In a recent survey, 86 percent of Americans said our government was broken. How wrong they were!
That’s right, Virginia, you CAN have a say in how our government works. You just have to be among the very wealthiest of rightwing Americans.
A secretive gang of these people is all over the news right now.
See CBS:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020184-503544.html
See the NY Times:
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/secretive-republican-donors…
Here’s a memo that lists who is in the club and how they develop an agenda for shaping our political discourse and purchasing seats in our government:
http://images2.americanprogressaction.org/ThinkProgress/secretkochmeetin…
And we in Charlottesville have got neighbors on the list: Richard and Leslie Gilliam of 4295 Louisa Road, Keswick, VA, phone 434-979-2050.
That’s right, you too can have a voice in our representative government. You just have to make gazillions of dollars from coal mines that violate safety regulations, costing miners their lives.
Here’s another coal barron on the list: Kevin Crutchfield of Abingdon, VA.
Check out the other names on the list. A broad range of interests are represented, ranging from the disgustingly wealthy owners of this to the outrageously rich financers of that, and even the absurdly loaded investors in nothing at all.
How many people in Charlottesville know anything at all about Richard and Leslie Gilliam?
How many media outlets have asked them what it feels like to actually have a say in the direction our nation takes?
I for one wouldn’t mind knowing what goes on at meetings where Supreme Court Justices, sweatshop owners, media producers, and oil barrons plot each step toward authoritarian corporatism, and the insights of our local representatives at these meetings ought to be shared with their constituents.
I suppose that just wouldn’t be news?