It is almost the last weekend for fresh produce from our local Farmer’s Market here in central Ohio. Gardens are coming to the end of their season so green beans, bell peppers and zucchini are almost gone but there are still lots of gourds, winter squash and pumpkins.
This is a season though when Fall Specials are in abundance. The specials are to be had, not from farmers and gardeners but from elected officials. At least those who want to be elected have ‘for sale’ signs out. It has been reported that not long ago, at a gathering of those who could make huge purchases, President Obama said, jokingly of course and with the disclaimer that he really couldn’t solicit, that if anyone wanted to write a check for $10 million, he’d hope they knew how to spend it well. Governor Romney, in his now-infamous 47% off-the-cuff (and into the billfold) remarks, said that the help he needed was millions of dollars. He was responding when one of the fat-cats in his private audience pleaded to know what could be done to help him.
Yes, both those who pull their plows with elephants and those whose draft animals are donkeys, have their signs out. Thanks to the ‘Citizens United’ decision by our ‘supremely selective as to how they rule’ Robert’s court, every office from local officials to that of the highest in the land is now ‘For Sale.’ No doubt money has influenced elections since the days of the Roman Senate, but never in the history of democracy has it been so thoroughgoing and blatantly obvious. The CEO of CBS, Leslie Moonver, recently said that there was an enormous amount of money to be made by broadcasters of political ads, of course adding that it was not necessarily good for the country that this harvest is ripe.
Those who will benefit from the wholesale availability of political influence are the corporations with the most to spend and a few actual ‘persons,’ ie, political operatives, lobbyists and party hacks. When all this graft is finally doled out, the only benefit those of us who go to local farm markets, the real persons in our communities, will experience is that our phone will stop ringing with unsolicited calls and our TV channels will switch back to being supported by vegetable chopper, beer and eye-liner ads.
The Fall Scoreboard (to switch metaphors)-
Corporations – 67 The People – 0
My wife just said that I was depressing. Well, if you are not depressed, you are not paying any attention.
Sanchismos 