While it is impressed upon Americans time and time again, that they have a duty and an obligation to vote, we do so find, that not only do a whole lot of Americans not vote, but that in actuality, what is voted upon, whether it be legislators, judges, or propositions, aren’t even all that important, because what we find presently, is that those that actually control the levers of true power in this nation are the primary beneficiaries of that which represents meaningful significance within America, thereby trumping whatever is voted upon.
There was a time when the highest progressive tax rate for individuals was 94%, and for corporations, it was 53%. This doesn’t mean that those in those tax brackets, actually paid that high of tax percentage, but it does mean that at least on the books of this nation, these were the tax rates, of which, the bottom line is that when the progressive tax rate was significantly higher than it is today, for both individuals as well as corporations, that the government thereby collected a higher percentage of its tax revenue from those that could most easily afford to pay such in taxes. So then, the reason why taxation has come down so dramatically for those who are the richest and the most powerful is that money and important personages unduly influence governmental decisions, thereby typically circumventing what would be the people’s democratic desires.
Indeed, it doesn’t make sense that there are so few that have so much; yet, this nation, can’t seem to figure out a way to extract from these very wealthy and quite powerful entities, a fair portion of what would be therefore of benefit for the people, in whole. Additionally, while America loves to sing the praises of capitalism, what we often find in America, is that there are typically a few corporations, or even less than a few, that own the lion’s share of their particular market, and because of that fact, can pretty much dictate the rules of the road for all those that wish to purchase or to utilize their products, which thereby means that more money is being extracted from the general public and thereby being funneled into just a few hands.
So too, we find that mainstream media of all types aren’t controlled by journalists but rather they are controlled by corporate entities. Thus, the message being proselytized to the people is going to favor what benefits these corporate entities, and therefore, the narrative is going to be in harmony with what these non-democratic institutions desire, above all. This is why we often hear a lot of talk about how wonderful America is, but when we take a look around, we consistently find that for a lot of people, it isn’t so great, and further to the point, we have to wonder how it is, that the most powerful and the wealthiest nation in the known history of the world, has so many that are impoverished, are shelter and food insecure, and dissatisfied that their life has not provided them much hope, opportunity, or fairness, whatsoever. The answer to that question is rather obvious, which is the voice of people through the democratic process has in essence, been coerced by that non-elected power that exerts its influence and control over all aspects of American life.