Money is behind every problem
With another Earth Day in the rear view mirror, the thought that keeps coming to mind is that, now more than ever, our environment needs more than a day. It needs a democracy.
The greatest environmental challenge of our time is the state of our politics. Clean water will never flow from dirty politics. Follow the money and you see why clean air initiatives are so often blocked, too. Polluters gave national politicians $53 million over a five-year span.
It’s not just our natural resources that fall prey to dirty politics. Financial interests have been playing the same game. Look at AIG. Follow the money and you see why AIG was never reined in and then was quickly bailed out once things fell apart. This one company has given candidates for federal office more than $9 million in the past 10 years.
Look at all three industries that are at Ground Zero of the economic implosion—finance, insurance and real estate. Follow the money and you see why they were allowed to play fast and loose with other people’s money and now are being gently tut-tutted for their crimes. More than $2 billion to federal candidates in the last decade.
Follow the money and you see why health care reform has had such a hard time getting off the ground in Washington. Insurers that profit from the current broken system have sunk more than $300 million in national campaigns.
The change we need hasn’t happened in Madison, either. Speaking of our state capital, look at the Tavern League. Follow the money and you see why the beer tax hasn’t been raised in 40 years and why a statewide ban on smoking in public places enjoys such broad public support but has been such a tough sell to state legislators. Nine out of every 10 state lawmakers have received campaign contributions from alcohol interests, totaling more than $1 million, and have gotten still more from tobacco interests.
Follow the money and you see why payday lenders—a sanitized name for loan sharks—have been left totally unregulated in Wisconsin. By 2000, this shady industry had become the No. 1 source of out-of-state money in Wisconsin politics.
The crooked game that is the problem behind every problem plaguing our state and our nation will end when ordinary folks stop tolerating how the richest and most privileged in our society tirelessly game the system and warp government decisions in their favor. It will stop when we all insist on reforms that start making people matter more than money in politics again.
The reason such reform hasn’t happened in more than 30 years is that too many of us have backed away from democracy. I suspect one culprit is how we’ve all been taught—brainwashed, really—from a very early age to be consumers first and foremost, not citizens.
When all of us become more than the sum of what we buy, we’ll have our democracy and our country back.
Mike McCabe is director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks the money in politics and works for clean, open and honest government. Readers can reach him by e-mail at mccabe@wisdc.org.
May 6, 2009 at 9:51 a.m.
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I really dislike the title of this article - "Money is behind every problem". It implies that somehow money is a bad thing. News flash: money is good! People work for it, they use it to feed and clothe their families. They give it to their churches, which in turn use it to pay their utilities, feed the hungry, etc. etc. If you think money is bad, there are many people who will take that burden off your hands.
DrTalk stated that "The love of money is the problem". Perhaps. I would submit to you, money is just a tool. And like any tool, it can be used to accomplish either good or evil. I can use a pipe wrench either to fix a plumbing problem, or to hit someone over the head. No, I say that money is behind every solution!
The problem here, as described in the article, is that the powers that be (government, bureaucrats, lobbyists) are misusing money to game the system. And an even more basic problem is that our money is not sound. The Federal Reserve (which is neither federal, nor has any reserve) issues fiat currency, which allows the government to spend unlimited amounts and inflate the currency at will. If we had REAL money, we the people would have some real control over our lives. It won't happen any time soon, people are generally too ignorant and submissive.
May 5, 2009 at 8:01 p.m.
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"but the correlation of such a low cost of drinking has to be suspect."
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What correlation? Has there been a study that reflects the DUI rate is made of entirely those that consume beer vs other beverages? Expecting a tax to resolve a legal issue is academically inane. The correct route to cure the stem of DUI's is enforcement and stouter laws. Collecting more money via tax from those that follow the law will never solve a problem caused by those that don't.
May 5, 2009 at 12:37 p.m.
May 5, 2009 at 11:14 a.m.
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I certainly do hope the legislature listens to the people this time and raises the beer tax. It may not be the sole cause of Wisconsin having among the highest rates of alcoholism and drunken driving in the nation, but the correlation of such a low cost of drinking has to be suspect.
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I would also like to see action on reducing the available liquor licenses to a per-capita guideline, but I don't expect this anytime soon. It's just too ... sensible.
May 5, 2009 at 9:07 a.m.
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Arrhg! The only way to be rid of the scourge is to be amending the constitution to be say'n, Money dose not =speech, Corporations do not = citizens Then we can control the money.RAmen
May 5, 2009 at 5:57 a.m.
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Money isn't the problem. The love of money is the problem.
May 5, 2009 at 2:51 a.m.
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I looked at the data for PAC’s on the site for the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. The top 20 donors are 8 business groups, 8 labor unions, 2 political groups (both Dem), and 2 healthcare groups. The author only mentions the tavern league (8th on the list). He brings up the health industry yet the 2 PAC’s listed in the top 20 combined gave almost the same as the Realtors PAC (number 1). The labor unions listed in the top 20 provided 4 times the money as the health industry PAC’s yet they were not mentioned. I think if you are going to write an article on following the money we should follow all the money and not pick a few.
May 5, 2009 at 2:25 a.m.
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"Follow the money and you see why the...tax hasn’t been raised in 40 years"
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Ok, I agree that money drives politics. But I don't agree that a tax not being raised in 40 years is a bad thing.
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