memfree

You could say it started with Eisenhower lying about a U2 spyplane being a normal weather flight, then Khrushchev producing the pilot and exposing the truth of the espionage campaign. Supposedly, the U.S. more or less trusted its government up to that point, but that big lie started deflating the post-WWII belief in an honest democracy.

If you watch old movies from the 1940s and even into the 1950s, you will find a substantial number where “Rule of Law” and general ethics were central and critical parts of the story. The populace expected liars, cheats, and scoundrels would be outed, convicted where there was crime and ostracized where there was not. Of course there have always been greedy bosses, but the U.S. has vacillated between imposing extreme taxes and regulations to doing nothing at all about social imbalance.

Most recently, everything got disrupted by Citizens United wherein the Supreme Court ruled that money is speech. Money is the opposite of speech. Money is power. The point of Constitutional ‘free speech’ was that speech be allowed despite a lack of power and influence – not because of it.

In the aftermath of Citizens United, the ultra-rich have swayed the elections of judges and politicians with special attention to given to writing policies and eliminating restrictions. This was made easier by earlier elimination of the fairness doctrine and the 1996 Telcom Act that loosened limits on how many news outlets an entity could own. (extra info)

– But no, it was NOT naive way back when. The U.S. used to be a country that would (generally) hold bad actors to account. Nixon resigned when impeached because he understood that he could not lead after being caught. Trump knew he could lead despite his crimes. Perhaps we’d have been better off in Nixon had remained president such that the country would have been forced to take action back then.

Hidden camera, ‘abandoned’ box of fundraising candy with a few bars left and an envelope of money ($80). The bottom of the box has a mailing sticker on it to Jamal Brown’s address (that is actually to a low rent accomplice’s home). The trick is finding a likely place the candidate would reasonably find this while alone. Does candidate leave it or take it? Does the box make it to the address intact?