We are a nation of criminals. Always have been. We made our bones 2 1/2 centuries ago by thumbing our nose at the King of England and his oppressive tax schemes. Ever since, it’s been one criminal enterprise after the next. The westward expansion of the US in the 1800s involved the slaughtering of the natives, and the stealing of their land. Even back then, our criminal leaders understood the value of words. They did not call their imperial expansion slaughtering & stealing, for if they had, most ordinary folk would be against it. Instead, they gave it a more benevolent sounding name like “Manifest Destiny,” and suddenly everyone, except of course the natives, was on board.
If we have learned anything in this country over the last 250 years, it’s that criminals are only after two things, money & power. It should come as no surprise, then, that the most talented criminals we have in this country gravitate towards politics (boardrooms would be a close second). From there, they can generate near unlimited wealth & power. It’s no coincidence the average net worth of the members of congress is north of 8 digits. Some of you might be of the opinion not all politicians are criminals. To some extent, you are correct. There are some honest people in that world, but the fact is they struggle to advance, and as a consequence, do not last very long. They simply cannot compete with peers who are not constrained by scruples.
As a result, the corporations currently running this country, and the politicians who are supposed to police them, have become the most polished criminal class in our nation’s history. They have turned crime into an art form. The corporations write laws designed to fortify their control over given markets by squeezing out the competition with burdensome regulation. The politicians are quick to pass those same laws in exchange for huge donations from the corporations they benefit.
You would think the general public would never allow such widespread graft to continue unabated. But the truth is, our criminal leaders are particularly adept at packaging & marketing new laws as precisely what they are not. It’s no different than the manifest destiny example above. They market their bills/acts with a name nobody could be against. Once enacted though, those laws accomplish the exact opposite of what we were told they would.
Think about it, has the “Affordable care act” made health care more or less expensive? It’s not even close. Since those laws (written by the most prominent players in the health care market) were passed in 2010, Health care has risen in price at four times the average inflation rate. In other words, the Health care behemoths are collecting multiples of what they were just 12 years ago. Does that sound affordable to you?
Or how about the “Equal rights Amendment” of the 1970s, ostensibly designed to put women on equal footing with men. It sounds great in theory, as who could possibly be against equality? But consider the results. Prior to its passage in the 1940s-1960s, the vast majority of women stayed at home and raised kids. After 50 years of living with “equal rights,” women today, in addition to the responsibility of raising kids, have been shoved into the workforce where they get (according to Wikipedia) only 78% of the pay their male counterparts get. Does that sound equal to you?
How about the “Patriot Act” of the early 2000s? The founders of this country guaranteed the citizens of this country certain rights, as spelled out in the constitutional amendments. One of those amendments (4th) guaranteed no unreasonable seizures of your property by the government. Another (6th) amendment guaranteed a speedy trial for those accused of crimes. Since the passage of the patriot act, civil asset forfeiture has become a blossoming industry for most police departments. As for speedy trials, most of the Jan 6th, 2020 protesters have not even been arraigned, let alone tried. Does any of this sound patriotic to you?
It’s the same song, over and over again. The “Civil Rights act” of the 1960s was to put an end to racism, yet it’s worse today than it’s ever been. The 1994 “Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement act” (sponsored by then-Senator Joe Biden) was passed to minimize violent crimes, yet the murder rates in this country are at 20-year highs. It does not matter who the president is or which party controls congress; whatever bill/act they are passing, you need only look at the name to know what it WILL NOT do. So when current president Biden promises his new bill will “Build Back Better,” you can rest assured there will be NO “building,” and things will not get “better.”
Career Criminals
Yes, my conclusion is the USA died several decades ago and all that remains is a zombie corpse waiting for the bullet to the head. The date of death is debatable but I pick 1933. All that's left now is corruption.
BTW I did not get an email notification for this article, did anybody else? I saw it on Twitter.