I had heard about "dark money," sure, but I lacked the temerity to discover what it actually referred to. I suspected, because of the names and groups associated with it, that it would not be good for my country. But so many things these days are not good for my country that I simply added it to the list. Then today, I finally had the time and courage to find out. And I guess I wish I hadn't. A wave of despondency washed over me.
I'm not naive. I've known for some time who and what controls the U.S., but I always assumed that those people and entities felt they needed the U.S. to be a viable country, if for no other reason than that they needed the place to remain healthy enough for them to exploit according to their whims and avarice. But as I thought about how this dark money uses and abuses our institutions, apparently with the full force and enabling of those who are supposed to keep us a healthy country, the more I thought that dark money has no such concerns. Dark money cares about two things: Unbridled money, and the power that the money exerts.
All of this has emerged in the immediate context of the current political circus. And, as some pundits have observed, both the Sanders and the Trump campaigns have serendipitously shown the spotlight on what many of us have been sleeping through. Examples abound. Yes, the 90% really are getting screwed. Yes, our electoral process has nothing to do with one-person-one-vote. Yes, the two parties exist solely to keep the two parties in business. And here's the stealth reality beneath the circus—the reason you don't hear anything from the Koch brothers and their networked co-pirates is that they don't care who sits in the Oveal Office; they know Congress and the Supreme Court will do their bidding. Thus, we don't even have an ineffectual republic anymore. What we have is a prima facie criminal enterprise with law enforcement operating at the behest of the criminals.
Well, yes, I can hear the howls of the moderates who still must believe that this is a gross exaggeration and barking into the wind. In fact, I understand the futility of this kind of focusing on the obvious and accepting how it will be ignored. So be it.
But consider this. As those who control this country rabidly continue their avarice, where will it end? If they have no concern for the country, per se, it follows that they will drain it of its natural and human resources, a la a sort of Grand Disruption and move on to the next place to be exploited and despoiled. These people don't care about this country. Most of them have the bulk of their bilked money bags carefully hidden in various other countries. America has always been considered as the exploitation capital of the world (even and especially before the first settlers arrived).
So, looking at all this mess, what can we expect to happen down the road? We've had some pretty hefty rebellions in our brief history (American "Revolution", Civil War, etc.), but they were able to be quashed by promises of better things and the hope implicit in the integrity of The Union of the people wrapped in the wholeness of the City On The Hill. That's all now being placed in severe doubt. You can hear it in the young voices at the Sanders rallies and the angry voices at the Trump rallies. This is a shout out and call out regarding the darkness beginning to shroud their lives and the futility that they know in their bones can never do something about those who actually control their lives.
And the dark money doesn't give these voices a nano second of thought. They don't need to. But I have a question for those holding the bags of dark money: What do they think they'll get after they get it all? They can't build enough jails for the 90%. They've made guns and bazookas available to the 90%. They're making basic living untenable for the 90%. What do they think they'll get, and how long do they think they'll keep it?
I'm not naive. I've known for some time who and what controls the U.S., but I always assumed that those people and entities felt they needed the U.S. to be a viable country, if for no other reason than that they needed the place to remain healthy enough for them to exploit according to their whims and avarice. But as I thought about how this dark money uses and abuses our institutions, apparently with the full force and enabling of those who are supposed to keep us a healthy country, the more I thought that dark money has no such concerns. Dark money cares about two things: Unbridled money, and the power that the money exerts.
All of this has emerged in the immediate context of the current political circus. And, as some pundits have observed, both the Sanders and the Trump campaigns have serendipitously shown the spotlight on what many of us have been sleeping through. Examples abound. Yes, the 90% really are getting screwed. Yes, our electoral process has nothing to do with one-person-one-vote. Yes, the two parties exist solely to keep the two parties in business. And here's the stealth reality beneath the circus—the reason you don't hear anything from the Koch brothers and their networked co-pirates is that they don't care who sits in the Oveal Office; they know Congress and the Supreme Court will do their bidding. Thus, we don't even have an ineffectual republic anymore. What we have is a prima facie criminal enterprise with law enforcement operating at the behest of the criminals.
Well, yes, I can hear the howls of the moderates who still must believe that this is a gross exaggeration and barking into the wind. In fact, I understand the futility of this kind of focusing on the obvious and accepting how it will be ignored. So be it.
But consider this. As those who control this country rabidly continue their avarice, where will it end? If they have no concern for the country, per se, it follows that they will drain it of its natural and human resources, a la a sort of Grand Disruption and move on to the next place to be exploited and despoiled. These people don't care about this country. Most of them have the bulk of their bilked money bags carefully hidden in various other countries. America has always been considered as the exploitation capital of the world (even and especially before the first settlers arrived).
So, looking at all this mess, what can we expect to happen down the road? We've had some pretty hefty rebellions in our brief history (American "Revolution", Civil War, etc.), but they were able to be quashed by promises of better things and the hope implicit in the integrity of The Union of the people wrapped in the wholeness of the City On The Hill. That's all now being placed in severe doubt. You can hear it in the young voices at the Sanders rallies and the angry voices at the Trump rallies. This is a shout out and call out regarding the darkness beginning to shroud their lives and the futility that they know in their bones can never do something about those who actually control their lives.
And the dark money doesn't give these voices a nano second of thought. They don't need to. But I have a question for those holding the bags of dark money: What do they think they'll get after they get it all? They can't build enough jails for the 90%. They've made guns and bazookas available to the 90%. They're making basic living untenable for the 90%. What do they think they'll get, and how long do they think they'll keep it?
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