I just want to preface this post by reiterating that all four of us residing at Castle Sidewalker are apolitical (mainly because, as taxpaying non-nationals we can't vote), but when I see something wrong I call it, no matter what part of the political spectrum it originated from. I urge you to read the whole post, as it has far reaching implications for all of us.
Last week I was hanging out in the lounge with Little Miss Sidewalker and she knocked the television remote control on the floor for the umpteenth time (I know I should move it higher out of reach). The fall of the remote caused the channel to change, I can't remember if it landed on Fox News or MSNBC. Anyway the anchor of the show was talking to Elizabeth Warren, the chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel, that keeps tabs on the TARP program.
They were discussing about the banks jacking up interest rates to as high as 30% on credit cards without warning. The anchorwoman asked Elizabeth Warren why Congress would not move to curb this loan sharking activity. Mrs. Warren replied, "The public do not have enough lobby dollars to win that battle." Let me just type that again to make sure you get the full gravity of the sentence, she said, "The public do not have enough lobby dollars to win that battle."
Two things jumped out at me from that statement. Basically she is saying that the banks have more money to shower on our elected Representatives than we the voting public have, thus ensuring an outcome favorable to the banks. So what is the point of electing these people if we don't have enough money to give them to look out for our best interests? Something is very broken here. Don't we the public pay their wages to be there on our behalf and work for our best interests in the first place?
Secondly the interviewer just breezed on through after that statement. Has pay-to-play become so ingrained in us, that the anchorwoman did not even pursue this thread with Mrs. Warren? She just shrugged it off. Yep, that's right, me and you don't have enough money to persuade our elected Representatives to have our back.
Does the notion that the general public has a need for lobby dollars abhor you? It should do...
Rant over.
-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $21.16
4 comments:
Isn't government for the people by the people? Apparently not.
It's sad that our government has gotten to that point. Washington and Jefferson and the gang must be rolling over in their graves.
I'm pretty sure they didn't mean this country to be for the people with the money by the people with the money.
Indeed Ladies, my sentiments entirely.
Could it be time to re-write the constitution? Or has that already happened in invisible ink!?
-Luke Sidewalker
You know it's so discouraging and there's really not much "We the People" can do anymore. It's all about money and that's just not the way it should be.
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