Your government is corroded & crippled…

Kin of Nyx
Aug 28, 2017 · 5 min read

and unfortunately protesting, caring, sharing Facebook posts & pretty much anything you’re doing to actually make a difference…won’t change anything. Oh, and voting definitely doesn’t help either.

Do you know what a welfare state is? Do you understand what it means to live and participate in a republic? If not, I linked both terms so you can be enlightened.

For the already enlightened and living in the United States of America, here’s a controversial “new” word you might not be aware of: corporatocracy (even the almighty Chrome browser doesn’t recognize it as a word yet)

Seeeeee.

You might be thinking to yourself that the idea of corporations having influence over politicians is nothing new. Since the advent of charter companies, such as the Dutch East India Company, the ability for well-managed, high-functioning corporations to grow into massively influential entities was…a thing. But their power was always secondary to the monarch or state. In the mid-20th century and until very recently, influence peddling (i.e. lobbying) was expected beyond a certain size of company, but in the public zeitgeist, there were still checks and balances in place to prevent the cultivation of Robber Barons 2.0 — or so we thought.

Definitely in my Top 10 All-Time Greatest Memes.

Now, regardless of what form of democracy you live in (or think you live in — hehe), a cornerstone tenant of your belief in the concept of “democracy” should, ideally, include the notion of political equality of all citizens. It’s kinda like…an essential principle of democracy. And in your democracy, the righteous power of government is based upon the consent of the governed; the denizens rule.

Look at all these happy republics, enjoying their daily dose of democracy. Every. Day.

But what happens when, say, the most economically and militarily powerful nation in the world allows corporations to contributed unlimited amounts of funds as political donations?

Oh Bernie, you ol’ socialist you. You really think the people fully comprehend the explicit, yet delicate concepts you’ve compacted here into two sentences? And even if they do understand…why would they care? It’s not like they can do anything about it.

In Bernie’s quote above, at the end of the second sentence I would actually replace “trying to do” with “doing”. See, most people simply think Citizens United (and the many other court rulings that lead us down this dark path) only really matter during presidential elections. But that would be completely false.

In the dissenting opinion of the Citizens United v. FCC case, Justice Stevens wrote:

“The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.

A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.

In addition to this immediate drowning out of noncorporate voices, there may be deleterious effects that follow soon thereafter. Corporate “domination” of electioneering, Austin , 494 U. S., at 659, can generate the impression that corporations dominate our democracy. When citizens turn on their televisions and radios before an election and hear only corporate electioneering, they may lose faith in their capacity, as citizens, to influence public policy. A Government captured by corporate interests, they may come to believe, will be neither responsive to their needs nor willing to give their views a fair hearing. The predictable result is cynicism and disenchantment: an increased perception that large spenders “ ‘call the tune’ ” and a reduced “ ‘willingness of voters to take part in democratic governance.’ ” McConnell , 540 U. S., at 144 (quoting Shrink Missouri , 528 U. S., at 390).”

That last paragraph really hits home, doesn’t it. Wait, what about now…

Note the “All Adults” figure.

It doesn’t even matter (for the sake of this post) who they actually voted for. The facts speak for themselves. If you use the census’ 2016 numbers, there are 249,454,440 people of voting age in America. That leaves…

249,454,440 x .01(100–52.5) = 118,490,859 American that didn’t vote

(I write it as a full number and not percentage because I believe the effect of the statement is magnified when you realize it’s scale.)

Now, let’s wrap this up…

The Citizens United case married currency to influence; out in the open, for all to witness and be aware of. And this completely undermines our (and any) democracy.

Before, currency was influence’s side piece. The “power of the people”still had a ring around influence’s left hand’s ring finger. A lot of people knew influence was seeing currency in the middle of the night, but officially, during the day, influence kept up appearances with the people.

Now, their marriage is a thing of the past, and currency has influence’s ring.

Choose one.

I’ll stop with the clever wordplay to ask a question:

Do you get the sense things are bad?

Well, I agree with you Mr. Jillette. But not when we’re talking about our state of the union. Want to really know why?

The solution to not living pay-check to pay-check? Get a bike motherfucker.

…and many proud capitalists’ response…

If you make it through the entire video, you might need to take a shower to rinse off the corporate love-jizz off your face. Fortunately, only the first half of the video is relevant.

This is 2017. Like climate change, the effects of the underlying theme of this entire post is gradual, leaving room for grandiose criticism. But the dangers are imminent and real.

If you were hoping for a solution at the end of this post, sorry to disappoint. That’s kind of the point. People need to wake up first. The path we’re on…it leads to a treacherous cliff. [ENTER FISCAL CLIFF JOKE HERE] We still don’t see the cliff, but it’s coming up. One needs to be awake to react…and get the fuck off this doomed road of corporate-run government.

Government of the people, by the companies, for the companies, shall not perish from the Earth.

~ Not Abraham Lincoln

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade