FROM NIXON DOWNWARD
A recent article written by the Watergate journalists, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, appeared in the Washington Post and was distributed widely in the U.S. The title "Nixon's five wars" rehashed some of the manipulations and plotting done in Nixon's presidency that caused him to resign when brought to light. The re-hash specifically mentioned the actions, the role of sleazy characters, the sick mind of Nixon himself, and the law-breaking inherent in the Nixon administration.
Compared to the actions and individuals connected to the Watergate scandal of the 1960s and 1970s to what is happening today makes the Nixon schemes and the cast of characters look mild. The political acts that the Nixon gang pulled off with masks, break-ins, etc. were all done secretly to bring down Nixon critics. Today this sleazy action can be done openly and through the front door. All that is needed is money.
Today the media is for sale. Today polls are for sale. Today "political facts" are for sale. Today our democracy is definitely for sale. And the Supreme Court has guaranteed that these things will continue to be for sale. Pony up enough money and you can get what you want in this "democracy."
We are approaching the first billion dollar presidential campaign. Even blaming labor unions as equals to big donors can be purchased ...and the American public will believe it. What was once considered sleazy is today the norm in American politics. In fact, today we have media networks who proudly present their sleaze. Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh unabashedly tell Americans what is good and what is evil, what is moral and what is sinful. Newt and Rush! And Americans eat it up. While FOX's Rupert Murdoch is dragged through the muck of his own making in Britain, his network here still tells us it is honest and forthright. FOX is allowed to stand as an equal to news reports of NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, etc. Americans see no credentialed difference between FOX and the New York Times or Washington Post. In fact, there are many Americans who hold up FOX as a good example and the Times and Post as inferior.
The motor of America today is greed. The engine runs on money and influence. Americans have come to think that wealth equals insight, power equals intellect, money equals righteousness.
The great American middle class is vanishing. Both Republicans and Democrats bow to the almighty dollar. Political party has little consequence when it comes to buying politicians, though it is a tad easier to buy and sell Republicans. Today's Republican Party is something other than the Republican Party of earlier years. Tremendous amounts of money now allow the crooks to come through the front door of Congress, the White House, and the Cabinet offices. The Supreme Court has been purchased.
If you think Haldeman was a crook, he is an amateur compared to Tom DeLay, Dick Armey, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, etc. But all that is still chicken feed compared to the influence of the Koch Brothers, for example.
Some of us are dismayed to see the United States sink into that sort of greed pit. But most of us have no clue about the secrecy surrounding our nation's actions with drones, our plotting in The Phillipines, in Syria, in Latin America, and on and on. No matter how you vote in the next election, the chances are that you will be supporting clandestine activities done in your name, regardless of who is hurt and maimed.
Preserving democracy is far-far less important in America than getting away without paying any taxes. You are the sucker and don't know it. You are supporting the most devious vultures in our society, and don't know it. And those who should help you to know it have surrendered their role and are compliant to the greed sweeping America.
