Since the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President
of the United States, an era has begun that could very well lead to the final
phase of the “corporatization” of the American government and way of life. If we are not vigilant, we could witness the effective
demise of our democratic political system.
The United State government was supposed to be a government “of the
people, by the people, for the people,” as so eloquently stated in President
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863). That goal began to erode soon after the new
nation declared its independence from British rule (July 4, 1776). The failure to live up to this commitment was
made apparent when slavery was allowed to continue unabated suggesting that it
wasn’t a government for all the people.
Despite this grievous inconsistency, the desire to honor this commitment
to its people has heretofore remained in place and a great deal of progress has
been made especially within the area of civil rights.
There are a number of built in safeguards that were instituted
as specified in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to help ensure that
this overriding purpose is fulfilled.
These include ensuring that members of Congress are chosen by the people
to fulfill their wishes, a well-established system of law, and a system of
checks and balances established to protect and serve the public good.
Over the life of the nation, agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for example, were established through law in response to deleterious conditions that were the direct result of corporate overreach, negligence and malfeasance. However, these agencies have been systematically corrupted by those interests that would directly profit from their loss of empowerment.
Lobbyists from powerful corporate interest groups have
effectively subverted the will of the people by using monetary incentives in
the form of unfettered campaign contributions to steer legislation and direct
administrative policies that favor these interests often at the expense of the health
and safety of the nation’s people. The
current government is particularly onerous; since, the President and his
Cabinet have acted repeatedly to enact policies that subvert the common
good. In literally every department,
leaders have been chosen whose goal is to undermine the very authority of the
agencies that they are in charge of.
Their one guiding principle seems to be the unfettered pursuit of profit
and the further enrichment of the powerful regardless of the actual and real
cost to the nation and its future. In
fact, I believe that the current administration is probably the most toxic and
woefully ignorant government in the history of the United States.
It is my contention that this kind of government will be
short-lived; for, the simple reason that there are far too many smart people
who recognize the difference between enlightened, well-reasoned and balanced
government and the profound idiocy of the present leadership.
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