Well, as most people  (I listen to) who are tuned into the political scene have been predicting, the McCutcheon v Federal Elections Commission decision has been rendered by our Supreme Court in a way that may take our focus off of the HORRIBLE Citizens United decision of a few years ago (maybe the debate will be which is worse?).  I can still see in my mind Samuel Alito shaking his head as if to say “no way” as President Obama shared with the nation in his first inaugural address the disaster which was Citizens United.  Here was one of the two “I don’t believe in judicial activism” judges appointed by George W Bush – the other was Chief Justice Roberts  – rendering a decision that made other “judicial activism” decisions of the court seem insignificant.  At the time, I was thinking that Citizens United could be the key component of the right wing republicans succeeding in achieving their “permanent republican majority.”  The dearth of republican candidates for president has stalled their plan – but, the court has been busy doing its part to make sure that America becomes some sort of oligarchy – and, the really sad part of all this is that “we the people” are liable to vote this on to ourselves!  Yikes!

Since Citizens United we’ve seen the court join the right wing fight to suppress the vote by GUTTING the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The right wing state governments were on the edge of their seats waiting for that decision and they had their suppression tactics “in play” within days of the court’s action.  So, at that time, the “plan” evidently was a MOUNTAIN of money funneled into “non-profit” SUPER PACS by the likes of David and Charles Koch and their group of peers (billionaires) along with an OBVIOUS plan to STIFLE the vote in areas where voters are likely to vote for democrats (all of this with a very subtle support coming from our “liberal media”).  It’s a very sophisticated strategy.  And, now to add to the “party” (from the republican perspective) comes the McCutcheon decision which will allow RICH PEOPLE to spend something like $3.6 MILLION per election “cycle.”  (still not sure what that means?  Every two years? or every 4 years???)

As I understand this decision, it will allow wealthy people to influence MORE of our politicians.  I realize Justice Roberts argued that there is no connection to this ruling and more corruption in our political process.  That makes about as much sense to me as Alito claiming that Citizens United would not open our election process up to foreign money – FLOODS of foreign money.  What is even scarier to me is that Justice Clarence Thomas (who rarely says ANYTHING) argued there should be NO restrictions whatsoever on campaign finances (evidently, they left in place some limits on the amount you can “invest” in one individual politician).  That leaves me the impression that what he (and Roberts) are thinking is that, because there’s more of us (the so-called 99%) than “them,” the only way to “level the playing field” is for the “1%” to be able to spend their way to victory and suppress the vote – so the wealthy can continue to compete in our elections!  They (the court) apparently see NO connections with allowing the unleashing of unlimited funding to politicians and the resulting corruption which disgusts most Americans.  (a couple years ago, I wrote a post suggesting [thanks to my brother in law] that members of Congress should be REQUIRED to wear clothing similar to race car drivers with PATCHES identifying ALL their “SPONSORS” – the larger the “donation” the larger the patch!)

So, let me remind you of the “plan” coming from the likes of Karl Rove and others of his “ilk” who talk about the “permanent republican majority.”  They have a scheme to circumvent the system of “checks and balances” set up so brilliantly by our founders.  This (McCutcheon) decision clearly shows their strategy is working and that the corporate interests (usually referred to as “The Koch brothers” or “billionaires” or the “1%”) are TOTALLY represented by our Supreme Court.  And, keep in mind, all these RIGHT WING justices are on the court FOR LIFE!  I guarantee you, they will keep making these types of suffocating decisions (in regards to us peons and our “democracy”) for a generation – kind of a lasting legacy of the Bush/Cheney regime.

They (“conservatives”) also have a stranglehold on our so-called “liberal media.”  In fact, so much so, that I’m sure a majority of Americans (possibly even a majority of people who read my posts) actually believe our media is LIBERAL (after all, don’t they – the media – keep pointing this out to us?  Doesn’t that make you wonder?).  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I’m finally hearing a bit of “blow-back” from Chris Matthews and others on MSNBC (he’s at least figured out and gained the nerve to call out the racists and their sophisticated use of “code words” on his show “Hardball” as the Obama assault “marches on”) – but, by and large, most in the media accept the ridiculous claims of “fair and balanced” by Fox and some of their surrogates as “mainstream.”  What was once the “main stream media” seems paralyzed by the power of the right wing owners of the media conglomerates.  (do you remember CBS reflexively FIRING Dan Rather because he (correctly) challenged George W Bush’s bogus military record? What message did that send to other reporters?)

