Particularly to JEM - Of course I understand that Dems are a big part of the Big Money Betrayal. Of course I understand that Big Money has had a huge influence on our country and government...just like it does in every other country. However...Our Bylaws - Constitution - is not like that of every other country.

And I think, as stated above, there is a huge difference between a Dem who is leveraged into betraying us...and a Republican who never thought of doing anything BUT pulling Corporate Freight.
And there is a big difference between the Populist Impulses and Citizens who voted in a Dem....and the constituency who blindly votes in a Republican. It makes the Dem betrayal STING all the worse.

I cannot blame Dems wholly, though, for bending to the powers arrayed against them. It is basically a hopeless proposition, and it has been a very uphill fight (almost vertical) in this country for a long long time.

However, CORPORATE status is a fairly new and awesomely powerful and frightening development. Before, a very rich person had limited means of controlling EVERYTHING for much more than their lifespan. They had to have a very able, and likeminded HEIR who could keep the fortune growing and use it as wickedly and powerfully as the OLD MAN.

Corporations, on the other hand, are imbued with endless powers, immortality, and free from the corporeal bounds of the flesh.

I don't think there is any crime in labelling the Republicans as the party of CORPORATE. I stand by my initial statement, they have NEVER betrayed money...but they have betrayed everything else. Of modern Democrats, and modern Democratic principles...you can find many who did not betray their constituents and who did not bend over for the monied interests. You can also find many Dems who did not betray their constituents on every level BUT WHO DID occasionally (and usually when it counts the most) bend to the pressure of the Wealth Society we live in. I cannot bring myself to blame them wholly for the situation that was thrust upon them....a completely greedy, pay for play, corporate environment. They never stood a chance.

Again, there is a big difference between somebody who finally gave in after their arm was mostly twisted off.....and the elected Republican officials who were gleefully, wilfully doing the twisting.

I loathe the Dems who do the bidding of Big Money....but I understand that a lot of them are pressured, blackmailed, and manouvered into something that obviously galls them and eats away at their self-esteem and effectiveness. Make no mistake....I want them gone too. But I understand that we got to where we are by having a lot of good people fall by the wayside, seduced by the most powerful force currently on our planet.

My main beef is the Republican party getting a free pass in the Corporate Media for almost a Century, no-one in Media dares breathe the connection between Corporate and Republican. If our population knew that these Repubs were only fighting for Corporations and not for Jesus and Whites and Family Units we would be a lot better off....and Dems would have a much easier time of getting Pro People legislation passed.

Hell, their whole Reason For Being is to spread disinformation. It would be a miracle ( and surely a mistake ) if they DID put an R next to his name.

When you do not have the truth on your side, should we be surprised by ANY of their methods? They have nothing but lies and obfuscation in their quiver....so that is what they are using.

I just noticed your bio. I have spent a lot of my life in your neck of the woods.
Who could ever forget the stretch of road thru Virginny, with the best nickname for any road ever....the FinnTown Freeway.

I used to hit golf balls into your open-pit mine.

I used to work in the BWCA near Ely, and we went to Virginia for culture on our days off. My relatives live mostly in Buhl and Kinney and Dark Lake - Near Britt.

You were going to go only 1 for 8 (the South Pole joke has some panache) until you slipped in this little gem:

"I went down my slip and slide ... and I felt like Capt. Sollenberger in the Hudson."

2 for 8
and
Maybe the best ever.

Turned off the lights in my house, and suddenly it was like I was Helen Keller or something.

Gmail was slow today, and I felt as isolated as a Tehran Embassy Hostage.

The only response I ever got, was that George Bush I did, during his administration....sign some sort of bill that was to help mentally challenged folks. It was a bill making life easier for them, or to make life tougher on anyone who abused them or took advantage. I can't remember. Seemed like a pretty nice thing to do

although, it really did not affect the MAJORITY.

The Corporate Schill Party basically spends their time trying to come up with lawyer/weasel words that sound like they have principles and scruples, and always seem to come down on the side of Authority or Corporations.
Such as, we can't hear about crimes dreamed up and ordered from White House sessions, because it would have a CHILLING effect on frank and honest advice to the Pres.

Or we can't have a public health plan, because it would be unfair competition to those honest and lovely folks in the insurance biz. You know, when you are trying to kill vampires, do you really care if some tactic is UNFAIR to the vampires?

Like....you don't want to remove that TICK from your neck....it would be unfair to the TICK.

Its a twofer

Dollars spent helping a Dem taken from a Republican pocket. About time. Expect a flurry of expensive legal manouevers from the FrankenCamp.

TermLimits...you can't dismiss that so easily. TermLimits affect amount of work an official can do?...what about the nearly 100% of their time they spend trying to get re-elected? Isn't THAT limiting what they can get done?
If anyone is happy with the amount of work our Senate already get's done, with NO TermLimits, please raise your hand.

Our system was never designed to have built-in life appointment positions.
Why do we have limits for everything else (including tax rates and statutes of limitiation); but no limits for a politician? That is dangerous.
Saying that term limits is an answer for lazy population is no argument against term limits. Waiting for a Perfect Population to come along and save the system is going to be a long wait.

Lastly, a lazy population doesn't cover all that power, money, corporate pull, incumbency can do to affect an election. Even an alert population would have a very hard time countering the array of enemies against the people.

I would rather have a corrupt Leftwing Democracy where our political malefactors enrich themselves off of fleecing a DECENT SYSTEM...than the republican version of Corprotacracy where the political malefactor gets rich selling off people and lands to the bidding of Corporate Juggernauts bent on mining the people and the environment and the financial structure.

Sufficiently globalize world markets, then make sure you are not Solely an American company...that you have a foothold offshore somewhere. Then when you have squeezed the easiest juice out of America....bankrupt and gut her and light out for the new territories. Now you have a world stage where America is you client country and you are free to rape and pillage globally. Really tap that american market that was so protected for so long. The shine is off her now, and you aren't really a citizen....so let's start putting the spurs to her and get down to really mining what is left.

No wonder when faced with huge energy calamities, we basically get nothing done. Healthcare?Stymied. Green Jobs/New Infrastructure/Energy policy? Stymied. Two drifting wars....Drift On. Economic meltdown?BailOut those responsible. Auto industry failing (but could possibly be re-purposed for energy/green jobs/unemployment/dearth of american production) left to dangle and rot.

We are seeing more clearly than ever Who is running this country, and for what purpose.

Partial Solution? Term limits.
Not the answer for everything, but at least let us not have these people making such a secure career out of fleecing us. Let them see how much long-term game playing, and waiting us out they can do with only 1 or 2 terms.