The Institution

Just when we thought we had seen it all, the story from Penn State broke a few weeks ago, raising for me more than just concerns over sexual misconduct. I still find it appalling that no one in a leadership role at Penn could find their way clear to turn Sandusky in to police? No, they maintained the status quo so that their isolated institution could go on about their business of winning football games. They no doubt saw the 1.52 billion dollar annual endowment or the 765 million dollar research enterprise the University amasses as the end game. What were they thinking? Is the damage done to even one kid worth protecting anyone? Is the failure of the whole she-bang worth protecting one guy? They were out on the prairie of Pennsylvania; in their own little isolated world thinking maybe the whole thing would go away and the institution would be preserved to continue serving all of them; they were the power.

We all belong to a similar institution in our Federal government whereby the good of a few is increasingly trumping the good of the many. The same type of questions can be raised of this government as Penn State: Is protecting the greedy institution worth selling out your values and your constituent’s wellbeing? Is the failure of the entire country worth a few ideological doctrines? Is the defeat of one guy worth compromising our economic health and place in the world? Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t democracy all about working problems out, and coming to the table with an outcome in mind?

Recently 60 Minutes news magazine on CBS ran a piece on our congress men and women participating in insider trading which is totally legal for them to do in their isolated world. Yup, they voted themselves exclusion to that practice right in front of behind our backs. When asked about “timely” transactions in her personal portfolio Nancy Pelosi looked like she saw a dagger coming at her, and although John Boehner was somewhat cooler, he certainly did a lot of lip licking while quipping that he does not control his own investments. That one stunt alone should make all of you demand their resignations, but it goes beyond that; some of them are selling inside information through power brokers on “the hill” to the highest bidders. In other words selling committee info on up and coming legislation to a high stakes fencing operation like stolen car parts. Say for instance selling information about an area to be opened up for oil leases in Wyoming, and if the info got into the right hands soon enough they could make a bundle on land speculation in that area. I still cannot believe this crap is going on while Americans are discussing where Obama was born or who is on the right side of gay marriage. These guys are committing real and serious crimes and with our money! They would throw away the key if any of us participated in that kind of thing.

Another piece that 60 Minutes ran involved long-time lobbyist Grover Norquist who has authored a “pledge” to not raise taxes and then coerced legislators to sign it in the name of fiscal responsibility or some such catchy phrase. The whole thing sounds innocent enough until you start thinking about what he has effectively done; he now “owns” those legislators. If they break “the pledge” he blackballs them with lobbyists that will cut their election funding therefore losing their seat on the Capitol Hill gravy train. Where I come from that is often viewed as extortion. What is to keep this guy from holding Congressmen and Senators up on anything really? What is to keep him or others from manipulating voting on issues other than taxes? Say like being approached by insurance companies that give him money to get legislators to sign a ridiculous “pledge” like: “I pledge to never agree or vote to fund public health”. Great, now what happens if we have an epidemic of monstrous proportions in New York or a category 5 hurricane that threatens the health of 2 million people in Texas…are we going to think it is so great then? That is a silly analogy perhaps, but I am trying to get your wheels turning…it is not good for any individual, group or corporation to control our legislators with money. We pay them to work for us, not him. We pay them to make decisions for the good of America, not their pockets or their ideals.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, politicians are not about to lose sight of what the game is on “the hill” and that is to protect and defend…their special interest groups who keep them in office at all cost, even this countries failure. They are sworn to uphold the Constitution, but they seem to be above it and the laws that the rest of us have to obey. They write their own rules, wages and benefits. As I write they are mulling over legislation that addresses the aforementioned insider trading issue. Mulling it over? Every jack one of them should have been lined up at the door to sign on, but they are not. No, they are trying to find a way to draw attention away from it and frankly there are not that many people who are privy to that insider trading exclusion so a little diversion might just do it.

With good intentions many Americans have been unknowingly coerced into a high stakes game where the winner will take all while we fiddle with the cards. The “special” interests be it corporations, churches, insurance giants, investment firms or energy companies have discovered they can be in command of the message through a combination of media and controlled politicians and they are doing just that. Social items, that while individually important to many of us, have absolutely zero to do with the end game that we are unwittingly engaged in. They are intentionally taking our eye off the ball by haranguing on stuff like abortion, birth certificates, “family values” and the price of crude and who is to blame on both sides of the aisle and for what. We are so desperate for jobs in this country all the advertisers and the politicians have to say is that they will “create jobs” and many of us are lured into thinking that whatever they are selling is just dandy. But, like a rancher leaving the pasture gate open while feeding the cows, the horses are out behind our backs while we throw the hay off the wagon to the open mouths of the noisiest.

We are standing by while they toy with cutting Social Security, which by the way none of them pay into and legislators are cutting education that our parents and grandparents coveted because it brought them to a place of security in this world. These cuts and many more are there only because they irresponsibly marched off to two wars that are the first in this nation’s history to have gone unfunded because they thought Americans would not swallow a tax hike to fund more conflicts that had no end; and they were right. Now Americans are pissed and rightfully so but they are being steered away from the real issues because they can be, because we are not paying attention. No one is talking about the two wars nor have they been. No one is talking about the slide of small business and Main Street which indeed does feed 70% of our overall wealth in this country. And certainly, no one is mentioning the only way to get moving is to build on what we have.

Most of the people I know have no idea how our legislative body works really. They don’t know what a “bill” is or how it gets written; they don’t know how legislation is decided on, and worst of all they do not understand that all the obstructionism is a ploy to buy time for positioning for the future so they can start the whole thing over again. None of it is being done to save us. None of this is for the future of this country. It is for their pockets and their future pockets and their lobbyists’ pockets who are often former politicians. So the rotation continues and we are washing farther out in the wake.

The Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor, former Supreme Court Justice said not long ago she felt good course in civics would serve many in this country well. And that old cowgirl is putting her money and time where her mouth is and spreading the lessons through E-readers and such in the school systems. Touché!