they hold the power and have themselves re-elected as often as they wish... the people have no power whatever !!!
The American people really are a 'do nothing' group. We pat ourselves on the back with claims of exceptionalism and we parade around the world showing off our wealth and power. But, the claims are hollow... just so much empty air, not even hot air, just empty.
Our wealthy elite have built a political system that eliminates the input or the participation of the common citizen. They have operated that system for their own benefit and to the detriment of the public. They have completely fooled the working class into believing that we have a democracy by giving the illusion of choice through a 'two party' system and by using the word 'democracy' repeatedly.
Republicans love to give speeches pretending to support our troops and our veterans. Republicans present day reputation is based partly on being the party that supports the military. However, (as just one example) they were the party that removed more than $1.4 billion in veteran services from President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget. Cuts included more than $690 million for VA medical care and $582 million in VA construction projects. Approximately 70,000 veterans will not be able to receive the care they need because of these Republican cuts to the budget.
The deceived citizens have built allegiances to one of the two parties and they fight endlessly for the dominance of their own particular party... as if it mattered. The voter doesn't look at their party with a critical mindset. Democrats, who believe that their party stands for 'civil rights' (for example) don't look back to see that it was their party that fought so hard against civil rights all through the civil rights era, just a few decades ago.
Without looking back, and wanting to believe the current political campaign, Democrats are crying over all of the things to which their own party has consistently consented. We have all of these recent years of living under a Democrat in the White House and progress has not been made against the shortcomings of our culture and society.
Democrats like to condemn George Bush for being a war criminal (and he is) but are reluctant to condemn Obama who has kept this country at war for his entire tenure and who has committed war crimes of his own. Democrats like to condemn Trump as a racist but fail to note that racism thrived under Democratic administrations... sexism is the same regardless of who has occupied the White House... the laws of this country favor the wealthy corporate world rather than the ninety-nine percent, the working class, the average American citizen. And, this is true regardless of which party dominates.
Healthcare in this country is oriented toward profits for the corporate powers and not toward the health of the citizen. This is the truth and everyone recognizes it as a fact. Because of the profit motive, healthcare in this country is the worst possible. Every industrialized country in the entire world has a better system for healthcare that we have. The article below, by Rob Koll, emphasizes the role the Democrats have recently played in keeping pharmaceuticals over-priced. His focus is in replacing those Democratic people in congress who screw the public in this specific instance.
But, why not replace politicians of both parties when they demonstrate (by their vote) that they are against the average citizen in this country. Why should we be angry enough to replace some in congress while allowing others to continue working against the working class?
It only makes sense to support those politicians who are supporting the mass of average citizens in this country. We should be working hard against politicians who are working hard against us, whether they are Democrats or Republicans... and that's the truth !!!
13 % approval but re-elected each and every time ??? -- there is something crooked going on here !!!
article from OpEdNews by Rob Kall
Here's one of many reasons we on the real left need to take back the Democratic Party. 13 Democratic senators just nominated themselves for replacement by screwing the American people. They voted against Bernie Sanders' and Amy Klobuchar's bill that would have allowed importation of lower cost pharmaceuticals. This bill would have passed if they'd supported Sanders and Klobuchar, since a dozen Republicans voted for the bill.
Here's one of many reasons we on the real left need to take back the Democratic Party.
Here's the list of sell-out Democrats:
Michael Bennet of Colorado,
Bob Menendez and Cory Booker of New Jersey
Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington
Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware,
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, J
oe Donnelly of Indiana,
Martin Heinrich of New Mexico,
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota,
Jon Tester of Montana
Mark Warner of Virginia
and let's not forget Dianne Feinstein, of California, who abstained.
The INTERCEPT reports,
"The policy has widespread support among Americans: one Kaiser poll taken in 2015 found that 72 percent of Americans are in favor of allowing for importation. President-elect Donald Trump also campaigned on a promise to allow for importation."
Some of them made excuses that importing such drugs was not safe for Americans. The problem is, that's an echoing of the same argument Big Pharma makes. Bernie Sanders' according to USA Today, ""said he agrees the medicine should be safe, but he believes that can easily be accomplished.
"If we can import vegetables and fish and poultry and beef from all corners of the Earth, please don't tell me that we cannot bring in, from Canada and other major countries, name brand prescription drugs of some of the largest corporations in the world," he said. "That's a laughable statement.""
The INTERCEPTarticle added this perspective:
"A second amendment Wednesday, authored by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, would have allowed importation pending a safety certification, just like the previous laws passed on the subject. It also failed. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., used that amendment to claim on Twitter that he voted "to lower drug prices through importation from Canada," and Booker referred to the Wyden amendment in his statement as well. This is a well-worn tactic from opponents of importation to mislead their constituents, as they know such certification will never occur. The safety excuse is mostly a chimera, as most of the drugs that would be imported from Canada were originally manufactured in the United States; they're just cheaper there, because the Canadian government uses a review board and price negotiation to make drugs more affordable."
The INTERCEPT points out that many of these Democratic senate sell-outs have received big bucks donations from Pharma. Cory Booker heads the list, with $267,338 in donations over a six year period. That's less than $45,000 a year. Think about it. If the pharmaceutical companies spent that much on every senator, annually, the budget would be $4.5 million a year. Pharma sales in the US in 2015 were just over $250 billion dollars. But remember, most of the senators were "bought" for less. That makes them lower budget, sell-out shills.
We-- the 99%, we the middle class, main street, we-- liberal and progressive independents-- need to take back the Democratic party. We need to replace sell-outs who do not represent their constituents' interests.
What's crazy is the money-- how cheaply a US senator can be bought-- assuming there's no illegal funding of Senator's relatives or vacation homes and the like.
