If you know me at all, you know how passionate I am about voting in elections, any election and all elections. What has me dismayed is that with zero campaign finance reform, democracy is being challenged and dying every day and no one is standing up. I'm not talking about politicians or lobbyists standing up. I am talking about people, me, you, us. Gone are the days that a person with ideas and smarts can throw their hat into the ring and run for office. It is such a disservice to our Nation. My daughter recently discussed with me that I should run for mayor or some office. Great thought. Love the idea, but the reality is, since Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island, if you don't have the backing of a political party and deep pockets, you don't have a shot of discovering a "Mr. Smith," a person with integrity, ethics, morals, and intelligence. A person not bought and paid for by others.
The US Supreme Court took democracy down many more times when they allowed Citizens United to win their battle. There are no limits to how much money people and companies can dump into our political system to get what they want. If you think for one minute that there aren't strings attached to every dollar, grow up! It is poisoning every aspect of our government. D.C. is deeply rooted in paybacks, that our country is being hijacked for just a few. It's the .01% of this country that is destroying our democracy. (.01% may not be the factual number but you get the idea). The businesses, lobbying groups, billionaires, are holding this country hostage. Why else would we not have a working government? The money has to get out.
The McCain-Feingold bill was supposed to help the campaign money woes, but too many loopholes and Supreme Court decisions took that bill to its knees. If all our elected officials had term limits, maybe we wouldn't have to keep hearing about fundraisers all the time. WTF?? These Congressmen and Senators spend more time worrying about their re-election than worrying about our Country. Did you hear me?? Our Country! Even the President of the United States is running around raising money for candidates. All of you need to stop it! No more fundraising!
You know when the Tea Party first began, it was all about money and the economy. They were on the right track for about a week, then they, too, got hijacked by the extreme Right. Occupy Wall Street, a very short lived movement, had some good ideas and ran out of steam. After watching all the spy series, maybe they were infiltrated by our government to wipe out or hijack.
Look, in our current state, if you criticize Wall Street or the big CEO's, you're anti-capitalism. If thinking that only a very few people should be thriving, then I am anti-capitalism. Mostly the stinking filthy rich in this country didn't invent anything but more money. It's not the tycoons of yesteryear. The railroad and oil magnates built this country up, but didn't put any brakes on this. So, maybe, just maybe if we took out all the money from politics, used only public funds, and had term limits, maybe this country could thrive again and we could elect people that really want to make a difference in our country and the world. As it stands now, democracy is taking a hit every day. As bleak as this all may sound, all we have, to have our voices heard, is our individual vote. Let it be heard. Don't take it for granted.
Sidebars: Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Medical Consultant for NBC News, must be suspended by the network for breaking her "voluntary" quarantine for the ebola virus. It's embarrassing and disgraceful that she and members of her team went to pick up food from a restaurant. Terrible judgment and NBC can't figure out how to handle it, so they just mangle it. If you missed The Affair on Showtime, worth picking up on your DVR. Not sure where it's going, but intriguing. We are in the thick of the NLCS and ALCS pennant playoffs. Looks as if the Royals may take it over the Orioles in a sweep. Come on Orioles. The Giants are up 2-1. Let's go Giants!!! ESPN's 30 for 30 last night was about the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco and its effect on the World Series (which I happened to be at). Not as gut wrenching as I thought it could be, but so interesting because being there in the midst of it all, I missed so much. Still promoting The Graham Norton Show on BBC America. Really a great hour of laughs and fun.
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@DianaPodolsky
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