by Zeke Allen

Created on: April 27, 2009

Does anyone remember the debate in Congress about whether or not the big telecom companies deserved retroactive immunity for cooperating with the government and allowing federal agents to listen to everyone in the country's phone conversations? Many of our representatives made grand gestures and speeches about how this was wrong and they should have known better, etc., etc., but then several months later when the public furor had died down and their campaign funds had grown thanks to a few hundred thousand dollars donated by those same telecom companies, strangely enough they voted to grant them that immunity.

Have you noticed recently the way that the government has funnelled trillions of dollars to failed and failing banks all under the guise of saving the world from financial disaster? Have you noticed perhaps that many of those officials used to work for those very same banks? Would any of you trust your children with a thousand dollars if you'd watched them light it on fire and dance around the flames? Of course not, but our representatives are doing just that through both the TARP program and by allowing the Federal Reserve and the Treasury to hand out sweetheart deal after sweetheart deal to these enormous financial institutions because they are "too big to fail." Of course there was public furor over their bonuses and even Congress got into the outrage act but then they went away for recess, they got to hang out with some of their banker friends (who also contributed a few bucks here and there to campaign funds) and strangely enough, they dropped the issue upon their return.

If you read "The Quiet Coup" by Simon Johnson in this month's Atlantic magazine, you will get some idea of the way that outsiders may look at our current government and who they see that is really in charge. You may have heard of the word "oligarchy?" At some point we can stop kidding ourselves and accept the fact that once our representatives are voted into office, they cease to serve the public interest except during campaign season when they have to woo the voters again. In the meantime, they serve their new pals in Washington and the interest groups that fund their campaign and help make their lives more pleasant with gifts and "fact-finding" trips and other sorts of perks. It is always great to grandstand about CEOs flying on corporate jets and paint them as evil and corrupt when you are off doing the very same thing days later...

The fact is, Americans can't trust our government representatives any more than we can trust ourselves. We clearly can't be trusted to make sound financial decisions, look at how many of us purchased homes we knew we couldn't afford! How many of us have used credit cards without consideration for the future? Why should our representatives be any different? If the key to their continued existence in their cushy and very respected positions in congress is money for campaigning, why should they think more about their consituents than their big donors? Why should we trust them to act in our interests when their own are so very different?

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