Let's assume that there are ten industries, nah, go with 20 industries that would be willing to invest $45,000 a year. That would be $1.8 million a year per senate seat. Thirty three or thirty four senators run for office every two years. Do the numbers and you get about $1.5 million if each one gets $45 thousand, or if there were 20 different industries giving that kind of money, a paltry $30 million.
In 2015-2016, OpenSecrets reports that $770 million was given to all senate candidates. That's why I say $30 million is a paltry sum-- when it comes to buying senators. It really shows how little it takes to buy a senator, persuading him or her to betray constituents. OpenSecrets reports that individuals gave $586 million to senate campaigns, almost 20 times more than a reasonable speculation of donations by the biggest 20 industries.
These senators sell out even though their constituents carry most of the weight for their campaign funding.
It's time we end this chronic abuse. One step is to let constituents know they are being betrayed-- and that they have options to elect candidates who care about them.
We need to take back the Democratic party from the bottom up-- running in local elections to be committee persons, so when state leaders are elected, they are elected by people who reflect the interests of the 99 percent.
Let's be clear. I do not believe that major change happens through the electoral process. Working on electoral politics alone will not produce major change. But I still believe that it is worth investing some time in it. We also need to be active in supporting protests, boycotts and the like.
Meanwhile, sign up with the Facebook Group I created: Take Back the Democratic Party.
Here's one of many reasons we on the real left need to take back the Democratic Party. 13 Democratic senators just nominated themselves for replacement by screwing the American people. They voted against Bernie Sanders' and Amy Klobuchar's bill that would have allowed importation of lower cost pharmaceuticals. This bill would have passed if they'd supported Sanders and Klobuchar, since a dozen Republicans voted for the bill.
Here's one of many reasons we on the real left need to take back the Democratic Party.
Here's the list of sell-out Democrats:
Michael Bennet of Colorado,
Bob Menendez and Cory Booker of New Jersey
Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington
Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware,
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, J
oe Donnelly of Indiana,
Martin Heinrich of New Mexico,
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota,
Jon Tester of Montana
Mark Warner of Virginia
and let's not forget Dianne Feinstein, of California, who abstained.
The INTERCEPT reports,
"The policy has widespread support among Americans: one Kaiser poll taken in 2015 found that 72 percent of Americans are in favor of allowing for importation. President-elect Donald Trump also campaigned on a promise to allow for importation."
Some of them made excuses that importing such drugs was not safe for Americans. The problem is, that's an echoing of the same argument Big Pharma makes. Bernie Sanders' according to USA Today, ""said he agrees the medicine should be safe, but he believes that can easily be accomplished.
"If we can import vegetables and fish and poultry and beef from all corners of the Earth, please don't tell me that we cannot bring in, from Canada and other major countries, name brand prescription drugs of some of the largest corporations in the world," he said. "That's a laughable statement.""
The INTERCEPTarticle added this perspective:
"A second amendment Wednesday, authored by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, would have allowed importation pending a safety certification, just like the previous laws passed on the subject. It also failed. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., used that amendment to claim on Twitter that he voted "to lower drug prices through importation from Canada," and Booker referred to the Wyden amendment in his statement as well. This is a well-worn tactic from opponents of importation to mislead their constituents, as they know such certification will never occur. The safety excuse is mostly a chimera, as most of the drugs that would be imported from Canada were originally manufactured in the United States; they're just cheaper there, because the Canadian government uses a review board and price negotiation to make drugs more affordable."
The INTERCEPT points out that many of these Democratic senate sell-outs have received big bucks donations from Pharma. Cory Booker heads the list, with $267,338 in donations over a six year period. That's less than $45,000 a year. Think about it. If the pharmaceutical companies spent that much on every senator, annually, the budget would be $4.5 million a year. Pharma sales in the US in 2015 were just over $250 billion dollars. But remember, most of the senators were "bought" for less. That makes them lower budget, sell-out shills.
We-- the 99%, we the middle class, main street, we-- liberal and progressive independents-- need to take back the Democratic party. We need to replace sell-outs who do not represent their constituents' interests.
What's crazy is the money-- how cheaply a US senator can be bought-- assuming there's no illegal funding of Senator's relatives or vacation homes and the like.
Let's assume that there are ten industries, nah, go with 20 industries that would be willing to invest $45,000 a year. That would be $1.8 million a year per senate seat. Thirty three or thirty four senators run for office every two years. Do the numbers and you get about $1.5 million if each one gets $45 thousand, or if there were 20 different industries giving that kind of money, a paltry $30 million.
In 2015-2016, OpenSecrets reports that $770 million was given to all senate candidates. That's why I say $30 million is a paltry sum-- when it comes to buying senators. It really shows how little it takes to buy a senator, persuading him or her to betray constituents. OpenSecrets reports that individuals gave $586 million to senate campaigns, almost 20 times more than a reasonable speculation of donations by the biggest 20 industries.
These senators sell out even though their constituents carry most of the weight for their campaign funding.
It's time we end this chronic abuse. One step is to let constituents know they are being betrayed-- and that they have options to elect candidates who care about them.
We need to take back the Democratic party from the bottom up-- running in local elections to be committee persons, so when state leaders are elected, they are elected by people who reflect the interests of the 99 percent.
Let's be clear. I do not believe that major change happens through the electoral process. Working on electoral politics alone will not produce major change. But I still believe that it is worth investing some time in it. We also need to be active in supporting protests, boycotts and the like.
Meanwhile, sign up with the Facebook Group I created: Take Back the Democratic Party.
the corporate media is part of the scam and they keep the public ignorant
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