We the People

Plato had a knack for thinking in such broad terms about government that it is still relevant today.

In The Guardian's Manner of Life, he writes, that the aim in founding the commonwealth was not to make any one class especially happy.

Today, we must remember, that also was the aim of the founding fathers when they declared independence from England.  Declaring Independence was not to make any one class of people happy but to form a union that would prevent that from happening.

Back then Plato said:
"We thought we should have the best chance of finding justice in a state so constituted where the aim was not to make any one class specially happy, but to secure the greatest possible happiness for the nation as a whole.  If we were to focus on a select few the Guardians we have chosen to represent us will bring the whole state to utter ruin" Plato

Today the focus on wealth  and what it can achieve through the use of political donations is creating a nation where the ordinary voter no longer has the ability to get his message out to the masses.   Our nation is heading towards ruin, we see it everyday with the focus on profits over people and the nation.

Today, think tanks financed by oil, insurance and pharmeceutical companies dominate all facets of our communication systems. They have carte blanche to disseminate their talking points and they do.  They send out endless bulk e-mails saying the same things over and over to instill unreasonable fear. They pay their lackies to spout out fear on the nations multi media channels.  They have been given free rein to spend as much money as they can on politicians that will do their bidding when elected.  Unfortunately, the uneducated masses fall right in line, voting against their best interests.

The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court allowed corporations to become people.  Allowed them the same rights as citizens.  Even going so far as to allow foreign corporations to donate to political groups through back door methods. No longer is our nation about representing the "voter or person" for the term person, now means corporation.  Corporations who have no one individual accountable and are considered "people," can give as much money as they want, anywhere they want with no limits.

What does this mean for our "democracy."  How can we call ourselves a nation of laws when those very laws have been manipulated to allow corporations to act as individuals?

As Plato stated...our nation was never about allowing one section of society to commandeer the reins of power for their own benefit; as he said, it will only create ruin.  Justice Stevens recognized this in his dissent when he stated:

"At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

Our laws were established to represent "We the People" and i close with the preamble as a reminder of where this country is not going, for "We the People" are loosing our voice.

We the People  of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.