln started printing our own money, greenbacks, the sleazy parasitical bankers flooded the country with counterfeit money to fight the US Treasury. About 1/3 of US currency in circulation in 1865 was counterfeit.

You want a real revolution? Remove the Fed's charter and let the US Treasury have control of the money supply.

[SHRED]

3. +100

[polly7]

4. So excellent, PatrickforO. +1000. nt.

[Scuba]

7. Read this post! Thanks Patrick!

[Fast Walker 52]

10. I think a couple of presidents have been killed when they tried to go against the banks...

[PatrickforO]

24. McKinley for sure. Maybe JFK and Bobby for different reasons, i.e. going against MIC profits.

Because we may lose our lives doesn't provide us any excuse to eschew what is right. Because when you know, you can never go back. But yes, the bankers are loathsome and they will fight tooth an nail for every last penny of profit. It's just that we need to rethink our society so it is organized around HUMAN NEED rather than HUMAN GREED.

[Silver_Witch]

29. Truth!

Speak it my friend. Educate those who do not know.

[yurbud]

31. I didn't know bankers were first counterfeiters, but I can believe it.

[jalan48]

5. Gated communities on luxurious golf courses. Expensive foods and wines.

The ability to stay at five star hotels all over the world when you travel. Connections that will allow your children and grandchildren to attend the best schools in the world. The list goes on and on. Why wouldn't an elected representative work with the plutocrats when he or she can get these types of benefits for life?

[yurbud]

32. and the alternative is often a bullet, plane crash, or double shotgun blast suicide.

[Cryptoad]

6. Only after we make changes to the SCOTUS makeup

can we start to reverse the GOP legacy of the likes of Citizens United. That is will only take place with a Democrat in teh White House.

[Scuba]

9. In case you haven't noticed, we have a Democrat in the White House. So where does Garland ...

... stand on reversing CU?

[Cryptoad]

18. Remind us who it blocking him

From what i have read, I say he will vote to reverse CU

[Scuba]

22. Is he on record as saying he will reverse CU? If not, why is Obama OK with that?

[daleanime]

30. Really?

What I've heard makes it sound like he's fine with it.

[Rebkeh]

14. Agreed, and the SCOTUS litmus test

for Bernie addresses that directly. He's also the only one that hasn't benefitted from CU, he won't take their money.

[bulloney]

8. But more than 95% of Congressional incumbents get re-elected.

Everybody's angry at the government and many of us have expressed this anger in one form or another in public forums or in the media. Yet, incumbents have been virtually guaranteed to be re-elected and I'd bet my last dollar that the trend will continue in this year's elections. The people are too loyal to their political parties and they seem to say that everybody in Congress is a crooked asshole - except their congressman.

This rebellion that Hightower refers to will never happen until people wake up and admit that their Representative and/or Senator has been a part of the problem and they shake off their political party loyalties.

[highprincipleswork]

11. Only a few Democrats are qualified to lead this charge. Elizabeth Warren, she's not running, AND

of the course the next answer is Bernie!

[pansypoo53219]

12. i have ALWAYS been against campaign BRIBES.

[bbgrunt]

13. K and R!

[Rebkeh]

15. I saw this this morning and was going to share later

Ya beat me to it.

[libodem]

16. Revolutionary Revolt

WooHoo

[elleng]

17. Yes.

What's the chance we will?

[davidthegnome]

19. Trump is part of the problem.

If Republican voters actually "got it" do you think they'd be supporting this guy? A multi billionaire who's "brilliant tax plan" is to cut taxes for the rich... again. That lost revenue has to come from somewhere else... and if it's not coming from the wealthy...

All of this talk about how Trump is anti-establishment isn't really accurate. No, he hasn't been a politician in the past, he's not a Senator, a Governor, or even a congress member - he does not understand how government works. However, in many regards, he is not that different from republican candidates of the past, the difference is that he is more blunt. When he talks about torture, about violence, when he makes threats to his political enemies, when he talks about dismantling the EPA and the IRS - and many, many other issues, he is promoting the same policies we have always seen from establishment republican candidates - he just isn't subtle about it.

Where is the anti-big money sentiment from Trump's campaign? How can you be "anti-big money" while being a billionaire and supporting the same old conservative policies and tactics? The people supporting him who think he's some kind of great rebel are fooling themselves. He is more blunt, more of a bully, more of a braggart, more ignorant than many candidates in the past - but he really isn't all that different.

[deutsey]

20. He's a savvy salesman

He intuitively knows what the hot buttons are at any given moment and when to push them to make the sale.

[Mr.Bill]

25. I agree.

It's odd that people who say they are tired of rich people buying politicians are willing to elect a rich person who has been buying politicians for decades. Trump has just decided to cut out the middle man and become the politician himself.

[deutsey]

21. K&R

http://www.democracyspring.org/

http://democracyawakening.org/

[polly7]

23. +1000. nt.

[BadGimp]

26. While I agree with the sentiment of the post..

I fear/think the Trump followers have yet to grasp the truth of WHO precisely is responsible for the declining quality of life for the absolute majority of Americans.

Until they do, I do not see a unification of interests and intent. Just more infighting.

I hope and pray I am wrong.

[scottie55]

28. I Keep Trying To Explain To My (Now Ex) Trump Supporting Friend

It's not the illegals that are hurting America.

It's the 50 trillion dollars of the plutocrats money in the Swiss bank accounts, taken out of our economy.

[Duval]

27. K&R! nt

[ChiciB1]

33. BIG K&R!

[Judi Lynn]

34. Thank you. K & R. n/t