COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS IN
INVESTMENTWATCH
Is Washington the Most
Corrupt Government in History?
I think Mr. Roberts has it wrong.
The issue with Washington is not corruption, per se,
although there's plenty of that.
The truth is that America's government is not responsible to
anyone except a group of special interests.
And the truth also is that the elevation of money to the
level of free speech is twisted beyond description, and it has twisted the
country.
Money is central to American politics, ergo, the special
interests who supply it are in the driver's seat. Senators spend two-thirds of
their time soliciting campaign funds.
The political structure of the United States actually
totally lacks that old concept, checks and balances, in any real or effective
form.
And with the exaltation of money in politics, it is
impossible to rearrange the badly damaged machinery because doing that is not
what the serious money wants.
Because politicians really are answerable mainly to special
interests, they have little tie to voters.
Washington cares almost nothing for American voters, except
at election time when a whirlwind of costly advertising and sound bites will
appeal for a vote. It almost is like fulfilling a technical requirement more
than conducting a real campaign between policies.
The truth is that from the power establishment's point of
view, it almost doesn't matter who wins. They will both answer to the same
lobbies.
Democrat or Republican is much like Coke or Pepsi: the
establishment is never threatened by either one. Two branches of one Imperial Party.
This all creates a permanent lack of connection between the
American people and their national government, a government free to busy itself
with running an empire on behalf of special interests.
Idiots like George Bush, always a figurehead, used to joke
to appeal to silly voters about never reading the international news section of
the newspaper, but, in fact, that is most of what Washington does care about.
That and the taxes and regulations affecting special interests.
You have a corporate/imperial country.
End of story. Stuff about corruption, stuff about the swamp,
stuff about the founding principles are all childish nonsense having nothing to
do with the realities of contemporary America.
What difference has Trump made to the world set on fire by
Obama and Bush? Nothing. He continues down the same path. He has no choice,
except in the noisiness of the way he does it. He takes orders from the same
folks.
