Lincoln Weeps

The title of an article by Bill Moyers, correctly claiming that our government today is far from the government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, that Lincoln envisioned.

The focus of the government that Lincoln imagined was that it exists to serve the common good. Legislators are elected, not appointed, thereby holding them accountable to “the people”.

How did we get here? Today our government is run by the wealthy or soon-to-be wealthy. A million dollar campaign is just a drop in the bucket in most races. Lobbyist and PAC’s determine the outcome of the majority of elections, not the voters. You may be a good citizen and vote religiously, but what do you know about the person on the ballot? Mainly what you have learned from campaign ads and flyers, brought to you by those who invested in that candidate.

To the wealthy and large corporations, this is a good investment. Once a legislator has been bought, the laws can be changed to benefit the buyer; weakened regulations, tax breaks, government contracts, subsidies, etc., etc. to benefit the few and undermine the American principal of representation.

In his final paragraph, Mr. Moyers states:

The only way to counter the power of organized money is with organized and outraged people. Believe me, what members of Congress fear most is a grassroots movement that demands clean elections and an end to the buying and selling of influence—or else! If we leave it to the powers that be to clean up the mess that greed and chicanery have given us, we will wake up one day with a real Frankenstein of a system—a monster worse than the one created by Abramoff, DeLay and their cronies. By then it will be too late to save Lincoln's hope for "government of, by, and for the people."

This is for the uninformed to the ill-informed, which means about 97% of America. I really am doing my part to get more people to test out the waters at blogs, where they can get more information than the regular MSM provides. Thanks to the great bloggers here at BlueNC for keeping me and all visitors informed.

Cross posted from Progressive Discussions a blog at the Pilot on-line