by
Brian T. Lynch, MSW
Any questions?
This has been business as usual in the cycle of America elections. We have spiraled into moral bankruptcy and lost the ability of government to meet the basic needs of the electorate. We have made a mockery of self-rule. In issue after issue, huge majorities favoring or opposing government policies are ignored by the representatives they elected. The cycle of ever growing special interest government is why states and the federal government have no money to spend on roads, schools, healthcare daycare, parks, public projects, etc. Here is how this cycle operates:
- Establishment politicians need massive media buys to get elected,
- The corporate media is rapacious in what they charge for political ads and in manipulating candidates to pay for it,
- The ever wealthier donors are the only ones with that kind of money to give to candidates,
- The big donors extract favors and tax breaks that further tilt the playing field in their favor which further depletes the public coffers,
- Paying for these favors and for collecting less in taxes forces governments to cut programs and services that help the poor and middle class,
- The failure of politicians to meet the needs and wishes of voters breeds cynicism and contempt for government causing more and more people to turn their backs on politics and elections,
- The twin pressures of declining wages and declining government services heightens competition between segments of society and creates divisions and social tensions which unscrupulous politicians exploit.
- The combination of disengaged voters and dwindling income in the middle class reduces the size of political contributions from ordinary citizens.
- The result is even more reliance on big donations for political campaigns.
This graphic, which applies generally to all American politics, also applies specifically to the dismantling of New Jersey Public Worker Pensions. Christie have given huge tax breaks to his millionaire friends and big business donors and then cries that there is no money to put into the public employee pension funds. This is a scam that has been going on for years, even before he was governor. It is part of a larger national plan to kill public sector unions in my view. If it isn't the pensions that's targeted its SNAP, or welfare, or public education or any other target where there is poorly organized opposition. We need to see this pattern for what it is and begin an organized movement to rescind tax breaks to prosperous corporations and ultra-wealthy political donors.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take many election cycles like this to evolve into an oligarchy.
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