Greetings!
A recent study documented the obvious… our government doesn’t give a damn about the wishes of the American people. Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern studied more than 1800 policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, and found that the American government responded almost exclusively to the wishes of moneyed elites regardless of the will of the majority of voters. The standout finding to me was this: On rare questions where as much as 80% of the population favored a particular policy, it was instituted only 43% of the time…
It’s unrealistic to expect government to do the people’s will all (or maybe even most) of the time. In the US we intentionally short-circuit direct democracy by electing representatives, the theory being that they can form opinions on the merits of issues, thwarting mob rule. We elect them with the EXPECTATION that they won’t jump every time the populace grumbles! But we also expect that if they aren’t pandering to the whims of citizens, they aren’t pandering to the whims of someone else instead.
Government of every form has always catered to the powerful. After all, power is the ability to shape our world, and as social beings, humans shape our world through our governments. But once upon a time, there was a much narrower spread between powerful and powerless. Once, the rich used the same schools, roads, police, and parks as everyone else. Our interests were, broadly, the same. Politicians couldn’t risk serving a small elite without losing votes from the broad population. However, a gigantic chasm has developed between the wealth of the top 1% and everyone else, and our interests have diverged as well. The elite no longer have a stake in the society of the commoners. Private roads, schools, police, gated communities, and concierge medical care all say society can go to hell and they’ll be fine. If money calls the tune instead of votes, then there’s no reason politicians should, or even CAN ignore the whims of their funders to benefit the needs of their voters.
If an invading power inflicted ceremonial voting while the new ruler’s puppets wielded actual power, we’d never stand for it. But Gilens and Page have done just that. They told us loud and clear that the coup instituted by the rich, the corporations, and the corrupt has worked, and our votes no longer matter. But what’s the answer? Quitting isn’t an option, except for people content to live on scraps from our overlords. Armed revolt is unthinkable, and would be useless anyway. Even non-violent warfare of strikes, boycotts, and protests will not bring our government back. No, the only way to fix our system is to fix what broke it. The government doesn’t respond to the rich because they have better arguments, talk louder, or are more organized. It caters to them BECAUSE THEY ARE RICH! The ONLY way to restore our democracy is to get money out of politics! Politicians must craft policies to capture the greatest number of VOTES, not the greatest number of DOLLARS!
Don’t despair… TAKE ACTION!
Take Care and Make a Great Day!
