Our Democracy is Not for Sale

Regardless of whether you are left, right, center, liberal, conservative, progressive, socialist, or libertarian, what we lack right now as a country is something we can all rally together about. Politics can be so frustrating to everyone to the point people just don't want to talk about it. One of the main reasons for this is our country is split more than ever. But what if there was an issue that we could all agree on? 

I think there is...

We need to send a clear message that our democracy is not for sale. There is a lot of money that wants to make sure the American people never come together on an issue like this. There are lobbyists who make a lot of money making sure we remain divided, thereby maintaining the status quo, and insuring that those people who have carved their niche in our society stay in power, at the expense of those who would strive to make our country great again. 

If you have a moment, take a look at United Republic. They are a group striving to bring this issue to more people's attention. What is cool about this group is there are people from both the left and the right that are involved in it. Here are a few examples:

Lawrence Lessig speaks at Google, Buddy Roemer from the Republican party makes a funny superPAC parody, Tom Davis from the Tea Party speaks about corporate giveaways

As we move toward elections, it is not going to matter so much who we elect until we start to send a clear message that our democracy is not for sale. I would love to see more people start to come forward and say they are no longer a member of any party but instead have chosen to do their part in making sure that our demecracy is our democracy, something that is so sacred that it cannot be bought and sold, but earned.

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Testing Capitalism's Limits

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Politics and Markets

In just a few days we have seen the resignation of both the Greek Prime Mininister George Papandreau, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Before each of them resigned, their countries seemed on the brink of economic disaster, sending markets spiraling downward. Then on both occasions news that they were reorganizing the government brought about a rebound.

I have to wonder if this could be the new form of insider trading. If well positioned personel could have intimate details of these matters a little before the markets, they could profit handsomely. Moreover, if the media or politicians could be swayed by certain financial industry insiders, there would be even more to gain.

It's food for thought, and certainly there is some truth to it.

Meanwhile, can Europe hold on? Or is it destined for collapse. It seems unlikely there is enough agreement politically between Eurozone members to do anything that will reverse the course, but unfortunately we may not be privy to what others know that we don't. 

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Ronald Reagan on Closing Tax Loopholes

Ronald Reagan also spoke out about tax loopholes for the rich, saying that in theory such loopholes might sound great, but in practice it was unacceptable for a millionaire to pay fewer taxes than a bus driver. In today's debate, so often the closing of loopholes is advertised as a tax increase. However, what it is not is a tax rate increase. It is a closing of loopholes, and in this video we can see that Ronald Reagan and Barrack Obama would have agreed in this matter.

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Robert Reich Debunks 6 Big GOP Lies About The Economy

Discussing some of the common right wing arguments from "government gets in the way", "trickle down economics", "social security is a ponzi scheme", "reducing government creates jobs", and much more.

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