Ah, The Stink of Government

 

President Obama signed section 735, the Monsanto Protection Act, of HR 933 the continuing resolution that kept the government from shutting down.  Quid pro quo, maybe, but I am not in much of a mood to be charitable to any politician right now.  The Act was written largely by lobbyists for Monsanto and Senator Roy Blunt, political embarrassment from Missouri, who received $64,250 in campaign donations from Monsanto between 2008 and 2012.  This particular legislative hooker is somewhat low rent as politicians on the Hill go these days.

Consider Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky.  He has turned the filibuster into a gold mine. He received $131,500 for his re-election war chest from Texas oil interests on the day debate began on a bill to repeal oil subsidies.  Not surprisingly the bill failed by filibuster three days later.  Companies that receive tax breaks for off shoring American jobs gave McConnell $1,000,000 ostensibly for his re-election, or was it just to look out for their interests?  It was no accident that a bill sponsored by Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, the Bring Jobs Home Act, was defeated by filibuster.  McConnell lead a filibuster against one Jack McConnell, no relation, who was a district court judge nominee, and opposed by the insurance industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Senator McConnell has received $1.7 million from insurance interests.  Even though McConnell once advocated for transparency with regard to money flowing into elections, he has blocked the Disclosure Act that would shed light on the vast sums that the wealthy have contributed to elect Republicans.

How much more blatant does it need to get before our media starts to report loudly and consistently on these issues?  When is someone – Maddow, Hayes, Klein, Shultz, Matthews – anyone going to start breaking this down dirty deal by dirty deal?

The Legislative Branch of our government is the bedrock, the foundation of our laws and civil society.  However, currently it is the cesspool from which all injustice and corruption seems to bubble to the surface.  Any attempt to redress social or economic injustice without draining this septic tank is a kin to putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound to the head.

Government in this country at all levels is a disgrace.  People worried about the government stripping the American people of their rights best put down their guns and pick up a calculator.  They are bankrupting us, shattering the 99% without firing a shot.