One Nation Under The Status Quo

Remember when John Boehner told Harry Reid to go F himself during the fiscal cliff negotiations? Maybe he had a point. Reid decided against bringing the gun violence bill to a vote. Why, oh why? Do you think maybe it's the money and the next election he might lose? The politicians who are elected to look after the welfare of the country and it's people are in constant campaign mode. Finally, after four years congress passed a budget. Can you guess the four democrats who voted against it? Mark Begich (D?-Alaska) Max Baucus (D?-Montana), Kay Hagan (D?-North Carolina) and Mark Pryor (D?-Arkansas) all of them up for re-election. The transparency of their deceit should be their undoing but still they persist.  We have a political and economic system that is stacked against us. We have to give up on the idea that this government is going to do anything for the middle class. Our government has failed to maintain a fair society with civic values.
What we seem to have now is chaos with so-called leaders unable to lead. The only thing they seem capable of doing is pandering to financial and corporate interests.
Globalization and deregulation of the banks dominate our politics and economy. Bankers and corporate bosses charge what they want, avoid corporate taxes and as a result we have developed a huge national debt. This has led to a wealth gap so wide that people have reached their limit, but the people in power haven't. Global banking rules are inadequate in preventing another 2008 style meltdown. When it comes to global competition, immigration, terrorism, climate change, our government is not able to manage these things. The government has also failed to manage the economy that everyone depends on.
Our government should provide security, instead it has bankrupted the U.S. with expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have contributed to the Middle East being in a constant state of permanent war. What exactly did we win going to war with these countries? None of the people in the Bush administration have been held accountable for their mistakes and continue to make money hand over fist with speaking engagements on policy as if the war in Iraq wasn't the biggest mistake ever, as if they hadn't lied to the American people for their own greedy interests. Real democracy has vanished and politics has taken over. When every political option you are given offer variations on the same theme on every conceivable policy from the economy to wars, immigration and gun control, what choice do you have when none seems to be working?

The status quo is all that seems to matter to the people in power, of course. The very problems that politicians have created are not going to be addressed by them. It is clear that all they are interested in are their own selfish desires which is at odds with what a public servant should be. Government has abdicated it's responsibility to the people. While the Tea Party has taken over and is screaming for smaller government, how small exactly? As small as the government in say, Somalia? Is that where we're headed? The every man for himself mentality, this dog eat dog philosophy, is driving us back to Victorian times.The people we elect seek only to serve business and the rich, ahead of the nation and the poor can be ignored and forgotten, because they don't have a lobby. The very lack of knowledge that power is bought is with  K Street lobbyists money, mystifies me. So many people I know are disillusioned and don't even vote. You don't even know who is a Democrat or a Republican anymore, there is no difference. We have to take lobbying out of politics. Lobbying is so pernicious and powerful that the government is no longer able to function. We may as well just say one nation under the N.R.A. or one nation under Wells Fargo or Citibank, I think one nation under General Mills has a nice military ring to it. They own our government. How long will it be before they own us?