pdx39
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2001
- Posts
- 256
This is my 200th post here and I'm using it to write about how I see corporate influence corrupting the democratic process.
The same corporations that pay reduced tax rates are using some of this extra money to fund the elections of both major parties. Corporations may have most of the same rights as human beings do, but they don't have the right to vote. This does not stop them from spending millions of dollars trying to influence your vote every election, or from spending millions more after the election on lobbyists in an attempt to get our public servants to introduce and pass legislation that benefits them.
Most of the time the money these corporations contribute to candidates is spent on slinging mud at their opponent instead of talking about real issues. No wonder with all the mud they sling at each other that both Democrats and Republicans combined are so uninspiring that they can't get out even half of the vote most of the time.
If all the people who are so dissatisfied that they don't bother to vote were to register and support a third party, they would be the ones in charge. I believe in public financing of our elections with free airtime for all ballot-qualified candidates.
These same corporations that receive reduced tax rates and fund our elections are getting the politicians not only to maintain these unfair tax rates, to also give them millions of dollars in corporate welfare the likes of which you and I will never see after financing their campaigns. This problem crosses party lines and has been corrupting the Democratic process for decades.
Suppose that one of us wrote a letter and sent it to politicians throughout the United States saying “Hi, I'm thinking about moving to your area, but I want to know what it is worth to you to have me come and support your local economy. Things that will encourage me to come include free land and exemption from paying property taxes. I also want the roads and utilities built and hooked up for free, reduced or no local taxes, relaxed regulations on your zoning and pollution laws, and while you're at it,why don't you throw in a freeway ramp or two to sweeten the deal.”
If you or I sent out a letter like that, we would never get a response, but the corporations do and once they move in, it's just the start of their codependency. The politicians in Oregon's Washington County voted to give out $200,000,000 in corporate welfare not to draw a corporation in, but to get the INTEL Corporation to agree not to move off the billion dollars of free land they already got for the next 5 years.
No wonder that there is not enough money for our school system. This money could be better spent on education and public works projects that would benefit everyone instead of enriching the portfolios of a small handful of already super rich CEOs. This cycle of corporations funding our elections, paying reduced tax rates and getting billions in corporate welfare is at the root of most of the domestic problems facing the United States today.
This cycle has to be broken if you are ever going to see major improvements in such issues as living wages, environmental protection, Universal Health Care, adequate school funding, and just about every other issue that is important to the progressive movement in our country. Public financing of our elections and the elimination of corporate welfare subsides are some of the solutions that I see to help end this cycle of corruption.
The same corporations that pay reduced tax rates are using some of this extra money to fund the elections of both major parties. Corporations may have most of the same rights as human beings do, but they don't have the right to vote. This does not stop them from spending millions of dollars trying to influence your vote every election, or from spending millions more after the election on lobbyists in an attempt to get our public servants to introduce and pass legislation that benefits them.
Most of the time the money these corporations contribute to candidates is spent on slinging mud at their opponent instead of talking about real issues. No wonder with all the mud they sling at each other that both Democrats and Republicans combined are so uninspiring that they can't get out even half of the vote most of the time.
If all the people who are so dissatisfied that they don't bother to vote were to register and support a third party, they would be the ones in charge. I believe in public financing of our elections with free airtime for all ballot-qualified candidates.
These same corporations that receive reduced tax rates and fund our elections are getting the politicians not only to maintain these unfair tax rates, to also give them millions of dollars in corporate welfare the likes of which you and I will never see after financing their campaigns. This problem crosses party lines and has been corrupting the Democratic process for decades.
Suppose that one of us wrote a letter and sent it to politicians throughout the United States saying “Hi, I'm thinking about moving to your area, but I want to know what it is worth to you to have me come and support your local economy. Things that will encourage me to come include free land and exemption from paying property taxes. I also want the roads and utilities built and hooked up for free, reduced or no local taxes, relaxed regulations on your zoning and pollution laws, and while you're at it,why don't you throw in a freeway ramp or two to sweeten the deal.”
If you or I sent out a letter like that, we would never get a response, but the corporations do and once they move in, it's just the start of their codependency. The politicians in Oregon's Washington County voted to give out $200,000,000 in corporate welfare not to draw a corporation in, but to get the INTEL Corporation to agree not to move off the billion dollars of free land they already got for the next 5 years.
No wonder that there is not enough money for our school system. This money could be better spent on education and public works projects that would benefit everyone instead of enriching the portfolios of a small handful of already super rich CEOs. This cycle of corporations funding our elections, paying reduced tax rates and getting billions in corporate welfare is at the root of most of the domestic problems facing the United States today.
This cycle has to be broken if you are ever going to see major improvements in such issues as living wages, environmental protection, Universal Health Care, adequate school funding, and just about every other issue that is important to the progressive movement in our country. Public financing of our elections and the elimination of corporate welfare subsides are some of the solutions that I see to help end this cycle of corruption.
