Contamination

So now we learn that Herman Cain has ties to the Koch brothers. It is already clear that most if not all of the Republican Governors elected in 2010 received support from the Koch brothers. I assume that Eric Cantor and perhaps even Boehner do also. I’m pretty certain that both Justices Scalia and Thomas do as well. I am beginning to wonder if there is any conservative Congressperson or Governor that has not been contaminated by the Koch brother’s obscene wealth. And when you learn that Karl Roves multi-million dollar fund has come from apparently only four or five billionaire donors, I suppose including the Koch brothers, what do you think. I can tell you what I think, no individuals should be allowed to have so much money, enough money to actually try to buy control of the United States by themselves or with a few friends. No one should be allowed to have more than a billion dollars, and I’m not at all certain the cut-off point should be considerably less than that. The very idea of having individuals with that much money (and power) should be anathema to any supposedly democratic society. No one can possibly need a billion dollars except to buy power, and the only use one can possibly have for so much wealth is to generate even more. Furthermore, corporations that have billions of dollars should not be allowed to donate to political campaigns. The decision by the (what used to be) “Supreme Court” claiming that corporations are persons and should be able to donate as much money as they wish is almost certainly the worst single decision ever rendered by that (used to be) respectable body. They might as well have decided that we need to return to the idea of “The Divine Right of Kings.” I gather there is at least one bill in the works to overturn this god-awful ridiculous decision, or at least I sincerely hope there is and that it will go forward quickly. Of course given the number of bought Congresspersons there is no guarantee the decision will ever be reversed. There are hopeful signs that the voting public is at last waking up to just how disgustingly awful our political system has become. Glenn Beck, perhaps the most financially successful absolute idiot of all time, is worried that the Occupy Wall Street “mob” is going to drag people (the obscenely wealthy) out into the streets and kill them. Why would he say such a thing? I suggest because he knows such things have happened in history, and he also knows why, and he also knows the guilty, those that will not give up even a nickel of their mostly ill-gotten gains, are precisely those who have been so treated, and he knows who the guilty are. Let us hope it will not come to such an end but don’t forget that frustration can lead to aggression.

I find this Iranian business extremely disturbing. First, because I don’t believe the Iranians had anything to do with such a harebrained scheme as it implies their secret service people are morons that we know they are not, and this is not merely my opinion but is widely shared by those who know much more than I do about such things. Second, and more important, in spite of the fact that the whole scheme is pretty obviously nonsense, the Obama administration is trying to make it into something it is not. This means to me it is an obvious excuse to scapegoat Iran and (absolute horrors) gin up a case for a “war” that would be so disastrous as to be absolutely unthinkable. There are those who seem to be determined to bring about such a “war,” and I fear they may have captured Obama’s ear, a fact I find truly unsettling. I cannot reconcile Obama’s apparent intelligence and stated concern for people with his willingness, even apparent eagerness, to commit troops all over the world, employ drones and assassinations, engage in permanent hostilities, and so on. I believe he must be getting some truly bad advice. As for Iran, I do not believe that ancient civilization is necessarily an enemy of the United States. They have made repeated overtures for peaceful discussion only to have them rejected out of hand. Obviously they have national interests in the Middle East that do not coincide with ours but I sincerely believe these differences could be worked out diplomatically and peaceably if we would give them a chance. Trying to picture Iranians as terrorists, hostile, warlike, and stupid may be a way to build up a case for “war,” but has no basis in reality and will lead us only into one more disastrous and completely avoidable, unnecessary, murderous situation.

I suggest a system in which after you make half a billion dollars (or some finite sum), you no longer get to keep the money, and for every so many millions after that you get a gold star on a “National Walk of Fame,” along with the gratitude of your fellow citizens. With such a system you could still be rich and famous, admired by all, and recognized as a national benefactor instead of a greedy capitalistic creep. Just a suggestion.

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.

Dorothy Parker