I believe that the US government is in need of a complete overhaul.
First, why I think this. Since the early 1900s, the United States has consistently shown that its government will put the will of corporations ahead of the will of its citizens and of basic human rights for others. Over time it has gotten worse. False attacks, subtle media campaigns, illegal torture facilities, spying on every citizen in a way that is extremely similar to that of Fahrenheit 451 (and for decades now!), and of course overthrowing democracies and implementing corporate-friendly dictatorships that enforce child slave labor.
How do we stop this attack on mind kind you ask? Well it's not as simple as electing new government officials, as time has proven it does not matter if we have a democrat or a republican in the presidency, controlling the House, controlling the senate, or any combination of the three. Furthermore, it seems that while there is some strong sentiments of nepotism in the white house, the majority of positions don't seem to work that way. So why then do we see such consistent corruption at the top of the US government? Aside from theories that law schools are purposely trying to corrupt its students, which I don't believe, it would appear that the true problem is with the politic parties themselves.
The reason that both political organizations consistently produce corrupt officials is that THEY are the vessel of corruption. What I mean by this is that in order to be nominated to even participate in the primaries for either of these parties then you need to have demonstrated your willingness to be corrupt. It is not an option for an aspiring politician to not play by these rules; the other parties do not win and their political influence is very weak. I suspect that many politicians that we hate for their acts of terror in the world such as Condaleezza Rice and Bill Clinton came out of law school relatively honest and pure. But they learned that to rise in the political sphere you need to serve corporate interests.
But why do the political parties care so much about this? Were they created by corporations, and grandfathered in many other corporations to also be included in the benefits of electing a given party? I don't think this is the case; as both parties were formed before the turn of the 20th century. Looking back at thistory and the economic events in the United States during this period of time, lobbyists weren't really paying off government officials yet and multi-corporate oligopoly mergers weren't really starting to become common yet. And right there we have our answer. It was when the likes of Piers Morgan began to have massive control over US industries such as steel and railroad that he and others began to pressure the government into overlooking his illegal activities. You see around this time citizens of the United States began to notice the monopolies that Piers Morgan was forming and became worried. He ruthlessly bought out his competitors by inviting them to merge with his company. The benefits of this including joining with a more successful brand and obtaining lots of shares of a now more powerful company. This was particularly enticing because when many of the industry's richest men pooled together, their collective stock skyrocketed. Since this went against the concept of free trade and free competition within the economy, the outrage of the people was heard and a law was made banning these types of holding companies forever. However that did not stop anything.This government corruption was done by giving them different types of equity in the complex of companies that they had formed. What started as domestic bullying to have a stranglehold on the US market evolved into a fight for global control of natural resources. As the stakes have gotten higher, more factions have come together; more money has been involved; and more lawmakers and government officials have been brought in. This doesn't tell the whole story though, and it's important to note another aspect of US elections.
In order to win an election, massive amounts of money are needed. This wasn't always the case, but as technology improved each party began pushing and pushing the envelope on their budget as it became clear that the more money you have, the more citizens you can reach out to and the more campaign ads you can run. Where does the majority of campaign funds come from? Massive corporations like Exon Mobile and Apple. In a sense you could say that the same type of deal is going on now as in the days of the US Steel Corporation. Corporations are buying stock so to speak into a particular political party. One that will put THEIR priorities first ahead of the other, competing corporations. It's important to some of these companies that congress doesn't pass laws that would be unfavorable to their bottom line or otherwise make it tougher for them to do business. Some want the US to interact with foreign nations in a certain way and will sometimes pressure the government into entering a war or invading another country for their sake.
As you can see, there is a clear mutual relationship here between corporate interests and the interests of the two political parties. And following from this deal we have massive corruption at the top.
So what fundamental changes to I think need to take place? First off, lobbying ought to be made illegal. It is a way for corporate leaders to legally bribe governmental institutions. But that isn't enough, because there are plenty of illegal ways that they can still use money to bribe government officials. However the way that we can stop political organizations from being corrupt is by taking the following two steps:
1 - Butcher campaign budgets and allow all candidates at each level of the election a certain, small amount of campaigning. This means that all posters, pep rallies, websites, etc will be strictly regulated. Everyone will be put on a level playing field as each other and the only differences will be their policies. I know that heavy regulation isn't something that people often welcome, but I think that it's necessary to eliminate corruption.
2 - But that doesn't really put every candidate on a level playing field because the two party system dominates the political atmosphere and prevents any other political factions from competing. Therefore political parties will be removed from any type of legal authenticity. No longer will democrat/republican committees of officials decide who will run in the primaries. Now every state's CITIZENS will vote on a dozen or so local candidates. Of course they will be made accessible to the entire state in a controlled manner such that everyone's ideas are clearly represented. Both in a way that is easy to quickly understand and one which allows for long consumption of the finer details.
In conclusion, I have shown why at a very elementary level the government has become so corrupt, and very simply how to counter this continuous river of illegitimacy. Now I said that the government is in need of a COMPLETE overhaul. This is because I don't believe that the above system is able to be constructed within the current system. These are my final comments however because I think that discussion on why the current system doesn't allow for such change is another thread on its own.
