Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Who can REALLY vote? And how many times? And where?

There is a pressure developing among Republicans to "control" the right to vote.   Presumedly that is  to insure that citizens only vote once in each election.  Allegedly, they say, "some people" vote twice, particularly college students vote in the state in which they "live" and again in the state where they attend school.  So therefore, much more stringent controls need to be established over all voters in the nation.

But notice how the large corporations – none of whom can really cast ballots – still manage to "vote" – not with ballots, but with money.  And also, they can "vote" MANY times in all elections, day after day, in the long primary seasons which precede the balloting.  AND they can vote in two states if they want to.  In fact, they can vote in ALL FIFTY states if they "need" to.

If I had a large (as in really big) amount of money, I could bring pressure to legislators not just in North Carolina, but also in California, New York and Texas, and other states too.  I could speak to members of their senate and house of representatives as well as to their representatives and senators in Washington, DC.  And I could "talk money" to them.  Better yet, I could call up some "friends" of mine and talk to them.  Then my "friends" could call the representatives and convey my message in a way they would all be familiar with.  My new "friends" would be really good because they would be former representatives themselves and they would know how to phrase my wishes better than I ever could.  My "friends" would lobby the representatives very well, and even provide my wishes written in "bill-submission" form.  

And EVEN – and I won't really mention this – if I were a member of a corporation based in another country, and I was a legal resident of another country myself, I could STILL speak (with money) to our new "friends" back in the states.  All they would want to verify is that my money was in American dollars.  Here is a quote from my book "Capitalism:  Servant or Master?" p. 81:


         "At least thirty major U. S. corporations pay more money for lobbying than they pay in taxes.  Many of these same companies also receive subsidies from the American taxpayers so they are actually shown as paying a NEGATIVE income tax.  Here is that list:  <http://publicampaign.org/sites/default/files/ReportTaxDodgerLobbyingDec6.pdf  >
Many of these corporations are national in scale.  A large and an increasing number are international, some may have directors from foreign nations, yet they can still – according to the United States Supreme Court in “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission” – provide instructional information, items of personal interest, and large sums of money to American senators and representatives to try to influence their votes on bills that are important to them and also to provide money for election campaigns.  This creates an opportunity for some foreign nationals to have greater influence in the United States Congress than many American citizens have who don’t feel they have the money to send any to their elected representatives." 

http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/john-womack/capitalism-servant-or-master/ebook/product-20251807.html


        

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Private Prisons Produce Profits.


China is the most populated nation on the planet with some 1.4 billion people; India is closing quickly at 1.3 billion.  Together they comprise more than 2.7 billion.  The population of the United States of America is 313 million, only 1/8 the size of the two most populated  nations in the world.

When we look at the prison population of those nations however, we find that the United States has almost 25% MORE of its people in jails or prisons than do the COMBINED prison population of BOTH China and India.

The graph shows an enormous increase in American prison population beginning in 1980.  This is when private, for-profit prisons began taking over an increasingly rising  prison population.  It was asserted by the private prisons that they could do a better and cheaper job.  The same time, state legislatures began writing laws that were seen to be more restrictive, and punishment times were increased. 

“The criminal justice system is urged by capitalist owners to convert to  privately-owned prisons.  They claim private enterprises would be more cost-effective than government-run prisons and would save money.  As state owned prisons are converted to private prisons their lobbyists petition legislatures for stricter laws and longer sentences.  The more prisoners who are admitted into and kept in the prisons, the greater will be the profits the private prison industry will realize.”  Pg. 20  of “Capitalism:  Servant of Master?”