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3 years ago

January 31, 2024

Alice Rush

Here’s a short essay from an old business colleague of mine, Steve Vachss (pictured here, pronounced “Vax”). My comments in response are in italics.

The American two-party system is dead. What began as a crippling disease has destroyed our government and much of our way of life.

The initial infection was the Citizens United decision rendered by the Supreme Court in 2010. This decision reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections. It opened the gates to permit a cooperative web of powerful organizations that spend billions on selecting leaders that support or destroy laws that transfer billions of dollars to them from all ordinary citizens daily.

By controlling monies paid to media outlets, they select TV and print media journalists who must drive the opinions of their financiers.

I wouldn’t call Citizens United the “initial infection,” but I agree that it is a huge cancerous tumor eating away at what otherwise could have been a far healthier system of government. For the first few years after its passage, public outcry was considerable, and best of all, it come from people representing all political philosophies. That outcry seems to have given way, now we have what we believe to be more pressing problems, e.g., the threat to end American democracy.

This is not an issue of conservative vs. liberal. By paying billions to support their needs and desires, the super-rich can influence the public to believe MSNBC, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, or the New York Times.

If by this you mean that both Democrats and Republicans are corrupt, I certainly agree. The GOP may be more visible in its deceit due to its alignment with the fossil fuel industry, but there are plenty of other huge pockets of money for the Democrats to latch onto. Having said this, it’s clear that there are some progressives, the Bernie Sanders of the world, who honestly represent the well-being of the common American, and these folks are most definitely not Republicans.

The following are a few proofs to consider:

• After the 2024 presidential election our leader will be one of two 80-year-old men. By the end of the next term in 2027 we will have had 11 years of presidents who are too old for any other job.

It appears that this is correct. FWIW, I’d be very happy to see a strong Democrat candidate half of Biden’s age. In the case of Biden, however, it’s impossible to know how many of the important decisions in domestic or international affairs are coming from the president himself, versus his top advisors.

• The Congress—including 535 members of the Senate and House—cost us approximately $11,000,000 a year. They spend millions more on staff, entertainment, and air transportation every year! What do we as citizens receive in new laws or fixing old laws that don’t work? Nothing! Instead, we see or hear nonsensical attacks on rivals, most of which are made-up rhetoric to garner votes.

It’s hard to argue against this. For at least the past decade, we’ve had a situation where, if one party wants something, it’s sure to be opposed by the other, regardless of its merit.

• Meanwhile, we have lost our national leadership positions in every international category except military weaponry. Our country’s population has been bloated by tens of millions of illegal immigrants directly or indirectly paid by the Federal Government. Our national debt is beyond repayment by anything less than every taxpayer sacrificing 90 percent of their salaries and net worth.

The numbers I have come across suggest that the number of illegal crossings over the past two years have risen to an all-time high of 2 million per annum. I also see massive amounts of clearly specious rhetoric from the right-wing media, e.g., “The Democrats want open borders.” Does anyone really believe that? This a national (and international) crisis, and essentially everyone with any honor seems to understand that.

Also, as we purport to be “a nation of laws,” we need to obey all the laws, both our own and those of the international community associated with those seeking asylum.

To paraphrase an old movie line, “I’m mad as hell” and don’t want to allow the two-party system to continue without a patriotic challenge.

Glad to see you have the spirit here. Given our conversations of the past, it comes as no surprise. Please keep me posted on any plans you have to deal with the the issues.

From Steve Vachss: Is the Two-Party System Working For Us?

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