Does Donald prove corporate money is no longer… “trump?” (If you listen to some pundits you might think so.)
My family raised me on 500 rummy, so when I first visited my wife’s childhood home on Oxford Road in New Hartford, NY, I had no idea how to play pinochle. But I think I was pretty much a quick study, for soon I was participating in nightly bouts of playing trump, seeking trump, winning, losing and having a hell of a lot of fun doing all even when I was “out trumped.”
I still prefer pinochle over all other card games.
In several decisions, over the years, the Supremes have also decided what “trump” is politically, and socially. Money is speech, corporations are people: superior God-like people who can’t get the death penalty, no matter how many are killed by decisions, need not pay the taxes the rest of us must pay, and how many can’t be legally sued. This is only the very, very short list of all the exceptions inspired by the Supreme fascist 5, now down to four.
There are many: including moi’, who claim this has so polluted the political process that we might as well abandon claiming we have a true representative form of governance. We are presently living in a mostly corporatist state, the term Mussolini preferred over fascism.
Gee, why is it no large group of famous entertainers have ever gotten together and sang a We are the Fascists version of We are the World? Maybe because corporatism has always proved an oppressive, noxious concept, except among the uber, well connected, rich walking hand in hand government and power hungry corporations?
Of course there are always those whose conceptualizing abilities are more shallow than a pool formed from a single spit. These folks claim Trump proves all this wrong. On an extremely shallow surface level one might agree with this. I mean, after all, the amount of corporate money behind the third Bush to attempt to ruin the country took Jeb! further than one would expect, but success was predictably zero as his campaign progressed.
With Trump or Cruz as king we might mourn the possibility of only that amount of “ruin.” And make no mistake, they will behave even more king-like than presidents with the name Bush usually do. In drug terms that would be defined as 99.9% pure king, rather that 90, I suspect.
Poisonous nose candy, indeed.
Trump has had far less corporate donations, so therefore this supposedly “proves” all the dire predictions about Citizens United (among many decisions) were “nonsense?” Of course that might make sense, if your ability to assess such in depth fits inside a thimble.
Sidebar: does anyone even use thimbles anymore? Or do they just take a big chance, like we all are this election, on getting… pricked?
The problem is not simply corporate money, to inform those whose “wits” are a tad dim in this regard. The problem is what goes along with corporate money and corporations being people: the deification and empowering the 1% of the 1%, and corporations becoming so big they can’t be held responsible, and are not to be held responsible because they will “regulate themselves.”
Pause for a cynical laugh, “Ha, ha, HA.’
But because the Donald is a billionaire, has had Hollywood faun all over his royal obnoxiousness, had billions spent to promote his “brand,” the “money is speech” curse still doth apply. The point being that whether through corporate sponsorship, or corporate promotion combined with personal riches gained through inheritance, money is corrupting the system. Hence why behavior that should be any candidate’s kryptonite has only magnified Trumps “trump.” His whole brand had been built on being an offensive, obnoxious, hateful, bigoted, women demeaning troll.
The whole unholy corporate Mecca: empowering the rich and large corporations, still applies. And though occasionally he blathers about policies that may seem less than corporate friendly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Donald shifts and drops such vague plans. He’s done it before: within just a few minutes.
And this is the problem with having this kind of influence of corporations and money on politics: there is no more “free speech,” whether it be direct donation or promotion to build up a Trump-like brand. It leaves us with accepted speech: bought, paid for, promoted… speech that’s acceptable no matter how bad. And there’s unaccepted: the rest of us and more sane, reasonable candidates. Hearing them is like expecting a whisper to be heard in a hurricane. And those who do what they have to to be heard get kicked to the curb: literally, by the new army of Brownshirts, dedicated to making sure only Trump has the most “trump.”
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Inspection is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 40 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks, and into the unseen cracks and crevasses, that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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