(Belief in) This Lie Called Democracy | Philip A. Farruggio

Philip A. Farruggio -- World News Trust

Dec. 30, 2018

Another year stumbles out the door and a new one is pushed in.

This procedure is emulated by the consistency of this lie we call democracy. All around this writer it seems that everybody participates in it:

The politicians who need the lie to get them into office... and keep them there; The embedded-in-empire media, especially the electronic mainstream "so-called" news shows (with models, actors and actresses making millions posing as journalists); The stalwarts of these two "servants of empire" Republican and Democratic parties; and last, but surely not least, many of my friends and neighbors who still buy into the lie.

Let me be as clear as a rare smogless big city day: So long as we continue to allow private money into electoral politics, there will never be the foundation for a true democracy... Period! Just imagine if wealthy interests could not openly bribe politicians with campaign donations. Perhaps maybe then we could see some semblance of economic justice and a healthier public.

Big Oil and Big Auto have made sure, since the inception of the motor car, that the Congress need not legislate that cars get substantial higher fuel efficiency. Ralph Nader had to push for decades just to get the minuscule fuel standards we now have -- nothing from what these cars and trucks should be getting in miles-per-gallon.

Then we have Big Pharma which "legally bribes" our political system to allow unsafe drugs on the market. The Opioid crisis, for example, has revealed to those who really care to know, that many of those type drugs should never have been allowed on the market... Period!  How many Americans, skimming to the subject of antidepressant and anti-hyperactive drugs have committed suicide because of them? Check it out for yourself.

Big Insurance has taken over the health care of Americans... or shall I say the "Lack of?" As a baby boomer on Medicare, they don't even ask to see my Medicare card when I go to any doctor. All they require is my private (so-called supplemental) insurance card. Twice my private insurer has ruled out my ENT doc's request for a deviated septum surgery. Twice!

My wife, 10 years younger than me, has NO major medical coverage, only hospitalization. We can barely afford that cost. To have the same coverage as me, no way could we afford even a decent plan. As far as other people under 65 that I know, maybe those with private insurance coverage should check out what their deductible is. Guaranteed it is over a couple of thousand dollars before their coverage kicks in.

One must ask those charming hacks who are supposed to represent us as to what their coverage is -- you know the coverage that our tax dollars are paying for! So, when even the so-called "Green Dems" are demanding a "Medicare for All Americans" plan, don't they understand that all it would do is allow 50 million or more of our fellow citizens to be held hostage? Margret Flowers and Kevin Zeese are part of a campaign to put pressure on to see that a viable "National Health Care For All" becomes a reality. Check out their work at PopularResistance.Org.

We all can see each time we watch any major sporting event on the boob tube just how powerful this Military Industrial Empire is. Before every event, they drape the giant U.S. flag over the entire field or court, bring out the "honor guard" and everyone bows their heads for the anthem. Everybody knows that we are "At War" and must honor our brave troops etc.

If they really want to honor our troops, get them the hell out of where they never should have been sent to in the first place! Send the children and grandchildren of our political, media and military leaders to those desert outposts in full gear. Don't forget to send the young "fighting age" relatives of all those movers and shakers of the War industries out there as well.

Bottom line: For every dollar of your hard-earned federal tax money you send to Uncle Sam, over half goes for military-related spending. Over half! Trump made a concocted, strictly political decision to pull a few thousand troops out of Syria and Afghanistan (places we illegally are in).

Meanwhile, he won't shut down the myriad of bases we have in Afghanistan and the near-thousand we maintain in perhaps 100 countries (I did not know there were even 100 countries in the world). We need them there, and all of Trump's recent predecessors have echoed Groucho Marx from the film Duck Soup that "This means war!"

There can be NO democracy as long as my fellow citizens keep relying on the Two Party system to operate and money is allowed to flow into campaigns. Even good and decent politicians get tarnished.

The late Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, a stalwart for cutting out the influence of money in politics, admitted the following anecdote. He said he was out there on the campaign trail for re-election, and returned to his hotel room one evening. He noticed there were quite a few messages for him. " I went through them, and honestly the first call I returned was to a man I recognized as a campaign donor of mine. That is the reality of how things work now."

He said that almost 20 years ago.

PA Farruggio

December 30, 2018

Philip A Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn, New York, longshoremen. He has been a freelance columnist since 2001, with over 400 of his essays posted on sites like Global Research, Greanville Post, Off Guardian, Consortium News, Information Clearing House, ,Nation of Change, World News Trust, Op Ed News, Dissident Voice, , Activist Post, Sleuth Journal, Truthout and many others. His blog can be read in full on World News Trust, whereupon he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has an internet interview show, "It's the Empire... Stupid" with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.