The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

I have been avoiding much of the news lately. I was pretty removed from it all last winter. I still watch Democracy Now! when I can. At least on that broadcast I don't have to listen to talking heads ranting at each other about the stupid social issues that are dragged  up time and again to distract us from the real issues.

I think anyone anywhere in this country could probably point out the real issues in a heart beat. Like the fact that our country has slipped in shameful ways that could be fixed. Like the fact that it would appear to many of us and most of the world that our God is money. Our motivation is greed/power and even in those departments we aren't doing as well as we used to.

I have the impression that our country is run by a duopoly. The same corporations often give equal money to both shell parties to assure their comfort no matter who wins.  Do we ever bother to examine how other democracies work? Or how other countries have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps?  Maybe we could figure out how to get out of wars we can't afford. Maybe we could wonder whether all our military expenditures have made this country any safer.

I am not a Republican  or a Democrat. Neither represents what they claim to.  Neither has leadership. And it isn't even good spectacle any more. The stakes are too high. The human suffering being caused by our Roman Gladiators is too great. Shouldn't there be some fun, some hope, some inspiration, some generosity to be spread around for all the billions of dollars being spent on one lousy election cycle? Why do we bother to listen to promises that can never, will never be delivered?

One thing that the sixties generation had in spades was good radar for lies. When Richard Nixon lied to us saying that the Vietnam War was not also in Cambodia or Laos, a collective, "He's lying." went up all over the country. Now, when the President or the candidates lie, we hardly bother to shrug. It is what they are paid to do. It is what our university professors are paid to do, it is what our bankers are paid to do, it is what our medical researchers are paid to do.

I don't even thin we are getting our money's worth in regard to the best democracy money can buy. I want a free election, otherwise it is a waste of breath.