Vote Against Corporate Money in the Presidential Primary

Opinion

Opinion by Bobby Don Bloodworth, Morganton

It’s about the money folks.  My good friend and fellow musician, Tom Gray, wrote a song that Cindy Lauper turned into “Music Video of the Year.” The title is Money Changes Everything. And truer words were hardly ever spoken.

Power, in general, and specifically Governmental Power, is always under siege from those who wish to wield it for their own benefit and personal security.  Presently, the siege machine and primary seeker of the Power, is the almost endless supply of money from Corporate America and those who have been made ultra-rich by it.

“First you get the money… then you get the power.”  The words of Tony Montana, from the film Scarface, have never been more poignant.  Corporate money funds our leaders’ re-election campaigns and if not totally, certainly, in part purchases their loyalty.  Many will say that this is the fault of “both” our major political parties, and to a great extent, that is true.  But you must follow the money folks, and pay attention.

The shock and sadness of Justice Anotonin Scalia’s passing has, so far, overshadowed the unfortunate circumstances under which his death was discovered.  It occurred mainly on a luxury trip, paid for by someone who had a case adjudicated by the Justice himself, less than ninety days previous.  There are many things that this could mean… and all of them are ethically wrong.  The least wrong being the flagrant appearance of impropriety by a sitting Supreme Court Justice, a Justice who was a leader in the Supreme Court of the United States’ recent interpretations that decided our elections are open to unlimited money, “Corporations are Citizens” and money = free speech.

The latter, at face value, means that a rich man has more “free speech” than the vast majority of Americans and therefore… could not… cannot be “equal under the law”.  Money’s influence is vast, and its influence on our Judiciary must be dealt with!

Though the number of corporate donors to both major parties is similar, the highest dollar amount goes, and will, at least for the near future, to the self-envisioned Protectors of Corporate America, the Republican Party.  All my Republican friends respond to this with “How about union money?” A comparison of union money to corporate money usually suffices.  The liquidity of all unions in the U.S.A. is approximately equal to twenty percent of the liquidity of any one of Forbes’ top corporations.

So with Congress legally bought and paid for, Corporate Lobbyists writing our legislation and Corporate Money deciding who we get to “vote for”, our only hope is to vote a President and an Congress into power that will overturn “Citizen’s United” and get the corporate, ultra-rich money out of elections and legal bribe money out of government.  We need Leaders that will appoint Judges and Justices wise enough to know that, in a Free Society, money can NEVER equal free speech!  The only candidates that I have found that fit this bill in this election cycle are running under the banner of the Democratic Party of the United States.

 

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