The OP is referring to the fact that congressional legislation is nearly always (something like >90% of the time) in line with what the very wealthy wish. — MindForged
It's not just the wealthy that have power, it's not that simple. The government is also an entity in its own that has power over the rich people, — BlueBanana
This foolish, stupid, screwed up view of the world is no defense against the harsh realities of a globalized economy.
— Bitter Crank
Are you saying that I got it all wrong, with projecting my own concern about these issues here? — Posty McPostface
Maybe I was born yesterday; but, I recall hordes of school kids doing a walkout requesting some action on gun violence to be undertaken by our great and caring leaders. — Posty McPostface
You really believe that? I find that hard to believe (?) I can post studies showing that special interest groups and a handful of elite have more power than what my vote can ever hope to do. Hell, you had Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation telling us that the Military Industrial Complex was getting out of hand in, back in 1961... — Posty McPostface
But this was less fear driven than idealism driven. — Bitter Crank
YOU know there are several groups of special interests and elites who control the balance of political power in the US Congress and President's Office. I know that too, and maybe a couple of million inquiring minds in the country know that, but most people are not aware of how extremely disproportionate the power the elites have is and how little the population at large has. — Bitter Crank
That's happened, and Eisenhower was right. What happened was that the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about had gotten big, and has since gotten a lot bigger. Armaments are a major export item and support a lot of jobs. Military bases bring income into the regions in which they are located. — Bitter Crank
On the other hand, wars have gotten a lot more expensive. Avoiding the body bag PR problem of Vietnam has led to war with low death rates (for us), and a lot of smart bombs, cruise missiles, drones, heavier armoring of vehicles, more electronic warfare, etc. etc. (Unfortunately, that doesn't mean our military activities achieve exactly what they are intended to achieve, but...) — Bitter Crank
I think a lot of Americans are aligned with the Military Industrial Complex's capacity to rain death and destruction (shock and awe) down on Islamic Enemies, or whoever else is next. Yes, there is human rights nattering about civilians getting blown up, but civilians have always been getting blown up in war. It's one of the great War Time Traditions. And in a cultural war of Islam Vs. Western CIVILIZATION, who is a civilian anyway? If it wasn't for all those other pesky nuclear powers, we'd probably should have just nuked the whole Middle East and been done with it. [These are not my personal views, mind you.] — Bitter Crank
SO THEN THE ALIGNMENT QUESTION: The people are aligned with what they believe the Government is doing, and why the government is doing what the government does -- most of the time. Every now and then the curtain is pulled back a little and people see that what the government is doing is not necessarily what they would like the government to be doing. The mismatch between belief and reality has to be egregious before people can really see it, because we are all drenched in a lot of misleading propaganda. — Bitter Crank
What's the underlying source of all this fear and paranoia? — Posty McPostface
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