Middle Aged Idealism Waning

This post was stimulated by a slowsmile article about deflation and inflation and most specifically Comment Number 6 by the author himself.

He so well articulated several of my understandings about power, business, government and human action and behavior, although he spelled behaviour wrong,

I must emphasize that the corrupt forces in our government and in the public’s mind which have achieved celebrity status, such as the Bigs if you will, like big pharma and big oil have been part of our base economy, not only delivering goods we use copiously and thus have been part of our geopolitical influence. Yet I would say, for them to have less influence in our political halls would be a good thing; limiting factor is that other USI influences already more than fill the void they have not left.

Many Unnamed Special Interests are not considered by the public in the same light as The Bigs because Hollywood and the vast majority of the media as well as our lawmakers, usually lawyers, are part of them, as inextricably linked as oil and carbon.

The Unnamed Special Interests are the more subversive of the corrupt forces that are the real government of America as slow says. All governments I will add.

Across the world throughout all time, human action has not been kind to other humans in too many ways, whether aided or opposed by formal governments.

In the future, considering the collective historical portfolio - the curriculum vitae of the United States of America and it’s shortcomings, historians may reflect a consensus of longing for it’s influence.

For nowhere in the world do I see any emerging tendency for better “human actions” in individuals, or by any potential superpower or any emerging Axis or Nexus. Any combination will exhibit the natural good and the natural dark side of human behaviors which slow so accurately reminds must be accepted as inevitable in any government formation.

Thus we world citizens are likely to always have this Nexus of Corruption, the combination of unchecked - for some is essential - self interest actions and detrimental politician deals.  By example in the US, this was greatly enabled and legalized by the 14th Amendment and subsequent Supreme Court decisions which gave fictitious entities equal rights to solicit the government as individuals were guaranteed by the earlier Constitution.

These fictitious entities include all non profit groups, city, state and other local groups, PACs, fundraising vehicles, on and on and of course the one we all prefer to demonize, the corporation.  Every bit of legislation that politicians put forth to limit money in politics has loop holes because if legislation really closed all loopholes, the Supreme Court would uphold the ubiquitous right to solicit the government, by every politically biased or business biased group you can imagine.

And thus my waning idealistic belief and hope of what good government and capitalism can achieve and partially did in the US, will also be defeated by the chicken or the egg conundrum.

What came first,  the lobbyist soliciting the politician or the politician being the lobbyist.

One final observations: Why do politicians prefer partying with the lobbyist rather than “We The People”?

Because there are too many of us and we do not bring gifts, we ask for gifts.