Here’s a link to a new Princeton study finding that our country is no longer a democracy, if it ever really was: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy. My book, Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America, also supports this finding.
Here’s another current example of Big Money’s grip on America which supports the finding that our country is not a democracy because it is run by the corporate elite:
Ordinary Americans have been given no voice in the new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Most Congressional Republicans and some Democrats, including President Obama, support it, as does corporate America. Advocates claim the TPP will increase American exports, protect intellectual property rights, and level the playing field between American companies and their foreign competitors. While hundreds of corporate advisers helped craft the TPP, the general public has been shut out of the process and unable to evaluate it because Obama classified the negotiations and the document. Though members of Congress were allowed to read it, they were forbidden to talk about it with their constituents. Once again, corporate America is calling the shots in Washington.
When the TPP is finally made public, citizens may have only a brief period in which to convince Congress to reject it. Significantly, Congress cannot amend it since the “fast track” legislation it passed several months ago means that they can only vote the TPP up or down. Most congressional Democrats, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as environmental organizations and labor unions, argue that the TPP increases income inequality, reduces American jobs, jacks up the cost of medicines, rolls back Wall Street reforms, and empowers corporations to attack environmental and health safeguards. And Hillary Clinton has finally decided she opposes it, even though as secretary of state she called it the gold standard of trade agreements.
Perhaps the most troubling problem with the TPP is that the agreement does not include China, and thereby sets up a power struggle between the United States and China over influence in the Far East. Instead of working with China for the common good, our corporate-controlled government has pushed China aside and forced it to set up a competing organization. Isolating a country and its people, whether it’s our neighbor Cuba or China, cannot lead to a positive outcome. We need to work together with those with whom we may disagree. If we continue down this path of isolating China, we could end up in armed conflict some day, which would be catastrophic for both countries.
This example, like the two in my last blog, demonstrates the necessity for breaking Big Money’s grip on our government before we suffer another national disaster. Moreover, until we break Big Money’s grip on our government it will continue to block our efforts to solve other crucial issues, like affordable healthcare, climate change, gun violence, homeland security, immigration reform, Social Security, and income inequality.
More to come on the TPP and related matters.
Breaking Big Money's Grip on America 