"Health Care Reform Stalled By Corporate Freedom Of Speech"

As someone has suggested, if it's this money that is the only stoppage of this horrible bill, then hurrah for corporate money! Yes, money is speech. In a nation of our size, without money, there is no political speech except for a vote. Even small corporations hire as many lobbyists as they can. Their competitors do. If they don't, they're sunk before the game begins.

I have an immediate response when people make one of the millions of statements like the one in the article mentioned above: “We need real health reform, but first we need campaign-finance reform.” Hey, how about this? How can we expect people to make responsible and wise decisions about government regulation of private commerce, when they can’t even identify and dispose of politicians whose votes are for sale for money? This is putting the cart miles before the horse. And carts before horses are only pushed into ditches.

I’m not paid by businesses and I can tell you that governments are not only incapable of effectively controlling private industry, they are also even more corrupt than anyone in industry whom they are supposed to regulate, as is testified to by a suggestion that their votes in supposedly serving society, are for sale. And private industry is regulated by the demands and the competition of the market. A politician reclined in his elected office is only regulated by 1) the possibility that he might be snooped out by investigative reporters who are also human beings affected by their personal biases, and 2) by their consciences.

John McCain also made the mistake of tackling corruption by regulating speech via McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform,” only to see that money like finds a path to its objective, like water running downhill around obstacles and blockades. I understand that busy people can’t or won’t take the time to think about some of these human realities. But, people need to be responsible enough to invest a little time in inspecting the consciences of their representatives. Government is not moral magic. To the contrary, government is power. You may have heard that power is corrupting. And, the only check on that power is the public, beginning with YOU!