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The Selling of American Democracy:The Perfect Storm
来源:Huffington Post | 2012/7/16 8:28:27 | 浏览:1606 | 评论:3

(Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage')

Who's buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn.
And they're doing much of it in secret.
It's a perfect storm:   The greatest concentration of wealth in more than a century -- courtesy "trickle-down" economics, Reagan and Bush tax cuts, and the demise of organized labor.
Combined with...
Unlimited political contributions -- courtesy of Republican-appointed Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy, in one of the dumbest decisions in Supreme Court history, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, along with lower-court rulings that have expanded it.
Combined with...
Complete secrecy about who's contributing how much to whom -- courtesy of a loophole in the tax laws that allows so-called non-profit "social welfare" organizations to accept the unlimited contributions for hard-hitting political ads.
Put them all together and our democracy is being sold down the drain.

With a more equitable and traditional distribution of wealth, far more Americans would have a fair chance of influencing politics. As the great jurist Louis Brandeis once said, "we can have a democracy or we can have great wealth in the hands of a comparative few, but we cannot have both."
Alternatively, inequality wouldn't be as much of a problem if we had strict laws limiting political spending or, at the very least, disclosing who was contributing what.
But we have an almost unprecedented concentration of wealth and unlimited political spending and
secrecy.

I'm not letting Democrats off the hook. Democratic candidates are still too dependent on Wall Street casino moguls and real casino magnates(Steve Wynn has been a major contributor to Harry Reid, for example). George Soros and a few others have poured big bucks into Democratic coffers. So have a handful of trade unions.
But don't be fooled. Compared to what the GOP is doing this year Democrats are conducting high-school bake sales. The mega-selling of American democracy is a Republican invention, and Romney and the GOP are its major beneficiaries.
And the losers aren't just Democrats. They're the American people.
You need to make a ruckus. Don't fall into the seductive trap of cynicism. That's what the sellers of American democracy are counting on. If you give up on our system of government, they win everything.
This coming Monday, for example, the Senate has scheduled a cloture vote on the DISCLOSE ACT, which would at least require that outfits like the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove's "Crossroads GPS" disclose who's contributing what. Contact your senators, and have your friends and relatives in other states --
especially those with Republican senators(who have been united in their opposition to disclosure)-- to contact theirs. If the DISCLOSE ACT is voted down, hold accountable those senators(and, when and if it gets to the House, those House members)who are selling out our democracy for the sake of their own personal ambitions.

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Richard说:留言于2012-07-17 08:30:16(第2条)
Such is the Western Culture - American Democracy

Dear Fellow Huaren:
A few days ago, the powerful New York Times headlined, “From Mongolia, Clinton Takes a Jab at China,” describing how this world-renowned US Secretary of State in her speech was peddling the so-called democratic values there.
Then, yesterday, the online Huffington Post headlined Prof. Reich’s “The Selling of American Democracy:The Perfect Storm,:” describing the kind of democracy the USA is having today. I simply adore him!
So what kind of democracy is Mrs. Clinton talking about?
Attached here is the professor’s view of “American Democracy” for your study and comment.
I beg to take this opportunity to say a few words about China’s politics and where we Huaren could be of some help.
By supporting and funding some 500 Confucius centers, institutes and academies throughout the world, the Chinese leaders seem to be quietly announcing to the world that China has now transformed Marxist or Communist China back to Confucianist or Humanist China. We Huaren, being the descendants of the one and only people of the world who are proudly enjoying its longest living humanist civilization, ought to learn to make sure that those leaders follow his teachings in dealing with world affairs.
In a way, that Berkeley professor can be our model since he seemed to be doing what Confucius would have expected him to as a trustworthy virtuous gentleman(Junzi).
Please kindly correct me if you find anything wrong here.

Regards,
Richard
Pat Lowe说:留言于2012-07-17 08:23:17(第1条)
Prof. Reich deserves congratulations for telling the truth and Clinton is a 100% liar.

Pat.
 
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