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.

It’s been a few days since I’ve written here.  A main reason I hadn’t started a blog before now is I wasn’t sure I could write often enough to keep my readers’ engaged and interested.  So, I’m being tested on that now.  I’d sure like your feedback about the blog, as well as your just jumping into the discussion about how we can revive democracy and your willingness to be actively involved in a Democracy Movement.

So, you probably know that Congress voted last December to guarantee risky Wall Street ventures with taxpayers’ funds again, despite what those same bankers did in 2008 to crash America’s economy, causing millions of Americans to lose their homes and millions more to lose their jobs?

But, did you know that the $700 billion TARP bailout of Wall Street in 2008 was only the tip of the iceberg?  According to a study of all 35 Federal Reserve and Treasury Department programs, the actual bailout with our tax dollars was closer to $4.7 trillion.  Can you believe our representatives are backing Wall Street ventures again with our money?

Why would Congress support more Wall Street gambling after the crisis it caused in 2008? You know why? Because Wall Street bankers, corporate executives and K Street lobbyists give huge campaign donations to our Congressional representatives to have their legislative needs met. We have a political system where Big Money provides the bulk of the funds for our representatives’ election campaigns, and in return our representatives enact laws that favor Corporate America and Big Money at our expense. In plain language, it’s legalized bribery.

In addition, Big Money makes it so easy for Congress. Their lobbyists write the legislative sections they want and all our representatives have to do is insert those provisions into the bills. Citigroup, in conjunction with other big Wall Street banks, actually wrote the new section in the 2015 omnibus bill that restored taxpayer-backed funds for reckless Wall Street ventures like credit default swaps. While some lawmakers opposed the bill, Wall Street had its way with 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats voting for it in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, though 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against the omnibus bill, the bill also passed. Even President Obama threw his weight behind the bill.

It makes me mad as hell!  How do you feel about it?  Isn’t it time we did something about it?