solitare
Munchen, Bayern Germany
Posted: May 10, 2008, 1:28 PM CST
"I don't believe we have a true understanding or full knowledge for the primaries without FL and MI being counted. It seems that in the last several elections that things keep getting worse as far as changing how they are run as well as who gets a say and who doesn't. I said it in the one thread and I'll say it again What we need is a complete and total revamp and that means cleaning out D.C. altogether and getting people with morals values and principles running this country again."
as quoted from Serenity 1971
Serenity, I would mention that you see the May 5 edition of Time Mag. the article "Tell Me How This Ends" in which the so far 3 possible scenarios are given to end the as usual Democratic Party's tearing itself apart routine. Those so called 'disqualified' delegates of Florida and Michigan are given in scenario 2 which may play into the worst scenario are also given , which until a few days ago had no scenario for a combined Obama/Clinton ticket at the convention which now is escalating as a real possibility.
That said, when once you think about it, is still not about to bring any changes whatsoever to Washington or the way 'business' is conducted there on the hill.
If money is the life-blood of politics, it really should be called the food of politics, as in, "if money be the food of politics, feed on!" The food thing works on all levels; the body politic can be said to be rather bulimic. Look at the way voters binge and purge over election cycles, trading 'Great Society' style liberal largess for conservatives' cutbacks and capitalism. The Ginrich and company always claimed that they wanted the govt. to go on a diet, but at the same time they were fattening their own party coffers. Binge on contributions; purge the regulations. In with the money, out with the governance. The (mostly Republican) efforts to present bills outlawing laws against laws that stop the spread of laws on all matters financial have kept up since that bonzo clown Reagan became President. Now it is almost impossible to know hoe many lobbies are active on Capital Hill, let alone across the entire country. In 2002 there were about 24 thousand registered lobbyists there, about 45 for every member of Congress, a ratio that fairly wallops Surf City's promise of 2 girls for every boy. Moreover, these estimates merely account for those involved in lobbying at the federal level. There also thousands of lobbyists pitching moneys at the state levels . Add up all the moneys that flow from both levels, and we are talking about over a billion dollars, maibe two. I leave it to your discretion, to judge whether or not the titans of industry would sink that kind of money into a process that has granted them few tangible gains. For example, the most lobby-mobbed issue of the last several years is tax policy. Is it mere happenstance that corporate tax revenues are at their historic lowest or is it some damn fine work on the part of influence peddling lobbyists?
There is , will be no clean-house carried out without bloodshed...It is simply impossible, morals or no morals. Money talks louder than ethics or morals.