"Money, get away..."

A lot of very troubling but interesting points were brought up in each of these videos. Among the most important points is that ALEC is a corrupt organization, and the public needs to pay more attention to the influence of money and business in politics and government. Unfortunately, especially with the recent, terribly unsurprising Supreme Court ruling (McCutcheon v. FEC) I think it's safe to say that money in politics is here to stay.

But, there comes a point, when we, as the American public, just shrug our collective shoulders and think "well, what the hell can we do anyway?" Paying attention to all the corrupt things that are going on behind closed doors and even brazenly in the public eye, is tiring. Picking your battle is especially hard when everywhere you look something else is happening. Do we fight about public education when at the same time these people are trying to mess with women's rights? Or do we focus our energy on affirmative action or healthcare or war or the environment or any number of other issues? What are we supposed to do?

I think as a whole, these videos just place an emphasis on how overwhelming all of this is. What a pessimistic point of view to have, right? As a society have all these "freedoms" to "speak truth to power," as they say. Well, we can speak all we want, but what actual difference can we make, when no one will listen? It's disheartening. Money has too much power in politics, but what can we do to change it?

We can shout into the great abyss until our vocal cords break, we can elect politicians who we hope will change things, we can sign petitions, we can post on Facebook  and tell all of our friends: "LOOK AT HOW FUCKED UP THIS IS!"

But what does that change?

Nothing.

We don't have the money or power to influence anything. That distinction belongs to a select few who aren't even looking out for the rest of us. They are only looking out for their wallets and vacation homes in Belize.

It's frustrating to watch these things happen right in front of us and not be able to do anything about it. Particularly when most of the American public are averting their eyes, burying their heads in the sand or they just generally don't care what's going on around them. Sometimes I just want to scream "wake UP!"

Maybe if we start opening our eyes and paying attention, something can change. On the other hand, we still won't have power, influence or money to fight back.

/endrant.

*Note: I was going to write more about the public education aspect of it, but this is what it turned into. I think I might of gone kind of off topic?