BAILOUTS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY

BAILOUTS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY

1. THE BAILOUT WAS CORRUPT AND GAVE UNDEMOCRATIC POWER TO THE TREASURY

David Sirota, a Fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network, October 4, 2008.

“The Bailout: How Capitalism Killed Democracy,” AlterNet, , Accessed 12-10-2008.

American democracy is defined by vesting government power in systems and rules, not in individuals and whims. We have been, as John Adams wrote, "an empire of laws, and not of men" -- until now. Instead of responding to this meltdown by updating regulatory institutions or investing in job-creating infrastructure, the bailout proposes giving one unelected appointee -- the Treasury Secretary -- complete authority to dole out $700 billion to bank executives, with little oversight. And here's the scary part: That lurch toward dictatorship was motivated not just by crony corruption, but also by a deeper ideological shift.
2. BAILOUTS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY WITH CREEPING GOVERNMENT INTRUSION

Gary Wood, Staff Writer, November 29, 2008.

“No Bailout Plan for We the People,” Nolan Chart, . Accessed 12-10-2008.

A federal republic based on capitalism and sound money created one of the most prosperous, free countries in history. Our current shift to a democracy based on government intervention and paper money has destroyed that prosperity. We cannot blame the government for this change without remembering we are the government. It is our responsibility to control government and we are failing. Not only are we failing today, we are following in the footsteps of those who have failed over the last century while our children are set to follow in ours. Yet, our failure has been gradual over time, only today escalating at an alarming pace.

David Sirota, a Fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network, October 4, 2008.

“The Bailout: How Capitalism Killed Democracy,” AlterNet, , Accessed 12-10-2008.

The marriage of American capitalism and democracy has always been a Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee affair -- stormy and erratic since its hasty wedding. But during the debate over a Wall Street bailout this week, we watched that matrimonial knot unwind into a tangled tale of terror. As a financial crisis became a political panic, capitalism murdered democracy (ironically, while pursuing a vaguely socialist bailout). Only, unlike a typical horror story, the dead body wasn't hidden, it was dumped in the nation's public square.

Heather Whipps, LiveScience's History Columnist with an Anthropology degree from McGill University in Montreal, December 8, 2008.

“The Big Bailout: Product of a Flawed Democracy,” LiveScience, . Accessed 12-10-2008.

When the $700 billion emergency bailout of the struggling U.S. economy was finally passed by Congress on Oct. 3 after an arduous period of political wrangling, it was against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of the American public. Now, with more bailouts in the offing and Main Street still skeptical about handing so much cash to Wall Street (and now possibly Detroit), it's worth asking: How the heck did that happen? While economists, politicians and the public remain divided on whether giant bailouts ultimately help or harm the economy, many argue the act was simply an affront to American democracy.

BAILOUTS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY

David Sirota, a Fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network, October 4, 2008.

“The Bailout: How Capitalism Killed Democracy,” AlterNet, , Accessed 12-10-2008.

Whether it was a Barclays Capital executive telling reporters "there is no choice" or Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., insisting that "this needs to be done and it needs to be done right away," responsibly democratic prescriptions were pulverized by capitalism's deranged mantra of inevitability and urgency. To even mention, as economist Dean Baker did, that the taxpayer giveaway could exacerbate the crisis was to risk flogging by columnists like Tom Friedman. The sycophantic flat-earther vilified bailout opponents (i.e., most Americans) as mentally incapacitated deadbeats who "can't balance their own checkbooks."

Judah Freed, Staff Writer, September 22, 2008.

“Proposed Banking Bailout Sells Out Democracy,” POLITICAL ISSUES EXAMINER, Accessed 12-10-2008, .

Voices across the political spectrum, left and right, are declaring their opposition to the terms of the proposed bailout while Congress hurtles toward approving the Bush sellout of democracy. You can find plenty of writers online talking about the proposal to add another $700 billion in national debt for the U.S. Government to buy bad mortgage loans. The plan apparently would give the government an ownership stake in the banks being bailed out, which would nationalize those banks, creating neo-socialism that's antithetical to free-market capitalism.

John Caelan, Columnist, October 3, 2008.

“Eulogy for a Nation: The Bailout Passes; Democracy Passes on...,” OpEdNews.com, Accessed 12-10-2008, .

The House of Representatives passed the bailout on Friday, 263-171, garnering fifty eight more votes in the affirmative than were captured in Monday’s stunning defeat.  Certainly without delay, the President will commit the act to law.  Like the coroner’s hand upon a death certificate, Bush’s signature acknowledges the passing of our democracy.  And only a scattered few are showing up for the funeral.  The rest seem content to join the raging party across the hall, unaware that they attend their own wake.

Ralph Nader, JD from Harvard Law, 2000.

“Cutting Corporate Welfare,” THIRD WORLD TRAVELER, Accessed 12-10-2008, .

Corporate welfare--the enormous and myriad subsidies, bailouts, giveaways, tax loopholes, debt revocations, loan guarantees, discounted insurance and other benefits conferred by government on business--is a function of political corruption. Corporate welfare programs siphon funds from appropriate public investments, subsidize companies ripping minerals from federal lands, enable pharmaceutical companies to gouge consumers, perpetuate anti-competitive oligopolistic markets, injure our national security, and weaken our democracy.

5. A RETURN TO CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY REMOVES THE NEED FOR BAILOUTS

Gary Wood, Staff Writer, November 29, 2008.

“No Bailout Plan for We the People,” Nolan Chart, . Accessed 12-10-2008.

If this entire emergency teaches future generations anything may it teach them the pitfalls of having no bailout plan for 'We the People' who were originally considered to be the government in the United States. Had the federal government remembered the Constitution, and the states remembered their roles, our economic well-being would be our responsibility with little interference from government. Of course, if we the people would remember the government is not some entity designed to save us but rather is us we would not be having these discussions.