Read the Bill – Hope in the fight against the Cancer of Corruption

The most important problem in the US culture today, and the most insidious and difficult to eliminate, is collusion between Corporate America and Politicians. This position seems superficial and out of touch with reality. There are millions of Americans without health insurance, wages are dropping making slaves out of US workers, increasing international tensions are on the daily news, wars and rumors of wars are part of our daily lives so how can this be the most important question of the day.


All of these problems are serious and should be forefront in our minds but they are symptoms of a greater illness, a cancer that has spread into the daily life of every American. This cancer is corruption. It is our politicians taking money for campaigns, perk trips here and there, and vacations all paid for by big business. Why would corporate America, so concerned with margins and bottom line performance give so much money to politicians. The answer is as simple as the first thought that enters your mind, they are buying favorable legislation. Fighting increases in minimum wages, fighting against legislation that would end predatory lending and usury by financial institutions, fighting worker’s rights to organize labor unions, fighting against securing our borders to allow plentiful slave labor, buying cheap access the US military machine to protect their interests, fighting against progress in new energies, are all things that companies are willing to pay billions of dollars to maintain “business as usual”. These are the same things that result in the very problems that are the greatest ills of the American society.

This is not going to change, at least not without some extreme event. The US consumer, no longer the citizen, has been sold body and soul to the corporation. The cancerous cells of corporate interests permeate every aspect of our lives and our government. This cancer is so extended that we cannot eliminate this parasitic tumor without killing the patience. A sad prognosis, some will want to take the easy way out and live out their final days in ignorant bliss, shopping till they drop. Others will fight, every step of the way. Winded, tired and ridiculed they will fight to limit the damage, to win, to survive.

I recently found an initiative that I found extremely interesting. The information is found on Read the Bill. There is proposed legislation that would require that new legislation be published on the Internet for 72 hours before the bill could be open for discussion. I am not clear if all amendments would also have to be published 72 hours before a vote could be called. There are also all of the provisions included that exclude certain types of bills from this law. Most likely those bills would be just the ones we want the most. Think for a moment if the budget had to be published before going to vote, or let’s say increases in politician’s salaries, or say throwing away $2 billion on a virtual fence that would be much better accomplished with good old chain link.

It is a start. Please read what they have to say. Whether you agree with them or not I see no good reason why our political process should be so obscure when our private lives have been sold to the corporations. If the Supreme Court says that the individual, “has no expectation of privacy,” why is it different for the laws that influence our lives and the lives of future generations?

Tags: Politics Corporate America Corrupt Politicians Government Data War on the Middle Class Border Security Port Security Stop Pork Spending Illegal Immigration