The Great Undoing Of the Intent for a Great Land
As Trump and his purchased D.C. horde give away our bounty in the dark of night the Supreme Court lurks with frugal clandestine obscurity in the background as elections are won and lost on issues they decide.
Far too few give them even passing thought. The Court likes it this way less someone finally acknowledges the obsolete underpinning of the Constitution. 18th century thinking does not protect 21st century society but it does protect their power. One might think that the “Great Undoing” I refer to is the recent Trump revolt. No, it is the systemic failure that caused such systemic disgust that such and un-American man was preferred over the status quo. The great undoing is the systemic failure, cemented by the Supreme Court, which allows less than 1% to control government with their money. And a Supreme Court presiding over a Constitution far too short on definition. A Constitution that does not adhere its’ interpreters to intent and their Countries intended ideals. Our best and our brightest can be and are hired to promote the self-interest of those that pay. Thanks to the Supreme Court, elections have become a manipulation contest between wealthy donors. The good of the people is not the target. The base emotion of biased wealth is.
The 1% have no rules. Thus “Self-Interest” has assumed the fore, in the withered stead of common good and integrity. In this environment lies and manipulation are the lead influences. Such practice forces results to become dishonest as truth and issues are sublimated to a very low contributing point. The intent of Democracy is literally bypassed. We just witnessed the filthiest election season (manipulated by the 1%) I have ever seen.
Over time wealth purchased the decision making process from the Congress. All the little things that are wrong everywhere were written into bills by wealth. Yes written by donors and signed and passed with none or cursory review. You live, largely controlled by laws that no one has ever read except the donor. (For example, a study or audit of Telecommunication or Credit Card law would reveal a massive storage of insidious profitable and unfair legal detail that we all live by that no one person has ever read – Such design riddles American life. All that was checked was the donor calendar.) The Fox is running everything.
The 535 individuals in Congress need money to survive. Congress thus has become an arena of contestants. Their individual goal is to raise more money than any competitor so that at Election time they can afford to hire our best and our brightest to manipulate the people. Now, there are only 535 controlling 300 million Americans. Most of their time and concentration is spent competing for donors whose efforts are to sublimate the common good for donor gain. This time consumption glaringly restricts Congressional ability to lead. They simply do not have time to concentrate on their duties. And the money they need to lead is garnered from those that want their decisions. They are thus incentivized to lead against the people.
As insidious as all this is there is no measurable Congressional opposition. The 535 and their donors are in a love fest spending most of their energy kissing up to each other. They are big shots that make each other feel good. No patriots. No heroes. No one willing to risk sacrifice. Cocktail parties (fund raisers) and kissy face rule the day. The separation and process necessary for mutual integrity and governance for the people is not in place. The people are subservient. This evolved over the last 4 decades and allowed our bounty to creep to the rich. Just look at the results.
These are just economic distribution: (The purchase of Environmental neglect and leadership is even more devastating) As Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz points out, the richest 1 percent of Americans now own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. 53% of the bounty is owned by 19 percent. How much does the bottom 80 percent own? Only 7 percent: Yes, 80 percent of America, the land of the free, where all are created equal, enjoys 7% of the entire Country’s well-being. Hardly a founding goal. The three, yes (3) richest men, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos, have more than the bottom half of the country. The next 5 richest also have more than the bottom half of he country. That is not freedom. It is supreme rampant systemic neglect by leadership allowing unchecked abuse by the able.
Most are aware that federal government has three parts. Only 36% can name them. They are the Executive, (The President) Legislative, (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts). Only half of us know which party is in charge in the House and Senate. Two thirds of Americans cannot name one Supreme Court Justice. It for such reasons that manipulation is a highly functional tool and that politics is merely a game being played by wealth in a system that protects them no matter who wins. This is by design. Wealth is the architect. Playing on every human weakness. They know there is nothing to adhere leadership to the people. Only money matters to them. Consequence to land, sea, air and quality of American or International life play a very small role.
Dwight Eisenhower understood the basics of economics that work for the people. And yes, it is high taxes on extraordinary wealth. He clearly defines why the Corporate Tax Rates was 90% in the fifties. Simple economics resulting from governing not yet poisoned by wealth. Why the 90%: The rich have enormous wealth and are not harmed in any way. Because high corporate tax rates create incentive for Big Business to spend earnings and expand, (I.E: new locations, new hires, new equipment, and product R&D) which are deducted from taxable earnings. Thus, driving reported wealth into a lower tax bracket. Better to spend a majority of earnings on expansion than to horde it and pay Uncle Sam 90% of it. (and there it is) It is not communism, it is responsible economics.
The Supreme Court wields much unchecked power. Their decisions cemented Campaign Finance law with Citizens United and then further cemented these American obscenities by striking down limits on Campaign Contributions. As three separate issues they have to be struck down separately. Each would leave the others, and each is written in ways to accomplish the same thing for the 1%. Yes, the wealthy are very smart. Which is why we have so little hope. The Supreme Court does not answer to the people. They agreed that America’s 1% should have the ability to manipulate government as they please. The people’s voice is drowned. Nothing has done more to harm the American way than the thinking of 5 of these nine politically chosen and appointed arbiter’s. (I might add that a study of both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt would reveal the severe dangers of power sucking trusts and monopolies that resulted in today’s insidious wealth and “too big to fail” and their devastating corollary to the intent of a great land)
“Constitutional interpretation” as a mission orientation for the Supreme Court is a great misnomer in American Government. The Constitution is irrelevant. Decisions are politically biased by appointment and that bias is applied to interpretations. Like the Bible, the Constitution is interpreted the way it is seen by the individual. It is not defined to adhere intent and is obsolete. Leaving an unregulated land defined by the rich. The intention of each Court appointment is to insure interpretation in keeping with the party of the appointing President. When a new President comes into play the people are stuck with this enormous ideological power they left behind.
Power is so corrupted that even remedy would be severely biased and tarnished. Yet an effort is all we have. “The answers lie in massive Campaign Finance reform, (which causes the finest that humans can be as bribery and threat are infinitely diminished) (key words “followed by” in an effort toward integrity) a Constitutional Convention for the 21st Century, and a move toward Patriotic leadership where sacrifice in keeping with the needs of the people is viewed as an honor”. With unimpeachable sadness, in truth, the foregoing 51 words are viewed more as rhetorical blather than words of substance, even though the future and fate of mankind is so simply and clearly embraced and defined. 51 words that alter the course from doom.
