SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE

Now here’s an interesting video clip:

"News Anchor Completely Loses It"

Poor guy; he’s toast.  His corporate bosses at MSNBC will have him and sack him for “losing his temper”  or “ranting.”  Now, you and I would call that,” being passionate” or “expressing his frustration.”  Regardless, the sad thing is that he’ll be sacked or sanctioned for expressing some real home truths that the corporate establishment don’t want you to know.

What did he mean, by “bought Congress”?  Well, these short videos sum it up beautifully;

"Corruption is Legal in America" [5 mins 50]

"The American Dream" [3 mins 12]

What the newsman’s hinting at, is the fact that there is a real disconnect between what voters want and what Congress actually passes.  For example, most US voters want universal healthcare and gun restrictions.  Yet Congress seems to filibuster and block such legislation!  This is because the  respective health and gun lobbyists have told their bought-Congressmen to vote accordingly:

"20 years of data reveals that Congress doesn't care what you think"

Congressmen are wooed - or blatantly bribed - by persuasive lobbyists representing various interests from America's corporations.  This bribery is actually legal and is labelled, "campaign donations" or "sponsorship." So, because almost every Congressman is addicted to the honey poison or actual money poured in from corporate lobbyists, a Congressman will vote with how his sponsors tell him, not with what his electorate wants.  Therein lies the state of democracy in the so-called “Land of the Free.”

If you look at the accompanying Facebook comments under the video, you’ll see a plethora of support and encouraging comments for the passionate newsman.  So, I would love to believe that something will change.  But it won't.  How can it?  How can you take money away from the establishment that runs our countries; the Congressmen, the chief executives, the excessively wealthy?  You can’t.  And yet, we actually elect that very same establishment!  

In becoming a whore to the US, John Key has taken New Zealand’s democracy to a dangerously similar state as that of America.  Right-wing money owns our media, who tell us who to vote for; through adverts, editorials and subtle messages.  After 30 years of this propaganda, “radicalism” and “social democracy” are now swear-words.  30 years ago, before monetarism, these words meant something; they reflected a desire for community betterment, not the betterment of the few.  

Our banks, the police, the Reserve Bank, the civil service also contribute to actually running the country, and so have no interest in real change, or being accountable to a thinking electorate.  So, none of these sub-strata have any interest in changing the current system.  

The current system is this:

• Justification of tax cuts to the rich by giving broad tax cuts across the board ["Crumbs off the rich man’s table," Luke 16:21]
• Clawing back that tax from the middle-income earners by regressive taxes; increasing the price of electricity, increasing GST and cutting government services.
• Destroying communities by convincing middle-income New Zealand that, they’re fighting for their “individual rights.”
• Keeping the mortgage whores fighting among themselves, as they wrestle each other for the same job promotions, the same prized school spots, or the same overpriced houses.
• Keeping middle-income earners busy and distracted with dumbed-down television, paying off the mortgage, and changing the flag; so they don’t question en masse, political decisions.

Perhaps the police might question the system, or at least your average policeman might.  This is because the average policeman is concerned that the police force is systematically being starved of resources.   However, the Police Chiefs - politicians in uniforms - have their jobs dependent on their right-wing overlords.  As a result, I've never seen a police chief rock the boat.

I digress a little.  Let’s get back to the point of the video – it has relevance here in New Zealand, as I've highlighted.  As a result of years of corporate-orientated, business-funded, right-wing governments, we are more and more being consumerised.  We may be voters and taxpayers, but we are having less and less say in how our country is run and what our government does – supposedly in our name.  The conclusion of the secretive TPPA talks this month, as we are distracted by the bread and circuses of the Rugby World Cup, is a prime example;

"Groser Loses TPP High Court Secrecy Fight: Greenpeace Response"

Something is rotten in the state of our democracies.  Watch Norman Jewison's visionary, "Rollerball." Made 40 years ago, it's scary how close we are to that corporatised world.