Corporate Cash in Politics
www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22donate.html
When money - big money - enters the realm of politics and governance, it infects the entire democratic system; from the very idea of "government of the people, by the people, for the people"*, to the people in the administration, and such corruption (for what else could it be?) will eventually poison the nation in so many ways.
What does it say of Americans, and indeed, the majority of the human race, if such tremendous amounts of money are needed in political campaigns in order to make the flashiest, snappiest statement to citizens, so that a candidate will be remembered and hopefully, voted for? Because in this day and age, who has the time anymore to research on candidates running for presidency? Who has the time anymore to care about politics and government?
Political apathy is a growing trend across many countries, and I see the lack of effort in learning more about one's government and political candidates as part of such apathy (of which I have been guilty too). When you have such apathy from the masses, room is created for the corporations to move into the political scene, with money to burn and agendas to fulfill.
In the end, it is always the common folk, the laymen who suffer. But they do not see this, because money and the distractions it affords are so powerful, so alluring. At the end of the day, as long as money is in one's pocket, I do not think anyone is really going to be galvanised into action.
We are not too far off from the Matrix. Even if we aren't being harnessed for machines to feed on our energy, we are already blind to the world beyond the material (consumerist) one we see.
I have a theory about shopping malls and brainwashing in Singapore - more on that next time.
*quoted from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
When money - big money - enters the realm of politics and governance, it infects the entire democratic system; from the very idea of "government of the people, by the people, for the people"*, to the people in the administration, and such corruption (for what else could it be?) will eventually poison the nation in so many ways.
What does it say of Americans, and indeed, the majority of the human race, if such tremendous amounts of money are needed in political campaigns in order to make the flashiest, snappiest statement to citizens, so that a candidate will be remembered and hopefully, voted for? Because in this day and age, who has the time anymore to research on candidates running for presidency? Who has the time anymore to care about politics and government?
Political apathy is a growing trend across many countries, and I see the lack of effort in learning more about one's government and political candidates as part of such apathy (of which I have been guilty too). When you have such apathy from the masses, room is created for the corporations to move into the political scene, with money to burn and agendas to fulfill.
In the end, it is always the common folk, the laymen who suffer. But they do not see this, because money and the distractions it affords are so powerful, so alluring. At the end of the day, as long as money is in one's pocket, I do not think anyone is really going to be galvanised into action.
We are not too far off from the Matrix. Even if we aren't being harnessed for machines to feed on our energy, we are already blind to the world beyond the material (consumerist) one we see.
I have a theory about shopping malls and brainwashing in Singapore - more on that next time.
*quoted from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.