Ah...HERE'S My Soapbox

So, I got an email from a friend who actually reads my blog (I'm shocked, I tell you. SHOCKED). Anywho, he asked if I was one of those guys who thinks that America is run by big corporations.

The short answer is.................no.

But if you wanted the short answer you would stop reading, wouldn't you?

I think the "running of America" is alot more complicated than that. I think that there are factors that I don't know about, and many factors that I know about, but am not cognisant (that's a great word!) of their weight. In other words, I could be completely wrong, and I am most definitely not 100% right .

But being wrong has never stopped me from having an opinion. And yes, I do have one of those...

I think there is one group of people that have more to do with the laws that are passed and with how things happen in this country than any other, and it isn't the voting public. It is lobbyists.

Lobbyists, from my viewpoint, can be split into three major groups of representation, and they are: 1 - Big Corporations/Conglomerates, 2 - Labor Unions, and 3 - Special Interest Groups.

So, do I think big stinking corporations run the country? No...but I DO think that their lobbyists have been influencing congressional votes and lawmaking in their favor for many years. The DMCA is the perfect example of just such a law. Current copyright law favors the big guy, not the innovator. The patent system is, dare I say, flawed. And it favors the big fish, not the little one. I could go on, but those are the really glaring examples.

And you cannot convince me that unions are the working individual's voice. They are not. I KNOW that this is a gross generalization...and I think that Walmart workers would have a better wage and benefits package if they were unionized. I am not discounting the good that unions have accomplished...but when I see a union spend incredible amounts of money, money that they extract via the required dues, on agendas that benefit the union structure and not the workers themselves, it makes me a little bit ill. I don't think the Teamsters had that in mind when they began. Or the teachers' union. Or the nurses' union.

And special interest groups are just that: dedicated to their specialized interest. It doesn't matter which side of the red/blue debate you are on, there are just as many aarp lobbyists as there are civil rights lobbyists. Again, I am not against equality for all...I wouldn't be much of a Christian if I were. I am also not against helping our nation's elderly, or our nation's poor, or the equal workplace rights that belong to every person...I could go on, but that's pointless. There is no doubt in my mind that, for every cause, there equals a group of people in an office in Washington that is getting paid to further that cause.

And every cause has it's fair share of idiots. Like the knuckleheads who want to stop spending money on the Iraq war now, regardless of how that might impact the currently assigned troops. See? That's just not thinking clearly...I don't think the US should continue to oversee a civil war, but I do think that every available nickel be spent wisely in protecting the people over there stuck in a bad job, in a no-win situation, just trying to make it until tomorrow.

So, what's the answer? Again, I could be completely wrong on all of this...and in fifteen years, I may look back at this and call myself a fool. I'm not sure of the answer. I would like to see a government that works to promote public interest, not corporate interest. I would like to see unions that spend their money actively seeking to make better workplaces and enforcing fair labor practices, not focused on some political agenda that has no bearing on that worker's ability to earn a fair wage. I would like to see the good guys win, and the bad guys go down. I would like to see mutual respect, and people exercise their ability to listen.

Not everyone is going to agree with me, and I'm not going to agree with everyone. But I am going to be nice to you, regardless of how you feel about me. And I am going to stand firm on those things that are at my core. There is some kind of fallacy out there that has said, "You cannot be uncompromising in your beliefs and be caring at the same time."

If you believe that, then you never read the story of the woman at the well.