How PACs ruined Democracy in America... and Canada

Too much money, power and privilege all in the wrong places. The People's voice has been stolen, the betrayal hideous.

“No one can criticize the non-Harper players for climbing on the PAC bandwagon; they would have been foolish to unilaterally disarm themselves. It was Conservatives who brought down our once-celebrated system. The PAC escalation was an inevitable consequence.” — The Toronto Star

One of the few certainties of life is that for every action there is reaction. There are consequences; good and bad, some injurious, others lethal. Some prosper, others benefit others are devastated.

When action and reaction are constantly taking place there must be accountability and responsibility, where either of these are lacking we invite anarchy and chaos. We like to think things just happen—they don’t— there is causality and the consequences rip though our societies to devastate us at a later date. This is what history is all about. It not just a record of past events. We empower history by the decisions and actions we take. Like it or not consequences come back to whack us in the most unsuspecting ways and places.

We are in very dangerous times because so called leaders controlled by powerful vested interests are acting without regard for consequences. Accountability has been destroyed leaving them free rein to pursue their craven agendas.

We wage wars, adopt ruinous ideologies, allow endless corruption, allow our democracies to slide into disrepair, then we are surprised that all this shit shoveled under carpets in the halls of power comes back to haunt us.

To make matters worse we allow despots to remain in power who refuse to be accountable, or responsible and exploit the chaos to their advantage by trying to rewrite history, destroy the consciousness of their societies, bury us under lies and propaganda, and kill and sane and sensible dialogue to where we become the Tower of Babel…. where everybody speaks, nobody hears or listens. The despots dance with glee as chaos and anarchy become their closest allies and coverup, deception and distraction are the tools of their trade.

The chaos and anarchy we suffer have been dark clouds gathering on the horizon for decades long past. I and others of my generation were born into the most affluent times ever, but now the bubble has burst and the dark clouds are issuing their ultimatums for change and adaptation. These are times I never thought I would see; but they are here and now.

There are a multitude of reasons how this collapse came about. Historians are going zero in on this era of history like none other. The grist for their mills is an avalanche of pain, infamy and human folly.

To isolate one of the reasons PACs—Political Action Committees are a good starting point: “In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. “

Pooling funds to run elections has the appeal of being an efficient way to manage political campaigns but it is also a hideous corruption. They become controlled by the very rich and powerful vested interests. PACs are like a 5000. dollar a plate fund raising dinner where only the very rich to come to dinner or chip into the fund. As we see now politics is all about money and it takes big money and a seven digit PAC to get elected and buy a seat on the gravy train. Ergo politicians are not accountable to the people who elected them, but to the PACs that got them elected.

“Since 2010, what are known as super-PACs have subsequently become major players in American elections, enabling wealthy individuals to exert enormous political influence. Indeed, wealthy donors spent more than US$1.4 billion during the 2016 presidential election campaign.”- (Read more here)

In the coming US presidential election billions of dollars are going to change hands for a position that is more nominal than ever. Presidents and prime ministers are not agents of change but window dressing for the neoliberal corporate elites that rule.

While the US Congress votes tens of billions for war and cuts social welfare we know where PACs have served their purpose.

In Canada where four political parties melt into a coalition cheer leading for more war we can see where the money has gone . We also see from the Toronto Star quote above how PACS are contagious and a Democracy killer. Politics becomes all about money, power and privilege.

What are the consequences? We are drowning as we have frustrated cynical electorates abandoned by self-indulgent traitorous elites. Meaningful political debates are non existent and our Parliament is a school yard for post-pubescent dilettantes on the public dole. The electorate cries out for elections that mean nothing other than a different set of bums will warm the benches-polishing oak to a fine sheen.

PACs are just one of the many reasons we are in this mess. The politics of money, power and privilege has stolen the people’s voice.

We are living the tyranny of ruinous consequences and failed accountability.

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