Quote:
Originally Posted by Pico and ME
It is proof positive who actually runs our government, wouldn't you say?
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Well.
You bring up the very heart of the matter.
As class warfare-y as it sounds, "they" have the money and "we" have the votes.
Money buys influence, both on Capitol Hill and in the hearts and minds of the populace, especially in our media. Money can't invent truth, money can't create a different arithmetic. Money can, and often does, distract from the truth. Money can buy words, lots and lots and lots and lots of words. All kinds of words, true words and false words.
Make no mistake, false words can be just as effective as true words, sometimes more so. I read a lovely little story about LBJ today. As the story goes, during his election campaign, he told his staff to put the word out that his opponent has sex with barnyard animals. When his staffers pointed out that this wasn't true, LBJ was reported to have said "Make the bastard deny it." Words have power.
Words have power, but only so far as they cause our votes to move one way or another. Not just our votes but the votes of our lawmakers at every level. It is possible to vote in favor of one's interest, it is easy to vote against one's own interest. Voting's hard, and it is imprecise. And it's ongoing. These laws don't just get made every four or six or two years, they're happening all the time. But it's extremely difficult to keep track of what's going on, even the public stuff. I'm not even talking about actual corruption, which exists, but is... beyond my capacity to investigate, fact check, discuss, expose, etc. *sigh*.
But you do have your vote. You have your intelligence. You have your voice. You, and I, have our opportunity, nay, our obligation, to be informed citizens so that our elected representatives actually represent *US*.