Mr. Barton the apologist to oil companies
WHY IS OUR POLITICS SO VITRIOLIC, OUR DIVISIONS SO UNFATHOMABLE AND OUR IDEOLOGIES SO DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED?
I think I can sum it up with one word: MONEY.
Most politicians arrive in Washington already tainted by the necessity to raise funds for endless and costly political campaigns. A few arrive unscathed and still hold their principals and integrity intact.
The biggest problem is the ideological divide that exists between those who believe in the pure free enterprise system and those who believe that government has an obligation to be an intermediary to smooth over the iniquities and unfairness caused by greed. Clearly the injustices and unfairness coming from the ruling class, which presently is approximately 2% of the population will stop at nothing to obtain special privileges and maintain the status quo at all costs.
Both parties are suffering from this illness; the need for funds to get elected, then an endless effort to be re-elected. Unfortunately that is the reality and that is the system we have to work with. Mind you it has now become more pervasively askew after the Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited funds from anonymous sources. That perhaps put the nail on the coffin of democracy as we knew it.
But what is really hurting us as a society and as a nation is that a great number of those politicians already arrive in Washington with a very warped sense of morals and ethics. These are for the most part Republicans who believe that profit and money comes before country and family. They are hell bent on making their ideology triumph over reason, logic and most importantly…the will of the people.
We hold our collective breaths in disbelief as people like Congressman Barton from Texas steps into a position that is critical in dealing with the oil companies. Joe Barton, the Republican who apologized to BP after Obama caused the gulf oil spill. Mr. Barton is now at the helm of the Congress outfit that has to deal with the oil companies…and he publicly apologized to them for the 20 billion dollars we were able to extract from them to pay for damages they caused…calling it a shakedown. What positive change can we expect when we start out with a politician who is clearly in the pockets of the oil companies?
Similarly, there are others who are the surrogates of big business and the super rich. They are only accountable to the lobbyists who represent these special interests…and some of them even paid the price in these last elections: Blanche Lincoln is a very good example.
How do we fix this problem? Concessions, cooperation and bipartisanship are not options. We need instead a total overhaul of the way political campaigns are funded…THOROUGH CAMPAIGN REFORM which is badly needed.
The Republicans accuse the Democrats of using class warfare to gain political clout. I have said this a dozen times if I have said it a hundred; the class war has already been fought and the rich and the corporations won. Actually what America has become is more like a welfare state for the very rich and the corporations.
