Washington Is A Cesspool: Influx Of Money Has Made Congress Corrupt And Unproductive
If you didn’t understand the appeal of the campaigns of Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump to many Americans, maybe you don’t really know what goes on in Washington D.C. Then again, maybe you do and just don’t care. Possibly you think begging for money most of the day and then being the bitch of lobbyists and corporate donors the rest of the time is the proper place for our elected representatives who don’t have the time to do the job we are paying them to do.
If you don’t quite get my last statement, maybe this 60 Minutes video will help enlighten you. It isn’t exactly new information, but Americans seem to be ignoring it like everything else about their Congresspeople’s lives. However, there is this short little book that is coming soon that apparently wants to spill the beans about the inside world of Washington and how politicians truly spend their lives, what they think of their constituents, and about each other. People seem to be interested in that.
All of this focuses on money and influence. Well, duh. It doesn’t take a degree at college to figure that part out about our political system. Any idiot with eyes and a television screen or an internet device can figure that out. With just a cursory bit of research, you could find a treasure trove of corruption in politics.
It existed long before the Supreme Court decisions of Citizens United or McCutcheon v FEC, but the sheer flood of cash that entered the political system overloaded Congress to where the representatives are now forced to spend most of their days begging for insane amounts of cash from donors or risk defeat on election day because of their opponents better funded campaigns.
We all know there is far too much money in politics. There are huge sums of cash going in from lobbyists that every firm and business now seems to have to influence the laws, and then because of that there seems to be huge sums doled right back out to major Forbes 500 companies in the form subsidies that they should never need. Makes you wonder if those lobbying monies are paying off in more ways than one?
It reminds me of days after the salmon runs when all the dead fish would start to flow back downstream. It stinks. Of course, nothing can get done if no one is willing to change the system, and you can’t change the system if you keep electing the same people who refuse to stand up for themselves.
You can ask your representatives forever to do something about the system, but you have to be aware there is a problem. A few of our congress people have told you. 60 Minutes has told you. A few people elsewhere have also told you. Now the choice is yours. Try to get your representatives to take action to bring the least productive Congresses back to work and away from the beggar’s prison they have chained themselves to, or elect new people who will. The decision is yours to make.
Image via Occupy.com
