A couple quick things.

[cp]

A) Selfish bit first: it's not often that I find myself in the LJ-Photophile weekly poll, and even less often that I think my photo is actually the strongest of the lot. This is one of those times, and it feels nice

Comments

[nick_101]

A: It does feel nice. :)

B: This country has been under corruption for decades, especially in this century. I'm still not surprised the other party continues to find a way to buy more votes, even with Obama running.

[cp]

No argument that political corruption has been the norm since pretty much day 1 of our republic, but I am disheartened that it seems to be more and more blatant, and even legalized by decisions like this. I think no small part of this is death throes of the Republican Party as it presently exists. Their platform is one that is really only beneficial to (and hence only truly supported by) the wealthy among us, and they've been relying on the fear and ignorance of a portion of our populace to keep them in office. But the demographics they rely on are shrinking, and their platform finds no resonance among the rest of the citizenry. So they're pretty much already have no chance in any fair contest, especially at the national level. So all they have left are these attempts--too often successful--at making the contests increasingly unfair. It's why gerrymandering is the rule among Congressional districts, it's why they keep pretending voter fraud is a problem in order to disenfranchise people likely to vote Democratic, and it's why

[redqueenofevil]

Regarding B, I feel that they are doing this BECAUSE Obama is in the picture. It is appalling how bad it is. I want to speculate that it is racially motivated, since the GOP is not racially diverse, but that is just speculation.

[cp]

I really think all of this--the voter suppression, the gerrymandering, and the attempts to open the floodgates for private campaign money--is simply because the GOP knows they have no chance in a fair contest, especially at the national level. Quite simply, they've been relying on a voting demographic that is fairly rapidly shrinking, while all the Others who they tend to demonize are rapidly becoming the majority. Their only hope is to keep Those People from voting, rile up their base's anger, fear and ignorance, and outspend their opponents.

[magenta_girl]

I completely agree with you regarding B. I don't like it. I will be voting in the midterms, not like I even have anyone good to vote for (South Carolina). Although I think that there's a chance that the decent gubernatorial candidate could win.

[cp]

I don't have much hope at all that the Dems will retake a House majority. Gerrymandering makes that extremely unlikely even if Dems had a good track record of turning out to vote in midterms, which they just don't. But it's also quite possible that the GOP will win a Senate majority, which means we'd see bills passed through Congress to repeal Obamacare, strip more regulations from Wall Street and the environment and everything else, enact more voting restrictions and less campaign finance regulation, open up more land to fracking and strip-mining and pollution, less funding for education and science and social programs, and just generally all backwards steps. Obama is likely to veto all of those things, of course, and I think in 2016 maybe we could get an all-Dem White House and Congress. But in the meantime, 2015-17 will suck because nothing will get done, certainly nothing good, and nothing we SHOULD be doing to grow the economy and protect the environment and our vulnerable citizens. And it's all because more and more outside

[magenta_girl]

I completely agree! It's completely infuriating to me.

[redqueenofevil]

Once again, it appears that lawmaking is solely for the rich. This terrifies and saddens me.

I have missed the photophile polls, but I do see a fair number of pictures. Someday, I will get my photos together, and start posting there. Too many plates spinning right now though.

[cp]

It's becoming more and more that way--indeed, it's getting so that EVERYTHING is solely for the rich, including income, health care, you name it. The middle class is steadily eroding, and the people responsible are failing to realize that their own success--and the success of the nation as a whole--rests firmly on the back of the middle class, who represent 70% of all consumer spending. A bargain was made in the 20th century, wherein the wealthy agreed to pay their fair share and treat the workers well, and in turn the workers would lend their productivity to help enrich the wealthy. That bargain has been broken over the past few decades, so the wealthy treat workers (and everything else) as their expendable property. But we've been down this road before, and the progressive movement turned the train around. I remain hopeful we can do it again.

[musicpsych]

Congrats on the photo! I hope it wins. :)

I was disappointed by the decision, too. It seems like the limit is going to be pushed and pushed until it's one big free-for-all.

[cp]

We've been here before as a nation, and managed to turn things around. I am hopeful we can do it again--though I suspect things are going to have to get worse before we get enough traction to make them better.

[loxthebox]

This really make me with I understood and knew more about politics. The system is too complicated and convoluted. All I really know is that everyone is lying and has a hidden agenda and I think it would take a lifetime of study just to figure out all the layers of corruption.

There needs to be more exposure somehow, but the news is just about as corrupt as the government so how do you get the message out?

I think it will be very interesting to see what happens in government over the next 20-30 years though. I do think the people are getting sick of it, and I think we're going to figure out a way to make change happen, but we need q little more time.

[cp]

One thing you hear a lot is that there's no real difference in the political parties; they just provide the illusion of choice, but the end results are the same. And to an extent I think that's true, or often has been. But not as much these days. These days we have one party that is admittedly beholden to the corporate interests who right their campaign checks--but the other party is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of those corporate interests. They are actively seeking to return us to the late-19th century, where the wealthy owned the world and were free to trample whomever and whatever they wanted in the name of profit. Sadly, we're already much of the way back down that road, and things like this Supreme Court decision mash the accelerator even further. But we turned it around then, and I think we can do it again, especially with the ability to organize and spread information over the Net. Part of the problem, yes, is the media and all the spin and disinformation out there, and there's a significant (and vocal) faction of the