(NaturalNews) Thanks to a lone, holdout juror, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich narrowly escaped being found guilty of trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. He was found guilty on only one charge:
Lying.Stop the presses! A politician lied? Say it ain't so...
If that crime were widely prosecuted, there would hardly be a Congressman or Senator left standing in Washington. Not to excuse Blagojevich's behavior -- he was apparently a two-faced political sellout -- but who in Washington hasn't lied?
As Ross Perot will tell you, nobody ever got elected telling the voters the truth they don't want to hear. Especially when it involves the national debt -- a topic that's still off limits during virtually every political campaign. Lying is a matter of course for "successful" politicians, from the day their campaign begins to their last day in office (and often, even continuing far after...)
But let's get to the more serious criminal charge here: That Blagojevich allegedly attempted to sell a U.S. Senate seat. Again, not to excuse Blagojevich's behavior (which was despicable), but
isn't every U.S. Senate seat ultimately for sale?How do you think Senators get elected? They run campaigns paid for by corporations and special interests groups. These campaigns can cost tens of millions of dollars, and the corporations that pony up this cash don't do it out of the good of their hearts... they expect something in return. And that payback comes in the form of legislative votes that favor the financial interests of the very same companies who put these people into office.
Thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that now allows corporations to
anonymously contribute unlimited funds to a candidate's campaign, the U.S. Senate may be more accurately described as an open legislative bazaar where any vote is ultimately for sale to the highest bidder. Or, to translate it into internet vernacular, it's a grand legislative ebay.
Blagojevich's crime, if indeed he is ultimately found guilty of it, was being
too blatant about selling the seat. To really master the art of Washington
corruption, you have to be more subtle about it. Spout some nice-sounding words like "jobs" and "freedom" while you're selling out your voters behind their backs. That's what the voters really want, after all: To be lied to by nice-sounding politicians so they don't have to think about where America is really headed (and who's really running things in our corporatocracy).
The CounterThink Cartoon
In thinking about all this, I began to wonder: What might happen if members of the U.S. Congress went to get a medical checkup and their doctors told them the truth?
Now, I know
Blagojevich isn't a Congressman, but his blatant deceptions inspired me to use a caricature of his face for this cartoon which features hilarious dialog between a U.S. Congressman and his doctor.
Doctor: "Well, Congressman, you have no backbone, you're spineless, you lack vision and you suffer from a severe deficiency of personal integrity."
Congressman: "Yeah, but is there anything actually WRONG with me?"
Check out the cartoon here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/029512_Congress_Washington.htmlOr see the complete collection of CounterThink cartoons at
www.Counterthink.comWhat's implied here, of course, is that deceptive members of
Congress don't even see their behavior as faulty in any way. Lying to the voters, compromising the long-term health of the nation for short-term political gains, and refusing to stand up for real justice are such common traits in the U.S. Capitol that members of Congress don't even consider them to be faults.
See, it's not merely that members of Congress sell out the voters and compromise America's future for their own short-term power interests; it's that
they don't see anything wrong with that! This is the real source of the problem: The lack of personal integrity.
Health reform protects Big Pharma
And this brings me to the recent health reform bill, which was designed from the start to protect and serve the financial interests of the pharmaceutical companies. See my story about Sen. Harry Reid's engineering of this bill and learn how much money he's received from Big Pharma:
http://www.naturalnews.com/029450_Harry_Reid_Big_Pharma.htmlThe
health bill we got, it turns out, wasn't intended to help the American people at all. It was rigged from the start to protect Big Pharma's sick-care monopoly -- the same monopoly that has now been exposed as a complete farce and a total waste of money (
http://www.naturalnews.com/029506_Big_Pharma_lemons.html).
See, Rod Blagojevich may have attempted to sell out a U.S. Senate seat, but the Senators already in office
sold out their entire country. They betrayed us all by pandering to the profit interests of Big Pharma. And they will continue to do so, again and again, because Big Pharma contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to their reelection campaigns, drowning out the irrelevant financial influence of everyday citizens like you and me.
Let's face it: The entire U.S. Congress is already for sale. If Blagojevich is a criminal (and I believe he probably is), then so is virtually every member of Congress.
Of course, I understand there are exceptions. I know there are some members who practice personal integrity, who say what they believe and who attempt to fight the despicable lies that typify behavior in Washington. People like Rep. Ron Paul come to mind, of course, and there are undoubtedly some others who deserve recognition for taking a stand against political corruption.
But honest people are a rarity in Washington -- or indeed in any nation's seat of power. Washington is a seductive place, you see. Even well-meaning people who intend to stand up against corruption and genuinely vote the interests of their constituents all too easily end up seduced by the siren song of continued power.
To stay in power in Washington almost always means compromising your principles, because he who rocks the boat gets thrown overboard. So if you want to stay in the boat, you've got to go with the flow. And the flow, as usual, is ultimately just
cash flow paraded around as Democracy.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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