The banana republic in which we stand

[haikugal]

found here.. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/07/1199585/-The-banana-republic-in-which-we-stand?showAll=yes

Imagine you lived in a country where there was a pretense of democracy; elections were still held, congress still sat down and debated legislation, and politicians continued to make rousing populist speeches—only it was all just for show. In truth, the nation was run, not just by a very small number of people, but for an even smaller number. Got that? Now, think about what happens if that very small number of people aren't representative of a broad spectrum of views, but are entirely composed of people with very similar social positions and very similar goals. That's not just a democracy in peril. That's not a democracy.
Now go to the window and greet this country.

There is a TED video I don't know how to post here at the link...and more to read.

Worth the click.

[limpyhobbler]

1. worth a watch

I've heard this Lester speech before. It's worth considering. Personally I'm kind of skeptical that any election finance reform laws are going to work as long as we have wealth and power inequality of medieval proportions. Money and power will always find a way to influence government.

Maybe it's worth a shot to try again. But it seems like we already tried it with previous incarnations of campaign finance reform. And despite all those efforts, our system is more dominated by money and power than ever before. I'm starting to think that the only way to achieve a real functioning political democracy is to create a democratic distribution of wealth and power and expanding democracy into the world of business.