Yes, America and its people did possess those virtues at one time that led to the founding and greatness of our nation and its people. Those virtues were the hallmark of past great leaders of America. Today and for the past 30 years those virtues have been eroded by our political system that has succumbed to the demands of Corporate America and their lobby, the so called super PAC's funded by the wealthy, a news media not interested in facts and an electorate who has been led around by the nose and who have chosen to believe lies and fairy tales instead of seeking out the truth and the facts on their own.
Our elected officials on the state and federal level have taken the low road of accepting campaign contributions that amount to legal bribes from the wealthy special interest groups who's only concern is to seek concessions for their own benefit at the expense of the many. Elected officials have partnershiped with those special interest groups which has resulted in the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy. They are no longer public officials who represent the best interest of the people or the country. They have even gone so far as to allow some special interest groups such as the NRA to write legislation that affect the public good.
Those special interest groups have seduced elected officials to reduce their taxes that are at the lowest level in over 50 years and in many instances loopholes that allow those special interest to pay no tax at all. Corporate America and the special interest have turned their backs on America and its people by their ego demands of creating more wealth while ignoring their own responsibility to country in paying their fair share. Seven Wall Street banks control more than 60% of the economy thanks to their partnership with congress who regulate them and who are suppossed to break up monopolies. The wealth that the special interest groups pass around to elected officials take front and center stage while the public good is ignored. The most recent example is the second great depression that occured during the Bush 43 administration.
The major news media to a certain extent are owned by Corporate America and as a result are not in the business of being objective in their reporting. Some are not above using lies as a tool to influence the public. The news media, special interest groups and elected officials are a tight circle of wealth to influence an electorate that is uninformed on many issues. Take for instance the official republican talking point of the democratic party being the big spenders in Washington. The news media promotes that talking point of the republicans as fact but according to the CBO's own records it is the republican party that are the biggest spenders and have been so for the past 30 years. This has been previously reported and documented in my past commentaries published in politidose. The news media has access to the CBO records and the facts but they could care less.
Elected officials can easily end this partnership by refusing to take campaign contributions from Corporate America, their lobby, PAC's and all special interest groups and use innovation to come up with a new way to finance their campaigns where the people are in control. That would not cost the government one penny for campaign finance reform and no court in the land could change that. That action would be the first step in returning Wisdom, Knowledge, Leadership, Courage and Character to our political system. And that says it all.
