Three quarters of a century have come and gone, and there is much to reflect upon.
There are new scandals in our government since the last birthday, and some that we knew about then appear much worse than we thought back then.
Our politics are proving even more corrupt than I feared, and it is not confined to one political party. The dominant wing of the minority party is also corrupt.
What I refer to is the dominance of money in our politics, and the fact that politicians of both parties take money, in the form of political contributions, and pass out special legislative and regulatory favors to those who contribute.
A lot of those same politicians amazingly acquire fortunes while on the government payroll.
What the politicians do is give those individuals and corporations advantages economically that are not available to everyone else.
Special tax breaks, subsidies and regulations are all enacted to give those "friends" of politicians a leg up.
One example might be the Keystone Pipeline, which lacks only Obama's approval to be constructed. This would result in a cheap, and environmentally friendlier way of delivering the Canadian oil to our Gulf Coast. But Obama will not approve the pipeline, so it is now being delivered, at a cost of $30 per barrel, by rail. This is a lot more environmentally dangerous, of course. Why the hold up? Guess who owns the railroad? None other than Berkshire-Hathaway, Warren Buffet's company. Obama's big friend.
Everyone has seen how the megabanks have cheated and defrauded their way to great riches, got themselves bailed out at taxpayers' expense in 2008, then continued down the same path to this day. Not a single major individual at any of the big banks has been prosecuted. They are too big to fail and too big to jail. Why? Check out their huge campaign contributions to Obama and major members of his party. Also check out the contributions to politicians belonging to the members of the dominant wing of the other party.
This list could go on ad infinitum.
In our politics now, money is the only name of the game for most.
And too few people even seem to care.....as long as they get their stuff.
There is no rule of law in this country now that is applicable evenly to all.
Sad.
