[clue-talk] The stimulus bill

[Brian Gibson]

Lessig is referring to buying politicians off.  See change-congress.org for more info.  Nothing Marxist about it.  Simply put, politicians cannot act  independently and in favor of the public good when biased by monetary contributions and that such contributions puts doubt in the public mind who politicians actually represent.  For example, copyright extensions are not in the public's best interest yet Congress has continued to side with corporate interests rather than public interests.  Or in the case of the telecom immunity...  First Congress voted against telecom immunity, then three months later voted in favor of telecom immunity.  The difference being that those Democrats who changed their votes had received twice as many contributions from telco companies than those who did not change their vote.  No one admits is about the money, but it's one of those things that make you go "hmmmm".  Lessig brings up the interesting point that as Congress fails
 as a representative voice of the people that it inadvertently shifts power to the executive and judicial branches which became evident when Clinton and Bush expanded presidential powers.



----- Original Message ----
From: Nate Duehr <nate at natetech.com>
To: CLUE talk <clue-talk at cluedenver.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 7, 2009 10:03:19 AM
Subject: Re: [clue-talk] The stimulus bill


On Feb 7, 2009, at 9:39 AM, Brian Gibson wrote:

> If a company doesn't like the strings attached to the bailout money, they don't have to take it.

This doesn't apply to the first 800 billion.  The rules are being changed AFTER they took it.

> As a side note, private enterprise has been breaking down those same walls to further their agenda.  Lobbying for laws to make bankruptcy harder for individuals, lobbying against consumer and environmental protections, lobbying for trade protections, the war on _____ (e.g. drugs), and on and and on... it's too bad that government and private enterprise can't mind their own business.  Lessig is right.  Before you can solve any of the problems in Washington, you have to solve the first problem and that's remove the influence of money.

"Remove the influence of money" sounds an awful lot like Marxism. Is that what Lessig suggests?  If so, I'm definitely not in agreement.  Right now, for better or for worse, the W-2 is how we keep score...

Nate_______________________________________________
clue-talk mailing list
clue-talk at cluedenver.org
http://www.cluedenver.org/mailman/listinfo/clue-talk