ELECTIONS FAVORING PLUTOCRATIC OLIGARCHY
Presidential candidate Rick Santorum said yesterday that “higher-income people don’t have to pay taxes if they don’t want to,” reminiscent of Leona Helmsley’s “Only the little people pay taxes.” Of course, we know that billionaire Nelson Rockefeller, when in the 70% tax bracket, paid zero in total federal income tax, because there are so many loopholes for the wealthy (and there are far more today).
Not to be outdone, Mitt Romney said there’s no need to raise the minimum wage. No need if you have inherited wealth which grows exponentially because your people control the government and laws concerning taxes and investments.
The primary opponent allowed by corporate media, President Obama, has extended the Bush tax cut for the wealthy but pledged that, after the election of course, he will reverse everything he’s stood for, bankster bailouts, proposed corporate tax cuts, and raise taxes on the rich.
Every story we could find in the mass media yesterday about the Russian election had it that the election was rigged, generally without evidence, based on hearsay from Putin opponents. We don’t doubt that the election wasn’t as clean as could be, but we seriously doubt it was as remotely as flawed as our own here in the Land of the Free.
Today, Virginia holds its Republican primary election in which candidates backed by millions of dollars, such as Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich, could not qualify. If they couldn’t get on the ballot, imagine how difficult it would be for someone who represented the public interest and was not backed by millions.
There are many states where, try as one may, it is unlikely a candidate will get on the ballot unless they are Democrats or Republicans, who, in many states, have special rules that keep them on the ballot representing corporate interests against the people.
For a year now, the same corporate scumbags have been paraded on our TV screens as the only candidates allowed, although they do not represent, as we’ve pointed out, what polling clearly tells us are the interests of the majority of citizens to end the wars, provide government health care, cut defense spending, clean up the environment etc. Candidates representing those desires have not been allowed an iota of air time, and are unlikely to get on the ballots in more than a handful of states.
Should a candidate somehow find a way to be seen anyhow, as Ralph Nader did years ago, they are not allowed into the debates. When Nader showed up for one presidential debate with a ticket someone had given him, he was forcibly dragged away out of fear that his image might appear in the crowd, the closest he would have been allowed, although he clearly represented the public interest, unlike the corporate candidates who got the TV coverage.
Even within the corporate parties, when Dennis Kucinich qualified for the Nevada Democratic Primary debate in 2008, MSNBC shut him out, saying they are a corporation and can do whatever they want, they do not have to abide by their own rules, or fairness. Kucinich had been getting standing ovations in previous debates that year, and the establishment feared that he would get exposure for opinions that mirror those of the masses, unlike Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, who had proven their fealty as demonstrated by the millions of dollars backing them from transnational corporate executives who don’t give a damn about this country or its people.
Should all else fail, the voting machines have been demonstrated by computer experts to be easy to rig, and do not leave a paper trail, so there is no way to do a recount with any meaning. Then there’s that electoral college, which undermines democracy in a number of ways, and helped go against the votes of the people in the 2000 election, with the Supreme Court defying the Constitution and electing Bush president.
It is disgusting to hear the corporate media talk about the flawed Russian elections. Putin may not be our first choice as a defender of democracy, but his polling numbers are far higher than any politician in this country, and the voter turnout was much higher than we get in the USA, where most citizens have given up, a majority who are eligible not even bothering to vote in a hopelessly corrupt system. —Jack
