Kakki wrote:
> Do we really want to
> continue to give up our all of our discriminating judgment for the sake of
> some stupid political party? I'd rather reserve some of my brains intact
> than to give them over wholesale to help out some political hack or another.
> I'd rather engage in discussions that enlighten me when it comes to opposing
> viewpoints, so that there is an exchange of something substantive and real,
> rather than seeing who wins the point by intimidation and obscuring the
> issue.
I agree. Examples are rampant of turning a blind eye to one's own
party's misdeeds, while screaming 'foul' when the other side does
something.
> As for the "evil" millionaires running the world, we need to narrow that
> down a bit and identify which particular millionaires are running the world
> before we can come to any productive approach towards resolving whatever
> evil they are inflicting on us, don't we? By lumping all millionaires
> together as collectively running the world, we lump in Joni Mitchell and
> most of our favorite artists, groundbreaking medical researchers,
I didn't say all millionares were collectively running the world, I said
millionares were running things-there is a difference. It may be
billionares or, more accurately multinational corporations-the
point is that big money is telling our politicians what to do, and
they are doing it-be they Dem or Rep. A democracy is where
the people are represented by the leaders they elect. We don't
have that. We do get to vote for A or B, they make promises
and pretend to be on our side, but once elected, they represent
the interests of big money. The people pay the bill and do the work.
It's a moot point WHICH moneyed interests are pulling the strings,
although there are certainly organizations keeping track of such things.
The problem is a system that allows the rich to rule and manipulate
the system for their own benefit. We need to take money out of the
equation; it should be just as illegal to bribe a politician who
makes the rules as it is to bribe a judge who meets the rules
out. But it's not, it's encouraged, it happens every day, it's
business as usual. They call it lobbying, campaign
contributions, kickbacks, whatever. Bush and Cheney are
big oil. Gore is, too, for that matter. The beat goes on...
RR
