Plutocracy

This little bit on The Young Turks was interesting.  Even though it was mostly Cenk Uygur (I have no idea how to pronounce that) and guests talking about the quote, more than just the original quote, I thought the analysis was spot on.

The men who own Wisconsin

I used to like Cenk Uygur a lot more when I’d just read his stuff in print.  A Noam Chomsky level of brilliance, I thought, without the constant Israel bashing.  Then I saw him and what came across in print came across in person as sort of arrogant, but maybe that’s just me.  Probably, that’s just me.  Because I can’t find any fault with what he’s saying.

Of course, it will have little impact because he’s just saying something that everybody suspected anyway: government in general and, quite specifically, the governor of the fine state of Wisconsin (known for cheesemaking, beautiful autumn colors, and the Green Bay Packers), Scott “Weasel” Walker, are totally bought and paid for.

If you bring it up, people will just say “Well, that’s no surprise,” or worse “You’re just figuring this out now?  Where have you been,  under a rock?”  The lack of outrage implies acceptance, and acceptance of this is unacceptable.

What Uygur pointed out, by pointing out the key statements in an interview David Koch, one of the two infamous Koch brothers, is that the Koch brothers basically own Governor Walker.  He said “Of course we give him money.  We’re getting very good at this kind of thing.”  And, “we’re going to give more.”

Now, everybody is allowed to donate to politicians but if you, like so many conscientious citizens, occasionally send a candidate a check for $5 or $20, or buy one of their T-shirts or something, you don’t actually think that you own the government.

The Kochs, who are spending a million times more than you, most certainly do.  It’s a scary thought.

I know it happens all the time.  We should still be outraged.