I get confused. I grew up in a Conservative Republican household in the 50s and the 60s. My father was a staunch Goldwater supporter. I look back on those days and I don’t see where the Conservative and the Liberals were that much different. Because of the Vietnam War and Civil Rights it was a complicated time but not near as complicated as it is today. The War divided the nation not by political party but by those that opposed the war and those that wanted to stop the threat of Communism. Race also divided the nation. I have seen riots in the streets during every decade of my life. Back in the 60s most Republicans were not racist or segregationist. I won’t say that Republicans only led the fight against discrimination but they were willing to stand up and be counted when the time came. More Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than Democrats. One of the leading voices was a Conservative from Ohio, Republican Rep. William McCulloch. He really didn’t have much to gain because he had a very small African –American population. He did it because it was the right thing to do. It was legislation introduced by a Democrat and signed by a Democratic President but it was a Republican that was one of the leading voices.  Imagine today a politician voting a certain way because it was the right thing to do instead of voting along party lines on something as major as Civil Rights. It was a different time back then and we were a different country. Today we can’t even get the John Lewis Voting Act introduced, let alone voted on because party politics and money overrules what is right. The average American did not create the swamp that is now Washington, DC.  It was created for the benefit of the 1% with money and the help of the Supreme Court.

I was a big fan of John McCain in the 90s. Do you know why? Republican John McCain and Democrat Russ Feingold recognized a problem with financing of elections. In his 2002 memoir, “Worth Fighting For”, he wrote “By the time I became a leading advocate of campaign finance reform, I had come to appreciate that the public’s suspicions were not always mistaken. Money does buy access in Washington, and access increases influences that often results in the benefiting the few at the expense of the many”. Basically, John McCain knew that money was corrupting our government and he was willing to work across the aisle to try and come up with a way to make sure it didn’t happen. The McCain/Feingold act was passed in 2002 with 9 Republicans joining the Democrats to pass this landmark legislation. It was sign by George W. Bush with reservations. It was of course challenged in court and in 2010 sections of the McCain/Feingold Act was struck down by the Supreme Court which limited activity of corporations, saying, “If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”Citizens United struck down campaign financing laws related to corporations and Unions; law previously banned the broadcast, cable or satellite transmission of “electioneering communications” paid for by corporations in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before the general election. The minority argued that the court erred in allowing unlimited corporate spending arguing that corporate spending posed a particular threat to democratic self-government.”  What I believe is this opened the door for the lying and misinformation that is now everywhere whenever there is an election. Its effect on free speech as been the silencing of the many in favor of the few that have the most money. John McCain knew that money would corrupt our government and he was right.

The fact that the Supreme Court used the 1^st Amendment to overturn the McCain/Feingold Act is where I feel that the Supreme Court has failed the people and the country. What they did was silence our voices in favor of a small minority they thought because they control much of the money they should be able to have a voice so loud that it would be able to drowned out the truth. When I see the scandal that is now plaguing the Supreme Court. I understand how deep the corruption goes. Our Government is for sale to the highest bidder. The Supreme Court may be the most corrupt Branch of our government. We can blame Fox News and the rest of the Conservative News Media. We can blame the Trump Administration because of all their lies. We can blame the Republican Party because they have embraced the lies as they try to maintain power. None of this would have happened without the Supreme Court putting the “For Sale” shingle out in front on the Supreme Court building. They are the Branch of the government that is not accountable to the people which actually may make them the easiest to corrupt.

The Supreme Court has made it almost impossible to drain the swamp that is Washington DC. Because of the money that swamp will continue to grow. The people that have the money are the people that want to rule the swamp. A family that is making $100,000 a year does not “cut” their own pay to put themselves to in debt, and, then tell the kids that they have to cut spending. What they do is, they don’t cut their pay, in fact, and they are always looking for ways to increase their pay. What has happened in Washington is not right. The ones with the loudest voices got tax cuts that increased the debt and then they tell everyone else we have to take less. That is what happens when the 1% has so much control that the rest of us not longer have a voice. Funny how you hardly ever hear that they should eliminate those tax cuts. They want to eliminate things like Social Security and Medicare. Programs that I paid into all my life. This is like Prince John taxing the poor and giving it to the nobles. Where is our Robin Hood?