On transparency
Yeah, Obama ran on it, and it sounds really, really good… but it was always a little bit silly.
Simply put, you can’t force the “special interests” to negotiate in public. And since they own too many legislators, you can’t get a bill passed if you insist on embarrassing the greasers of the Congressional gears.
I asked a Senator about this – I asked if we’d have a better bill if Big Pharm and Insurance were forced to make their cases in the light of day with HCR advocates sitting on the other side of the table rebutting weak arguments.
The Senator told me that we never would have had a bill, let alone reform.
If we are going to live in the reality-based world, this is something we need to deal with. It’s not just health care.
Another reality to face, Mike, is that our government “of the people” is owned by corporations and that the will of the people cannot be maintained through the current structure. The “capitalistic” structure is no longer capitalistic at all, but rather controlled by only a few elite parties. Ironically, our “capitalism” has become a communistic system. Since corporations own everything, and I do mean everything, regardless of what you think you personally own, we must now regard the US as a communist country. Unfortunately, most of us are still under the illusion that we have a vote that matters and that we, ourselves, can have an effect over the workings of our country. But no. Not unless you are a CEO of Citi, AIG, or one of only a few other entities, can you claim any such power.
Brian
6 Jan 10 at 1:47 pm
Actually, Mike, what the Senator meant to say, was that if the special interests (i.e., corporate CEOs, etc) were forced to negotiate in “the light of day”, on camera, the result would be that those Senators would never see another campaign donation from them…
…which of course, cannot be allowed to happen.
It’s time the citizens of These United States either wake up, demand our elected representatives actually represent The People or accept forevermore that our Republic has failed, and that The People have become, in fact, if not in name, once again serfs to their overlords.
Angie in WA State
8 Jan 10 at 1:23 pm