Who "owns" Congress?

[wonatthewire1]

...doesn't look like it is the people...

http://tinyurl.com/ag888

[kenwoodallpromos]

Contributors!
BTW- Do you know which of our founding fathers were not wealthy?

[boxcar]

wonatthewire1 wrote:

...doesn't look like it is the people...

You mean...you're just finding this out. We the People are merely the audience watching a play that is all about Money and Power Grab.

Don't you know that the love of money is the root of all evil?

Boxcar

[wonatthewire1]

You mean...you're just finding this out. We the People are merely the audience watching a play that is all about Money and Power Grab.

Nope, not just finding this out...

But, you answered a very good question > therefore rendering all the ideology stuff that these pollyticians and their "followers" tout as mere window-dressing for the masses to grab ahold of...while the money grab is in the background.

That's why ideology is a complete waste of time :bang:

It renders efforts by Sheehan and others pointless. It castigates the drivel of the media. It shines the light on the necessity of getting a grip on the power and all the money that goes with it...it makes our arguements and discussions pointless in the field of politics and policy.

[boxcar]

wonatthewire1 wrote:

Nope, not just finding this out...

But, you answered a very good question > therefore rendering all the ideology stuff that these pollyticians and their "followers" tout as mere window-dressing for the masses to grab ahold of...while the money grab is in the background.

That's why ideology is a complete waste of time :bang:

As cynical as I can be, I fail to see the wisdom of tossing the baby out with the dirty washwater. If we have no set core of beliefs on which to function, all we're left with is a vacuum. And you know how Nature abhors a vacuum, don't you?

Boxcar

[so.cal.fan]

Boxcar writes:
"Don't you know that the love of money is the root of all evil"?

I don't agree boxcar.....MISUSE of money is the root of a good percentage of evil, and who is guilty of this more than anyone? Right.....we all agree! :bang:

[wonatthewire1]

If we have no set core of beliefs on which to function, all we're left with is a vacuum.

Interesting > but we do have a core of beliefs > they are contained in the Constitution > and thankfully, that document still lives...

Political idealogy exists for the precise reason of controlling the hearts and minds of the people > yet, it is not even a "real" consideration for the politicans that set the policy > the money controls the government > the ideology gives the people something to do in the meantime. There isn't much time or energy to spend beyond ideology for the people, thus, the power/money grab by both political parties receives only glancing review > just as it is set up to be.

[boxcar]

wonatthewire1 wrote:

If we have no set core of beliefs on which to function, all we're left with is a vacuum.

Interesting > but we do have a core of beliefs > they are contained in the Constitution > and thankfully, that document still lives...

And I bet 99% of the people you talk to of all political persuassions would swear to you that their core beliefs are also contained in the Constitution. Therefore, what we're faced with is a problem of no small proportions, namely... interpretation.

For example, when I read the Constitution or any of the other major documents and writings that both preceded it and followed it, I walk away with the distinct impression that the Framers intended to put a load of checks and balances on goverment to keep its power very limited. Limited compared to what? Limited compared to the power (read "freedom", if you will) of "we the people".

Ronald Regan, for example, fully and correctly recognized that as government expands its power, the inevitable effect will be that the people's (or read: individuals') freedoms will contract. (I could give beaucoup examples of this.)

Conversely, there are those who read the Constitution and see "welfare state" written all over that docoment. These folks believe the government has the responsibility to take care us from cradle to grave -- not at all realizing that that kind of public policy has been having pernicious effects upon individual rights for an awfully long time now.

These differing views (or interpretations of the "Law of the Land", if you will) have given rise to various ideologies. Ideology is to politics what theology is to religion. In fact, both are inherent in each set of "core beliefs" because one person inevitably sees black, someone else white, someone else gray and another sky blue, etc., etc. There is no escaping ideology or theology (in the case of religious people, of course) because both define each person's set of core beliefs.

Boxcar