Sick AND Tired

(Cartoon/article.wn.com)

I'm so sick of Washington, D.C.; I'm not alone.

Congress is perceived as something corporations own.

Politicians advertise so voters know their name;

It takes lots of money for the "buy-in" to the game.

Those who have a stake in how a vote is gonna go

Know that politicians, for the right amount of dough,

Take the time to listen with a great amount of tact;

Granting them a say in laws that Congress will enact.

Lobbyists and politicians use revolving doors;

Picking which new bills get heard on House and Senate floors.

Leaving the majority, who cannot spare a buck,

Without any power and completely out of luck.

Who's Steering The Ship of State?

Income inequality, where few hold all the wealth,

Hasn't proven helpful to our economic health.

As we lose the middle class we lose the driving force

For a strong recovery because we've lost its source.

I hate to sound cynical because I'm, mostly, not.

I'm inclined to give something a fair and decent shot,

But I'm an idealist who doesn't understand

How the situation's gotten quite so out of hand.

I've begun to wonder, since we've given this a try

(and we've seen it doesn't work since poor people can't buy

Anything but food and Walmart clothing for their backs.

Unemployment's bad without degrees and worse for blacks...)

Why don't we try something else?  I think it's time we did.

Politicians work for those who've placed the highest bid.

We have got to change the law that lets those bidders hide.

How else will we know if we've been taken for a ride?

Secret Citizens United?

I am not a fan of Mitch McConnell's...  Never was.

Think a major reason we're in trouble now's because

He made it his mission that Republicans would not

Give Barack Obama and his policies a shot.

Now - just like Mitt Romney - he has gone and flipped a flop;

Thinks that full disclosure of donators needs to stop.

Likened it to "Watergate" and "targeting your foes."

What made Mitch McConnell change his mind, do you suppose?

Citizens United, though a lofty sounding name,

Has already undermined the fairness of the game.

Said that money equals speech and speech, of course, is free.

(Lately, though, it's gotten quite expensive, seems to me.)

Even if I grant you that - to speak one must be heard.

Now they want a secret speech? That strikes me as absurd.

When you buy elections, let the voters know your name.

If Republicans should win, then we'll know who to blame.

Race for the White House - Super PACs and Karl Rove (Again)

excerpted from
Article first published as Crossroads GPS? Meet Citizens for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, SHH on Technorati.

Photo credit: Qurmudjin

Citizens United and the Super PACs it's spawned

Make donations secret so that citizens get conned

Into thinking all the ads they're seeing on T.V.

Represent the mainstream views of folks like you and me.

They would be mistaken, though. That isn't how it works.

Behind non-disclosure's where the puppet master lurks.

Karl Rove's been on FOX News lately, arguing that he

Thinks that secret funding's good; but I do not agree.

Ads have an agenda; that is what an ad is for.

If we don't know whose agenda, how do we keep score?

Facts can be distorted when told from another's view.

I would like to know who's paying for it.  Wouldn't you?

IRS has started asking questions.  Rove's outraged.

Don't know why - for, even if this oversight's engaged -

Super PACs won't have to make disclosures; not until

After the elections will we know who paid the bill.