Election reform is needed

A CNN newscaster has just reported something that is not news.....but the impact is just as jarring as if heard for the first time.  It is the saga of overwhelming corruption in Congress. A case in point: Sen. Joe Leiberman was reelected on the platform of health care reform and he made a point time and time again that the insurance industry must have competition if we are to survive. It seems that he stood solidly in the ranks of the democrats who felt the same. But now he is taking to the airways to explain to the voters that he is now against a public option. In his whining, petulant voice he decries public option ...and we wonder why.  Now we discover that he has accepted a million dollars from the insurance moguls in campaign contributions.  This explains his change of heart.  His new stance may be the key factor in dislodging enough democratic votes to derail the public option. Corporate America knows where to place its money in order to get maximum results. But Joe is not alone.  Corporations throughout our nation have been sending signals to Congress...both democrats and republicans....with massive funds during campaigns.....and they get results.

The scandal of political corruption is widely know, and accepted, by the American people because there does not seem to be anything they can do about it.  Even those who campaign on the platform of election reform...when elected....are gradually drawn in by the lure of corporate funds because without such, the chances of re-election are slim.  One congressman recently describe our political system as "corporatism". Certainly the democracy we like to emerse ourselves in has been so transformed by corporate greed that we face dissolution of our Constitution.

It is ironic that our president is holding off on military decisions in Pakistan and Afghanistan because of widespreed  political corruption in those countries.  Like my dad used to say, "it's like the pot calling the kettle black."

Most of our deficit can be attributed to our incursions into other countries.  Our corporate military industrial complex is so huge that we have troops stationed in 163 places. We average about a quarter of a million men and women in other countries who wear uniforms and prattle about "nation building".  I would hope we finally take off our rose colored glasses and see ourselves in a new light.  We need reform.........and until we can get it we should stop trying to make others convert to our system of government. Let's clean up our own kitchen before we point to the dirty dishes in other lands.