The question is, are they getting any answers?
Unfortunately, it seems they are coming back pretty empty-handed as the candidates have continued to push their own party agendas, speaking in "talking points" rather than "addressing real problems".
All this while the aggressive and thieving corporate crime wave continues to sweep the US and the rest of the world, draining hard-earned savings, health and safety of millions of people, with little or no law enforcement to stop it.
Charles Ferguson, director of the Academy Award winning documentary Inside Job, who took the stage to accept his Oscar in 2011 said: "Three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that's wrong." Rampant corporate crime is going to continue unless we start punishing crime in the suites with at least as much fervor and budgets as we do the crime in the streets.
Not much has changed since that remark by Mr. Ferguson last year. Corporations and their interest groups indirectly still influence and control every aspect of the US political establishment and sadly this continues to encourage widespread corruptive practices.
The US Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United on January 21, 2010 opened the floodgates even further for special interest money and corporate influence in politics. At the same time, a rash of new voter suppression laws in more than 30 states has threatened to make voting difficult, if not impossible, for millions of Americans.
In 1977, in the wake of Watergate, the US Congress enacted the FCPA , after revelations that more than 400 American companies had paid bribes totaling more than $300 million to foreign government officials and politicians. Over the last 35 years, the US Department of Justice has established several enforcement mechanisms, leading to increased but still not sufficient compliance efforts by corporations.
However, the narrowing global governance deficit requires closer cooperation, and a willingness to invest in civil-society organizations that also hold governments accountable. So far not much is happening in that direction. Much more needs to be done.
Another recommendation would be that anyone holding an elected or government position has to give complete public disclosure of all private and corporate donated funding received and that this can be enforced by law.
To avoid corruption elected officials should only be allowed two terms in office and not be allowed to give themselves or each other benefits unless the rest of the country they serve is given similar benefits as well. No health insurance, no life insurance, no big pensions or fancy perks unless they see fit to provide these benefits to all citizens.
It is essential that elected Government officials become a part of the rules before they are given the moral authority to govern. The motto must be “Money Out, Voters In”.
When it comes to democracy and liberty in the US it seems that politicians on both sides of the aisle have forgotten the famous words of one of America's founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin , "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Today in 2012, the people of the United States find themselves living under the mantra "whatever it takes to protect the American people". Rampant claims of "executive privilege" and "state secrets" and violations of due process have led to "Big Brother" -- The Patriot Act, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, the continued imprisonment-without-trial of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and in the U.S., the invasive TSA agents who harass travelers.
Throughout the history of the US, powerful politicians and interest groups have tried to block eligible voters from casting a ballot. For much of the twentieth century, they used literacy tests or demanded poll taxes. Today they ask for photo voter ID, or create restrictive voter registration schemes. These laws, combined with the challenge posed by limitless corporate influence, strike at the very core of US democracy.
This coming Tuesday, November 6, American voters going to the polls can either vote for more corporate involvement on life in America, negatively affecting its hardworking middle class, or vote for winning the battle against that stranglehold. A battle which started 4 years ago on November 6, 2008. .
EU-Digest
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