Power in politics

Chapter three is all about the power that is controlled by the top ten percent of our country. Power is just another word for money. I've seen a few posts on here that talk about the ability of our citizens to create better, wealthy lives with hard work. I believe this might apply to such a small percentage of people that it is really not worth noting. It takes more than a college education to be rich in our country. It takes a family with money or a lot of luck. My degree from Metro State is not going to earn me as much money as a degree from Harvard, a school that I was accepted at but couldn't afford. The class separation in this country is becoming unmanageable. "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

Corporations are making sure that this statement stays true. The executives in large corporations continue to increase their wages while keeping the workers at the same level (adjusting for increase in living expenses included). The government can't control this and I wouldn't necessarily want them to if they could. In our capitalistic society most people believe that competition creates checks and balances in corporate America but this is not true. Who can compete with the likes of Wal-mart? They have gone out of their way to destroy their competition and they do it because they have the money to do it. They have created an uneducated, poverty stricken work-force that is not wealthy enough to do anything else. They do not pay their employees enough to go to school and look after their families. They do offer scholarships but only with a guarantee that the student returns to Wal-mart to work for the low salaries that they received in order to get the scholarship in the first place. Wal-mart is a great example of capitalism gone bad.

The people with the power

 The people with the money are the people with the power. Our government is controlled by the people with the money. Elections are won and lost by money. Our politicians are already wealthy when they take office. Where is the representation that is guaranteed by our Constitution? Our leaders are businessmen that have the interests' of big business in mind. We are not a democratic so much as a capitalistic country. We are controlled by Corporate America. The text book speaks about the ability of the voting public to "overcome the mobilization of bias that operates in favor of business" (Katznelson, Kesselman, Draper, 2006, pg.31) but is this even possible anymore? Our largest corporations are outsourcing to countries that offer less expensive alternatives to our own labor force and our government will not stand up for it's own people. The politicians always talk about offering incentives to companies that keep jobs in the U.S. and yet the only companies that receive these incentives have already outsourced to other countries. Why should an American company that opens a new factory or plant receive incentives if they have already opened ten other plants in other countries? Our government support for small business is always secondary to the needs of the corporations. The way you fix our economy is through support for the person on the street. Tax breaks for small businesses not corporate America. Companies are not going to leave the U.S. The taxes they would pay in other industrialized countries far exceed what they pay here. It is time for our government to stop being held hostage by the money of the rich. Support the middle and lower class. By supporting small businesses we create more jobs. Maybe not on the scale like we would see with corporations but 100 small companies hiring 10 people each is just as good for our economy as one big corporation hiring 1000 people. I do not want large corporations leaving our country but the corporations need to see that supporting our country is beneficial to them as well as our economy.

Power of the vote
As much as i believe in democracy and the right to express my opinion by voting, I do understand why so many people are disillusioned by the process today. The lobbyists control Washington now. The money is what wins elections, but that has not always been the case and (i believe) will not always be the case. In the last election the fervor that was created by the young voter was awesome. There were more first-time voters than ever before. The new generation of voters have strong opinions of how our government should be run. The political parties need to realize that the times are changing. The people want their voices heard. The young are not going to step aside for the political traditionalists. On both sides, the technology of today has changed the way Americans get their information and it is easier to spread your opinion. I see, in the future, campaigns being won and lost on the internet. President Obama's campaign was ahead of its time. Even the Democratic party itself did not realize the impact that the internet would have on the election. It only gets better from here. We will now be able to access political technology like never before. Politics has finally gone technological. Soon every vote will count and every opinion will be heard and politicians will finally have to listen to what we have to say!!!!!