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Capitalism and democracy at odds

The title of this article comes as no surprise to most people in our great country.

What troubles me is the comment heard when the subject comes up in a conversation.

That comment is invariably, “The politicians and big money run things, and we can’t do anything about it.”

That is not entirely true; the large financial interests and politicians do have much influence, but we can do something about it.

We all need to get the facts about who are leaders are, who they represent and who do they serve.

Capitalism as an economic engine is a great asset for any country. However, the spoiler in the mix of democracy and capitalism is the greed of people involved.

A free and open democratic government allows capitalism to flourish at an astounding rate.

For example: consider Exxon Mobil, Walmart or General Electric.

Those three corporations control billions if not trillions in assets coupled with enormous influence.

They are not alone; hundreds of these large corporations were spawned here in the United States.

As they grew, lawmakers saw fit to curb some activities such as setting usury limits, anti-monopoly restrictions, labor laws, etc.

These restrictions and laws were necessary to protect the general public.

In order to cope with these restrictions, the large corporations and financial institutions used their wealth and influence to change the voting habits of the lawmakers.

They did this by employing thousands of lobbyists to convey their wishes to the lawmakers, along with promises to them that they would support their campaigns to the extent required to assure re-election.

Before, long laws were enacted that favored huge corporations and Wall Street Bankers.

It has become increasingly apparent that money and its influence now control our nations and state governments to a great degree.

Consequently, there is no longer a democratic process that serves all the people; rather only those with money and influence would prosper. This dire prediction may well become true unless the United States House of Representatives stops mishandling meaningful legislation due to its allegiance to the conservative far right Republican segment and their lobbyists.

To date, this chamber has chosen to oppose and deliberately derail any legislation the Administration and the Denate have proposed.

This is political warfare in its lowest form. We can change policies to improve our country by voting for those who truly represent all the citizens.

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