Record numbers of American
tuned into the GOP Fox News Debate so now the election silly season has
officially begun. Watching the “debate” which was really an exercise in “soundbite-chasing”
or “viral-whoring”, meanwhile true issues facing the nation were not addressed
in any substantial manner.
The political discourse in this
country is more and more becoming some sort of a dog and pony show and less of
an exchange of ideas. Of course the start of the night was the ultimate
celebrity whore Mr. Donald Trump.
Donald is leading in the polls
and it is reported by several media outlets that he won the debate. And the
reason he is doing so well is because the American people know that the
politicians are bought and paid for and thus beholden to special interest
groups. “The Donald” despite his faults
is for the most part his own man.
The truth came out when Trump
went on his egotistical rant about how when he pays people they do what he
says. Furthermore he admitted to giving large sums of money to virtually every
one of his opponents who shared the stage with him. The highlight for me was
when Ohio Governor John Kasich said: “Not me but I would like some!”. This is
the state of affairs in our nation we no longer have a democracy we have
something close to feudalism. The culture of “political brotheltry” on both sides
of the isle leads to the political debate being restricted to the margins while
basic foundation of our way of life is ready to collapse.
With so many pressing issues in
our nation where do we begin?
There is no shortage of crises
or looming questions that desperately needs our attention. But for many
Americans it is hard to choose which is more prominent. Is it climate change? The
high levels of carbon emissions threaten human kind’s very existence. Should
the electorate’s number one question be how do we adapt? I would say that is probably
for me at the top of the list.
What about police overreach and brutality? For my people police terror goes back to the slave patrols and fugitive slave act. The GOP debate gave only passing mention to the #BlackLivesMatter: movement. The was an interesting exchange between Chris Christie and Rand Paul on civil liberties and The 4th Amendment, but of course it was framed in the context of fighting “terrorism” when average Americans of all races are living daily with 4th and 5th Amendment violations.
What about jobs and income
inequality? Our economy is in desperate need of restructuring due in part to
globalization, technological advances and several other factors.
The remedies for all of these
issues require political courage and statesmanship that is virtually absent in
both the two major parties. Real substantive change in fact is if not impossible,
it is highly improbable due the increasingly common practice of corporate
capture of regulatory agencies and of course the influence of “moneyed”
interests on candidates both Democratic and Republican.
It’s time to #MoveToAmend:
So the number one issue facing
the United States and by extension the world is money in politics. If the GOP
did nothing else it did highlight inadvertently the problem. You have 17 people
running for a position that all but maybe 3 have no chance of winning or have
the qualifications. The only reason they can participate is they have the money
or the connections to the money to essentially “pay to play”.
The solution is simple folks, we
need real campaign finance reform and ultimately publicly funded elections. It
will take a constitutional amendment to do it too. Due to the nature of the Supreme
Court and congress’s inability or unwillingness to reign the court in the only
option we have is an amendment that says two things. First “corporations are
not people” and secondly “money is not speech it is property”.
How did we get here??
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