A nation is on the brink of catastrophe

+ Here is a powerful excerpt from an e-mail from Public Citizen:

A country is on the brink of catastrophe. And its people desperately need our help.

Here’s a synopsis of the tragedy unfolding as we speak:

·         A few of the country’s richest inhabitants are spending billions to install political puppets in office — from city councils up to the highest levels of government, even the country’s president — who will do the bidding of the wealthy uber-class, the overwhelming majority of the populace be damned.

·         The nation’s proud tradition of democratic elections is eroding as the country lurches toward plutocracy.

·         Multinational corporations can spend as much as they want pushing politicians and policies that will make them even more profitable, creating a feedback loop of corporate corruption leading to more corporate power leading to more corporate corruption and on and on and on and on.

·         Ruling families joust for power, with relatives of former leaders assuming they are entitled to their turn while often flouting the few remaining rules about how they conduct their campaigns.

·         Political candidates create shadowy groups to spend unlimited money attacking their opponents, and these groups don’t even have to disclose which billionaires and Big Businesses are funding them.

·         Judges on the country’s highest court have facilitated this corruption with rulings overturning a century of protections against control of elections by the elite.

This besieged nation’s nickname could be PACistan.

But you know it as the United States of America.

And I sincerely wish I were exaggerating.

Nobody has done, is doing or will do more than Public Citizen to fight the wholesale debasement of our democracy by mega-rich individuals and corporate behemoths.