AMERICAN DEMOCRACY'S DEMISE IS NOW OBVIOUS

From the Washington Post:

Gun-control overhaul is defeated in Senate

But the biggest setback for the White House was the defeat of a measure to expand background checks to most gun sales. The Senate defied polls showing that nine in 10 Americans support the idea, which was designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

More here. 

Okay, this one's easy.  Ninety percent of the US population wants background checks for gun sales.  But it didn't pass Congress.  A total failure of the assumption that in our democratic republic elected representatives carry out the will of the people.  An obvious failure because the difference between what the people want and what our representatives actually did is like day and night.  So it's easy to see, in this instance, a complete and utter systemic failure of our way of government.

What we don't see, unfortunately, is that this isn't a one-off.  This is, in fact, how American government now works.  It's how American government has been working for some years now.  Our representatives no longer represent us.  Sure, we vote for them, but that's just theater.  It doesn't really matter who wins.  Either candidate will do for the people the winner will actually represent.  People with money.  Lots and lots of money.

Why are we seeing increasing numbers of tainted food scares?  Because the people with money don't want to be bothered by troublesome regulators.  Why are fraudulent bankers rewarded with massive bonuses instead of rotting away in prison where they ought to be?  Because the people with money think defrauding the American people is a grand idea.  Why do we have Obamacare, which rewards the parasites collectively known as the health insurance industry with captive customers, instead of single-payer universal health care?  Because the people with money want it that way.  Why are we increasing oil production instead of fighting global warming?  Because people with money want even more money.

We live now in a de facto plutocracy--you know, rule by the wealthy.  Sure, we continue to go through the motions of democracy.  We vote.  We watch debates.  We get all riled up about our pet issues.  But none of it matters.  It's all just for show.  When you get down to the nitty gritty of policy, we don't count.  In fact, people's opinions, people's sense that they ought to be a part of the decision making process when those decisions affect how they live, really, it's all just a problem for the plutocracy to manage.  And they manage it pretty well.  Most Americans have no idea how pointless their participation in politics actually is.

Friday's near-comical defeat of background checks isn't an exception.  It's the rule.  Expect more in-your-face defiance of the people's will in the decades to come.  It's all over, folks.  The democratic experiment has ended.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$