The stranglehold over finance capital over the lives of the vast majority of the population must be broken if democratic governance of society is to be had. There is no discussion, no initiatives, no policies that can be seriously entertained or formulated until this issue is resolved.
The current health-care fiasco best expresses this—as whatever the end result is, it will be formulated in consultation with health-care multinationals (and their lobbyists who are busy buying policy— business as usual in the US) and whose profits take precedence over outcomes for patients, who are not viewed as sick individuals to whom the best of care should be provided, but as lucrative commodities that represent an opportunity for substantial profit, where higher insurance premiums and the minimizing of care are the order of the day— after all, insurance companies are ethically bound to get the best returns for their investors and we know what principled people head these organizations. It should be noted that the wealthiest 10% of Americans own 90% of all real estate investment, stocks and bonds etc. The perception that buying shares in companies gives the opportunity for people from all walks of life to participate in the success of these organizations is just another fraud perpetuated on the American people. The stock market is where the rich invest in each others enterprises, concentrating the wealth in fewer and fewer hands—you won’t see shareholders voting down CEO remuneration packages any time soon—even if they did, under the Obama proposal, the result in non binding—big surprise. Sorry to harp on the same point—but I find it an extraordinary phenomenon that so many people are unwilling to deal with this issue. The fact is that you cannot vote for change when the candidates are pre-selected representatives of a small section of vested interest in the community—whose interests are diametrically opposed to those of the vast majority. If you want some sort of egalitarian humane society (in whatever form it takes) then you must have a system of governance that is responsive and accountable to the members of society that create it. In the computer age, full transparency and full community involvement in decision-making is easily achievable. Referendums on policy can be conducted over the Internet, where reports that have not been tainted and distorted by vested interest can be provided so decisions can be made according to best available evidence. The BS over the environment is a classic example. The Bush administration was involved in the direct tampering of reports on climate change so as to protect the profits of major industry, many of who are major polluters. An objective view on climate change has to accept the fact that best evidence does point to climate change due to the introduction of CFC’s in to the air (not to mention the fouled rivers, lakes etc—which no amount of obfuscation can conceal). The rational, logical, responsible thing to do is to take immediate and drastic action to cut back all pollutants being released into the environment, because if worse case scenarios’ are correct, then not doing so has consequences that I do not wish to consider. What is the worse thing that can happen by taking action? The multinationals profits are compromised—that is the profits of a handful of people whose lives represent a blink of an eye in the course of history. The two sides of the argument are—the future of humanity on one side— the profits of a few parasites on the other. The argument that these industries employ millions does not hold water, as millions of jobs will be created as alternative solutions are developed (much of the employment in the Middle East industries consists of super exploited immigrants from impoverished countries of Asia and Africa) America is a plutocracy ruled by a handful of amoral, egocentric philistines. It was Einstein that said something to the effect that repeating the same experiment over and over again in the hope of getting a different result is the height of stupidity (his words). Are we going to go to the polls in 4 years time and go through the whole sham again, or actually have a bit of courage and do what is required, rather than what we prefer? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
