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writing for godot

Politicians Too Big To Nail

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Written by Thomas Magstadt   
Saturday, 06 April 2013 07:47
The EcoWatch article "Monsanto's Dark History" (RSN, April 6) is disturbing but exactly what we've come to expect.

Monsanto is a corporate malefactor whose top-echelon managers over the years have all had at least one salient characteristic in common: they have no social conscience. There is no reason to believe that will ever change, nor is Monsanto unique in caring ONLY about the bottom line.

What is truly criminal, however, is that the governments we elect, the only entities capable of regulating corporations and prosecuting corporate criminals, look the other way, or, worse, subsidize, aid and abet these companies. The spending-bill rider that gives Monsanto immunity from law suits for making, marketing, and selling GMO foods is only the most recent example of the evils of mixing too much money with too much power.

When members of Congress find out how much a given vote is worth, very few can resist selling it to the highest bidder. To say that the politicians are to blame is not to excuse or condone corporate wrong-doing. Not at all. But there's no changing the fact that private enterprise exists to make a profit and almost always puts profit before any higher principles.

That why a government that serves the public is necessary - something we clearly don't have now. But it's not only our government that is failing us. We are also failing each other, as a people. We are so polarized and stupidly partisan that our elected representatives can get away with doing whatever their corporate paymasters tell them to do.

It's not only banks like JP Morgan and corporation like Monsanto that are too big to fail and CEO's that are too big to jail. Because we keep re-electing them, our politicians are too big to nail.

Nothing will change unless or until a) campaign spending laws are changed; b) the filibuster is abolished; and c) lobbying becomes transparent and voters make it counterproductive.

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