BIG MONEY CORRUPTION OF GOVERNMENT

The American people know what is wrong with politics. Both the Republican and the Democratic debates made that clear. Sanders’ saying it isn’t a problem of government controlling Wall Street but is a problem of Wall Street controlling the government. Although that defines the problem, not one candidate from either party offered a solution, which begs the question of, “is there a solution or do we have to live with what we have.” There is no one line, bumper sticker, kind of solution, which means for many there is no solution. The truth is there is a solution, but it involves several steps. First, we must recognize, as many do, the problem is the corrupt Supreme Court, which we can do nothing about because the court is controlled by the majority in the legislative branch of government. They made a judgment commonly referred to as “Citizens United” that would be predictable detrimental to our system of government. That knowledge is an important point because it means the majority of justices on that Court knew what they were doing, but they did it. As it turns out, only a minority of the Republican Congress concurs with that judgment. These few can hide their judgment without the American people being able to identify them as individuals. The minority is the Tea Party, but they are also part of the Republican Party. They will not allow a vote on that decision because of the Hastert rule that says the Republican Party will not allow a vote on any law not approved by the Republican Majority. There are just enough Tea Party members to control all of the Republicans. However, a true majority of legislators in Congress, both Republican and Democrat, believe in America and would vote to overturn that destructive decision. While the president can nominate a Justice, the Congress must advise and give “final” consent, which puts the power in the hands of Congress. The other check is that Congress can overrule the court, but that takes 2/3 of the votes in Congress, and as just explained, the Tea Party minority controls that vote. States with Republican majorities is where strong economic interests can elect radical Tea Party legislators. The way this works is that the Republican legislatures gerrymander districts to favor the election of members of their party. Proof of this is that in these critical States, there is a majority of Republican district representatives but all the senators are of a different party. Nation-wide statistics reveals Republicans do this more often than Democrats. What this means is that big money can buy elections by financing Republican candidates the people in those districts would not finance. The price of doing this is that once elected, those new legislators will vote the way person who sponsored them, tells them to vote. States could correct this by court challenges to gerrymandering. When Democrats have done this, judges have ruled against gerrymandering. However, a Supreme Court ruling is required to settle it nation-wide. Admittedly, it is a crazy, circuitous route connecting the Citizens United Decision to gerrymandering but I believe it could offer a way to solve the problem of Wall Street controlling government and not the other way around. We all recognize the position of the court as causing the problem and solving the problem. Que sera, sera! URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated