Why you shouldn’t care about Russia
TL/DR: Truth hurts kiddos, buckle up.
In my very bones I don’t care about the Russia story. It has to be one of the least interesting stories about power of our time. It exposes such deep rooted hypocrisy and obliviousness that I am often staggered by the passion and frothy-mouthed rebuttals I receive for my apathy.
IF Donald Trump or a member of his team conspired with Russian Foreign Intelligence to win the election, THAT is a story, THAT is worthy of investigation and prosecution, THAT I will happily listen to the details of. I, however, remain unconvinced the the Mueller investigation will reveal such sordid details, and will happily eat crow on the day that it does. Even if that were true, it is still not as interesting or as critical as the corruption going on before our very eyes that the media views as routine.
Our leaders are elected into Office as quasi-successful persons. They are often community leaders, titans of industry, or military and intelligence professionals. As our representatives, they are paid a comfortable $174,000 dollars-a-year as a congressman, or $400,000 dollars-a-year as President. No doubt, these salaries are meant to keep our elected officials comfortable, and uncorruptible to the straightforward bribe.
Few are satisfied with this compensation. The cost of rubbing elbows with the country’s most powerful elites is that money is no longer the object, but prestige. In order to have prestige, one cannot just be a humble civil-servant, but instead must become an industry in-and-of themselves. Through a combination of speeches, book deals, and charitable organizations, our leaders have been able to launder themselves tens of millions of dollars from donors.
It is without a doubt that the same people lobbying for legislation beneficial to their industry are the same ones paying exorbitant fees for speeches. It is also without a doubt that media companies create juicy punditry and book jobs to curry favor and access with the leaders of the United States. So where is the line?
- What is the distinction between bribery and free speech mixed in with a little voluntary exchange?
- What is the difference between pay-to-play access and a genuine consultative insight to the beltway?
- What is the line between border-crossing philanthropy, and foreign influence in our government?
Loyalty. Who are our representatives loyal to?
We have representatives who wrote our health care and financial laws while giving exorbitantly expensive speeches to the health insurance and finance industry. We have representatives who are paid guests of News Channels responsible for holding them to account. We have representatives who are responsible for our foreign interest, who are receiving charitable donations from those same countries.
It is so blatant, and so galling, that most Americans have no doubt the one group these representatives fail to represent, the people of the United States.
So no, I don’t care about Russia’s influence on the Trump administration, because in his stead you would rather have a representative under the influence of Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. No, I don’t care that the Media is attacking Trump, because they are the same ones who turn a blind eye to the nefarious deals of their paid pundits. No, I don’t care that Trump has attempted to open up hotels concurrent to his administration, because we have representatives becoming millionaires through charities.
Let me know when you’re on your way to D.C. with some girders, I’ll pick up the tar and feathers on the way.
