We are run by special interests

It is mind blowing that there is still support in Congress for the F-22 program and most other large scale military procurement programs.  We already have the best fighter planes in the world not including the roughly 180 F-22s we have already bought; we simply have an incredible airplane which has run way over budget and fulfills no strategic role.  Nonetheless, there is a vocal movement led by Lockheed Martin to continue its production because it creates jobs; in effect, the company which makes the plane has abandoned arguing for it from a strategic perspective and instead is asking for the government’s benefice.

During the commodity bubble, we found ourselves desperately searching for alternative sources of energy.  Ethanol made from corn was promoted as a savior of our country, but the fact is that its production is incredibly inefficient: cars get less miles per gallon and pollute just as much.  The only difference is that we produce the corn, so we’re not dependent on Saudi Arabia.  Ethanol produced from sugar cane is much more efficient; Brazil has a highly developed sugarcane ethanol industry, and a significant amount of cars there run on sugarcane fuel.  But we do not have sugarcane because the corn lobby does not support the importation of sugarcane since doing so would undermine the dominance of high fructose corn syrup.

We have a minority party agitating for almost identical policies expressed by Herbert Hoover in the run-up to and during the Great Depression: balance government spending, keep taxes low, and let the market sort itself.  In short, we have a minority party which has never read a history book.  The minority party is backed up by an ideological apparatus masquerading as objective news reporting, with CNBC providing the most blatant example of a political agenda masquerading as (pseudo)knowledge.   “Government, do not bail out normal people who have made mistakes or been fooled by rich people,” they shout, “but please keep our financial system solvent.  Our mistakes are different you see.”

We have a very intelligent and accomplished nominee for the head of the National Intelligence Council who had to withdraw his nomination because of lobbying from groups who disagree with his views.  Feeling that the bloviating from these diehards would seriously imperil his ability to do his job, the nominee withdrew himself from consideration even though his appointment did not require Congressional approval.

We have a nation resistant to any form of universal healthcare coverage because it might threaten “liberty” and the “free market.”  (Though those who defend our shameful system are usually the same ones who can only defend those two terms with tautologies.)  Insurers want to keep the free market because it allows them to seek rents, i.e. to earn profit when they shouldn’t be.  Doctors want to keep the current system because they fear low reimbursement or being forced to prescribe certain procedures, mindless (or intentionally ignoring) the fact that Medicare is so bloated because it often overpays for procedures or that doctors are already forced into prescribing treatment by the insurance industry.  In short, we have a nation fearing a basic human right (accessible and affordable health care) because of 30-second sound bites.

We have a governing party complicit with the forces of paragraphs one through five, a party which also wants to maintain defense spending.  (Apparently jobs in the private sector funded by government largesse do not count as “inefficient” government jobs.)  This same party resists raising taxes on the wealthy even though they did the same thing, to much benefit, 16 years ago.  This same party resists meaningful and necessary education reform because powerful interests groups resist changing the flawed nature of our system.  (Obama is largely right how to tackle education reform.)  This same party refuses to face down agroindustry and the concomitant social illls they entail: obesity, poor nutrition, diabetes, and high fructose corn syrup among other.

We have a country without leaders.  We have a country run by men in Ferragamo suits eating in steakhouses and delivering ugly Powerpoints to the people who think they make decisions.  We have a nation run not by citizens but by idiot corporatists, e.g. Charles Schumer, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, et. al.  We have a nation led not by citizens looking at what benefits the national as a whole but rather looking at how the nation can benefit their district and their election.  We have a nation of leaders who see the government as a means to better themselves, not a means to better their citizens.

Either that, or we have elected officials who sincerely believe they are striving to accomplish all the goals I excoriate them for avoiding.  If that is the case, we have a nation unconcerned for the intelligence and pragmatism of its leaders.