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| Joe Bakewell. |
EVOLUTION IN DC
Mankind has
evolved over millions of years—always associated with other humans in one way
or another. We’re all familiar with tribes and the feudal system.
In all
systems, members recognized each other, developed some kind of hierarchy,
shared resources, and held common beliefs. There were rules, unwritten but
understood and accepted by all. A summation of all the rules, beliefs, and
accepted behavior came to be called ‘culture’. Cultures adapt to their environment.
In earlier times, this meant adapting to a natural environment, water, a river,
lakes, ocean, game, plains. Today, we have a mixture, nature, technology,
government—you name it.
Recently I
read a book that dealt in detail with the cultures of native American tribes. I
had often puzzled over the cruelty of these tribes to captives and the pursuit
of wars against other tribes. I now understand that to survive, tribes needed
large amounts of territory for protection, food (game and some crops), and that
the fiercest tribes got their way over the others, often by reputation alone.
On a lighter
note, I was born into an Irish-American community. The culture was one of
entitlement; the Irish were God’s gift to America. I recall being told that
Irish cops only accepted ‘honest’ graft. This makes a good segue into the
culture in DC.
Simply put,
our government runs on a system of bribery by special interests, legal bribery
(so declared by Congress). Special interests fund the campaigns (perks and
retirements) of all elected officials. The funding is sometimes carefully
disguised as coming from small donors, an ‘advance’ on a book to be written, or
other ‘innocent’ source. Of course, if the ‘funding’ helps your candidate,
it’s good, right?
Not always,
health experts tell us that we lead the world in obesity and diabetes and that
sugar and corn syrup are the major cause. The sugar and corn syrup lobbies are
major contributors to politicians—yours included.
Another
healthcare example: Most healthcare-professionals seem to agree on malpractice
liability being a major cost driver. Why don’t we switch to a ‘loser pays’
legal system for healthcare like every other developed country? Answer: The
Trial Lawyers Association is a major source of funding for politicians.
There are
numerous other examples of how the DC culture has adapted to placing the
personal welfare of politicians above that of the rest of us. Take ethanol—it
does more harm than good, environmentally and economically, but we’re stuck
with it; thanks to bribes from the relevant farm lobbies.
This corrupt
system has been the rule in DC for some time. It’s well entrenched. The rules
are understood by all concerned but never openly discussed with ‘outsiders’.
It’s the new normal, their culture. There’s no other way to get things done.
The media are complicit, part of the culture. Politicians are the source of
their ‘content’.
Many, if not
most, of the people working in government are honest and ethical but it’s hard
to go against the established culture when you’re embedded in it. And it’s not
up to them.
This country
belongs to us, its citizens. It’s our job to take it back. The first thing we
have to do is understand the problem. Second, fire the media. Stop listening,
watching, reading. It’s all hype aimed at your emotions, your biases. If you
need some stimulation, look at results. Pick any major issue—health care
(overall cost vs results); education (results vs costs); immigration (absence
of a sensible and productive policy); economy (low productivity); welfare
(multi-generational, not working).
You do not
need to solve any of these, or other issues you may have in mind. Just
understand, they will not be solved by anyone until we take back our democracy.
The hot
issues, currently occupying your head space, are a product of our media’s need
for low cost ‘content’ and our politician’s need to keep us distracted. If too
many of us continue to be sucked in, many actually taking pleasure in the
salacious nature of today’s ‘news’, we’re cooked.
Joe Bakewell
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