I also attached a poll since I'm new here to get a better understanding of the community
First, why I think this. Since the early 1900s, the United States has consistently shown that its government will put the will of corporations ahead of the will of its citizens and of basic human rights for others. Over time it has gotten worse. False attacks, subtle media campaigns, illegal torture facilities, spying on every citizen in a way that is extremely similar to that of Fahrenheit 451 (and for decades now!), and of course overthrowing democracies and implementing corporate-friendly dictatorships that enforce child slave labor.
How do we stop this attack on mind kind you ask? Well it's not as simple as electing new government officials, as time has proven it does not matter if we have a democrat or a republican in the presidency, controlling the House, controlling the senate, or any combination of the three. Furthermore, it seems that while there is some strong sentiments of nepotism in the white house, the majority of positions don't seem to work that way. So why then do we see such consistent corruption at the top of the US government? Aside from theories that law schools are purposely trying to corrupt its students, which I don't believe, it would appear that the true problem is with the politic parties themselves.
The reason that both political organizations consistently produce corrupt officials is that THEY are the vessel of corruption. What I mean by this is that in order to be nominated to even participate in the primaries for either of these parties then you need to have demonstrated your willingness to be corrupt. It is not an option for an aspiring politician to not play by these rules; the other parties do not win and their political influence is very weak. I suspect that many politicians that we hate for their acts of terror in the world such as Condaleezza Rice and Bill Clinton came out of law school relatively honest and pure. But they learned that to rise in the political sphere you need to serve corporate interests.
But why do the political parties care so much about this? Were they created by corporations, and grandfathered in many other corporations to also be included in the benefits of electing a given party? I don't think this is the case; as both parties were formed before the turn of the 20th century. Looking back at thistory and the economic events in the United States during this period of time, lobbyists weren't really paying off government officials yet and multi-corporate oligopoly mergers weren't really starting to become common yet. And right there we have our answer. It was when the likes of Piers Morgan began to have massive control over US industries such as steel and railroad that he and others began to pressure the government into overlooking his illegal activities. You see around this time citizens of the United States began to notice the monopolies that Piers Morgan was forming and became worried. He ruthlessly bought out his competitors by inviting them to merge with his company. The benefits of this including joining with a more successful brand and obtaining lots of shares of a now more powerful company. This was particularly enticing because when many of the industry's richest men pooled together, their collective stock skyrocketed. Since this went against the concept of free trade and free competition within the economy, the outrage of the people was heard and a law was made banning these types of holding companies forever. However that did not stop anything.This government corruption was done by giving them different types of equity in the complex of companies that they had formed. What started as domestic bullying to have a stranglehold on the US market evolved into a fight for global control of natural resources. As the stakes have gotten higher, more factions have come together; more money has been involved; and more lawmakers and government officials have been brought in. This doesn't tell the whole story though, and it's important to note another aspect of US elections.
In order to win an election, massive amounts of money are needed. This wasn't always the case, but as technology improved each party began pushing and pushing the envelope on their budget as it became clear that the more money you have, the more citizens you can reach out to and the more campaign ads you can run. Where does the majority of campaign funds come from? Massive corporations like Exon Mobile and Apple. In a sense you could say that the same type of deal is going on now as in the days of the US Steel Corporation. Corporations are buying stock so to speak into a particular political party. One that will put THEIR priorities first ahead of the other, competing corporations. It's important to some of these companies that congress doesn't pass laws that would be unfavorable to their bottom line or otherwise make it tougher for them to do business. Some want the US to interact with foreign nations in a certain way and will sometimes pressure the government into entering a war or invading another country for their sake.
As you can see, there is a clear mutual relationship here between corporate interests and the interests of the two political parties. And following from this deal we have massive corruption at the top.
So what fundamental changes to I think need to take place? First off, lobbying ought to be made illegal. It is a way for corporate leaders to legally bribe governmental institutions. But that isn't enough, because there are plenty of illegal ways that they can still use money to bribe government officials. However the way that we can stop political organizations from being corrupt is by taking the following two steps:
1 - Butcher campaign budgets and allow all candidates at each level of the election a certain, small amount of campaigning. This means that all posters, pep rallies, websites, etc will be strictly regulated. Everyone will be put on a level playing field as each other and the only differences will be their policies. I know that heavy regulation isn't something that people often welcome, but I think that it's necessary to eliminate corruption.
2 - But that doesn't really put every candidate on a level playing field because the two party system dominates the political atmosphere and prevents any other political factions from competing. Therefore political parties will be removed from any type of legal authenticity. No longer will democrat/republican committees of officials decide who will run in the primaries. Now every state's CITIZENS will vote on a dozen or so local candidates. Of course they will be made accessible to the entire state in a controlled manner such that everyone's ideas are clearly represented. Both in a way that is easy to quickly understand and one which allows for long consumption of the finer details.
In conclusion, I have shown why at a very elementary level the government has become so corrupt, and very simply how to counter this continuous river of illegitimacy. Now I said that the government is in need of a COMPLETE overhaul. This is because I don't believe that the above system is able to be constructed within the current system. These are my final comments however because I think that discussion on why the current system doesn't allow for such change is another thread on its own.
I also attached a poll since I'm new here to get a better understanding of the community
