In an address to the U.S. Senate this week, Vermont independent Bernie Sanders testified to the basics of wealth and income inequality and described how it distorts the U.S. political process.
The senator’s poignant speech, which is titled “A Threat to American Democracy,” begins with statistics many people have heard but that have not gotten their fair hearing in the corporate press. The Walton family, for example, heirs of the Walmart chain and its fortune, have long been the richest family in America. Today they are worth $148 billion—more than the bottom 40 percent of U.S. citizens combined. (Read about the nation’s 20 richest families here.)
A consequence of the extreme rise in income for the top 1 percent is the Pandora’s box of political power. This power was unleashed particularly with the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. The ruling continued the court’s 19th century identification of citizen rights with corporations by granting corporations unlimited campaign contributions under the guise that money is speech protected by the Constitution. (The court is currently hearing a case that would ease remaining restrictions on campaign donations.)
Sanders says political power is no longer divided between the Republican and Democratic parties, but instead is held by a billionaire party in which candidates on both sides of the aisle depend on the “financial speech” of a few extremely wealthy donors. Those donors are capable of outspending the entire U.S. middle and lower classes. The exemplars of these superrich working to shape politics are the Koch brothers, currently the second-wealthiest family in this country. The Kochs to date have spent hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars on extreme right-wing Republican candidates and causes. Their efforts have paid off. Thanks to tax cuts and other measures passed by their politicians, their wealth in the last year alone increased by $12 billion to some $80 billion altogether.
With 95 percent of all income during the period between 2009 and 2012 going to the top 1 percent of earners, the problem Sanders describes is getting far worse. As it is currently being reported, the “Adelson Primary,” in which Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson gathers GOP favorites like former Florida governor and brother to former president George W. Bush, Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to discuss plans for the 2016 presidential election, is becoming the new standard model for campaign planning.
Sanders concludes his speech by asking, is “this nation ... going to become an oligarchic form of society?”
These greedy, amoral fucks will throw us all off the cliff if we don't fight back.....Get conscious & get active folks! Sen. Bernie Sanders will probably never become President as no wealthy donor will finance his campaign, but it would be great to have someone like him in office. He probably wouldn't last a full term in office if elected as powerful forces will conspire to take him out and make it look like an accident.....ah yes...
OneLove
:::MME:::
