A Time for Heresy

[RBHam]

Bill Moyers

"Unless we choose to renew our commitment to America's deepest values, the day will come when we no longer recognize the country we love."

Editor's Note: This is the prepared text of Moyers' remarks delivered on March 14 upon the establishment by Marilyn and James Dunn, of the Wake Forest Divinity School, of a scholarship in religious freedom in the name of Judith and Bill Moyers.


EXCERPT:
There are no victimless crimes in politics. The cost of corruption is passed on to the people. When the government of the United States falls under the thumb of the powerful and privileged, regular folks get squashed. We are dealing here with a vision sharply at odds with the majority of Americans. These are people who want to arrange the world for the convenience of themselves and the multinational corporations that pay for their elections.

With their fundamentalist medicine men twirling the bullroarers in the woods, they would turn America into their petri dish -- a replica of the Marianas, many times magnified: A society "run by the powerful, oblivious to the weak, free of accountability, enjoying a cozy relationship with government, thriving on crony capitalism," in the words of Al Meyeroff, who led a class-action suit in behalf of the worker on the Marianas and learned what they were up against.

Let this, too, sink in: If the corporate, political, and religious right have their way, we will go back to the first Gilded Age, when privilege controlled politics, votes were purchased, legislatures were bribed, bills were bought, and laws flagrantly disregarded -- all as God's will.

So, my friends at Wake Forest, there is work to do. These charlatans and demagogues know that by controlling a society's most emotionally laden symbols, they can control America, too. They must be challenged.

more...
http://www.alternet.org/story/33958/

[bread_and_roses]

1. This is a terrific article. Kicking for anyone who hasn't seen it (n/t)

[FloridaPat]

2. Privilege has always controlled politics. No need to buy votes

today. Just change the computers. And the rest has already happened. I remember noticing in the 1960's that local government was like this. And that the federal government was a lot like this. We need a big change as to who the government works for. Sinc they are not working for us, I suggest they stop taxing us and just tax the corporations who our representatives actually do work for. We shouldn't have to foot the bills these guys are acquiring.

[mcscajun]

3. Voting this one UP

everyone needs to see this.

[mcscajun]

4. This is what we're up against...

from the same article (emphasis mine):

The chairman of the Federal Election Commission said just this weekend that anyone who expects to run for the nomination for president -- the nomination -- in 2008 will need to have raised one hundred million dollars by the end of 2007. That money isn't going to come from regular folks -- less than one half of one percent of all Americans made a contribution of $200 or more to a federal candidate in 2004. No, the men and women who have mastered the money game have taken advantage of this fundamental weakness in our system -- the high cost of campaigns -- to sell democracy to the highest bidder.

Some simple facts: The number of lobbyists registered to do business in Washington has more than doubled in the last five years. That's 16,342 lobbyists in 2000 to 34,785 last year. Sixty-five lobbyists for every member of Congress. The total spent per month by special interests wining, dining, and seducing federal officials is now nearly $200 million. Per month.

http://www.alternet.org/story/33958

$200 million PER MONTH! That's a staggering figure by Anyone's standards.