This is an article written for the Chattanooga Free Press by a friend of mine that I have known for over thirty years. My point in forwarding this is to show how mainstream this information has become. AKE ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2000 12:21 PM Subject: Re: DR column for 7-28 NEW WAY TO SPELL "POLITICS" By Dalton Roberts Chattanooga Times-Free Press 7-28-00 Have you ever wondered why non-wealthy candidates for national offices are so scarce? Will the day ever return when a citizen raised in a log cabin can be elected president or an average working class American to the Senate? Don't hold your breath. Not one single development is tending toward those possibilities. Almost all of our candidates are at least modestly rich when they run, then they raise enough money in their campaigns to burn a wet mule, and they retire much richer. They vote themselves bigger salaries and get fees and "honoraria" from all the fat cat groups. I hate to be the one to tell you, Amigo, but everybody is getting a piece of the political pie but you and me. Never in the history of this nation has the average John Doe and his lovely wife Jane been of so little interest to the councils of government. Do you think Al Gore or George Bush will ask Claude Ramsey or me, or any of the other successful area politicians to serve in some advisory capacity? After all, we've got pretty good political gourds. We know a lot of people. We know how to organize and all the other rudiments. Not bragging, just simple and well-known facts. So what -- if anything -- will they ask us and other veteran politicians to do? To contribute and/or get others to contribute. No phone calls to tap into our weathered golden gourds. Why should they? There's no such thing as campaigning anymore. Just fund-raising, sound bites and photo-ops. The name of the game today is not people, influence, and skill -- the things that once determined elections. The one and only game is money. When "money" is spelled by national candidates, it is always spelled in millions. Even the dummies who can't even spell "strategy" or "organization" can spell "money" and they spell it "millions." When they run, they mention things that will sound good to all of us who are paddling to get our noses up far enough for just a tiny sniff of economic oxygen. Like Clinton powerfully palavering over health care for the 40 million Americans with no insurance. Once he settled into his big leather chair, mighty medical and insurance interests slapped him tenderly just one time with a wet napkin, and he never brought it up again. His promise to the little people disappeared with the smoke from his cigar. Remember all those "Contract With America" signers who were going to give us limited congressional terms and other great goodies? Isn't it about time for them to be coming down out of the money tree? Listen Fred, if we get them out, we'll have to hire some experienced coon hunters to shake them out. As an astute observer said, "You can't expect a hog to butcher himself." How long has it been since you even heard the phrase "contract with America?" Where is the media? Increasingly it is in the hands of fewer and fewer wealthy corporations and the last thing greedy media conglomerates want talked about is big money. In ‘83 the book Media Monopoly reported that 50 companies dominated media in America. In their ‘97 issue, that number was down to 10. Look at the TV industry. GE owns NBC, Time-Warner owns CNN, Westinghouse owns CBS and Walt Disney owns ABC. How much investigative reporting do you think we will get from those who "invest" heavily in those who run the government? We've heard a lot about 4.5 percent unemployment, but not about the 11 million families with children who are struggling to stay afloat on minimum wage. Nor about all those laid off from good jobs in corporate downsizings who are now working for half their old pay. Family budget downsizing is not on the candidates' cue cards. We now have government for the rich, by the rich and of the rich. How do you like it? <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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