Then there’s the control of the House of Representatives (essentially, by the radical “tea party” whack jobs) – possibly in republican “hands” for the foreseeable future thanks to a brilliant scheme of gaining control of state houses in 201o and GERRYMANDERING enough House districts to make it extremely difficult for democrats to retake control of the House.  For example, in 2012 the democratic House candidates garnered something on the order of 1.7 MILLION more votes than republicans, yet still had a significant minority in the “people’s” part of congress.  It will take a MAJOR backlash to republican obstruction to reverse control of the House.  And, I guarantee you that Citizens United, McCutcheon, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act are all part of the scheme to make that MORE difficult – if not impossible.

Let’s regroup here:  The Courts are in republican control, the “liberal media” isn’t liberal at all, there’s a TON of MONEY coming from wealthy individuals who believe in government by the few that can now be INVESTED in a plethora of politicians who are “for sale,” and by all accounts in 2014 republicans have a reasonable chance to regain control of the Senate.  (The Kochs have already spent over $7 MILLION attacking the democratic senator in North Carolina and evidently there isn’t even a republican candidate yet to oppose her – that says it all)  Should republicans succeed in gaining a majority in the Senate, then the only missing link to their strategy is the White House.  And, they are already (it’s not even close to the 2014 midterm yet) spending MILLIONS to attack Hillary Clinton on the assumption that she will run for president as a democrat in 2016.  These people (republicans like Charles and David Koch) don’t seem to even pause to take a breath.  They have HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS, they are getting up in years, and they seem to be willing to spend whatever it takes to gain their “dream”

Speaking of Hillary Clinton, are you getting the picture as to their “plan.”  With the Court giving them free reign with their money, the media afraid to call them on their despicable behavior, with the House willing to do the bidding of the monied elite who are going to be funneling even more money into their campaign “coffers,” and – should they “pull it off” – with control of the senate, all they need is one win of the White House and “we the people” could be STUCK with republican DAMAGE to our system of government for the foreseeable future. They (republicans) would have – in their minds – rendered “checks and balances” as a moot point.  They would control EVERYTHING!

Their plan would be that we (liberals) would be unable to mobilize enough support to stop their “permanent republican majority” through a combination of their control of “all of the above.”  I can’t even get my mind to understand what part of their scheme is the scariest.  My first thought is that the control of the media – and the willingness of our media outlets to allow complete falsehoods to be broadcast repeatedly as what I can only surmise as a sophisticated propaganda scheme – might be the biggest threat to stopping them should they gain control of every aspect of our government ( I want to add here, Thank God for the internet – but, it won’t surprise me when they exert control over the messaging there – for example, it would be easy for them to “shut up” people like me).  But, when you combine that thought with the idea that the “1%” can spend almost unlimited sums – in different ways – to influence our political process and their plan for VOTER SUPPRESSION is working – ALL of it (their “scheme”) makes me a bit nervous.

I keep telling myself that the republicans don’t have a candidate for office that isn’t so weird that they could NEVER win a national election – so, if democrats continue to win the White House – eventually, the majority of the Supreme Court could be changed to something more resembling the “will of the people.”  However, for some reason, I keep thinking that republicans with all their money might just believe they could cram another Bush down our collective throats and they might talk Jeb Bush into running in 2016.  I keep having this nightmare that a Bush v Clinton presidential race in 2016 could possibly turn off enough LIBERALS to actually – with all these other issues considered – give the republicans a chance to regain the White House (the thought of another Bush as president makes my stomach queezy – probably somewhat similar to republicans looking at the possibility of another Clinton).

Which brings up the thought with which I will close.  I’m convinced all the obstruction (and everything republicans do) has a very specific “stealth” objective.  That is, along with the voter suppression moves they’re making around the nation, I believe they think (and, they’re probably correct) that by “muddying” the political “waters” to the point where “we the people” believe our government is incapable of functioning, even more people will be turned off and will withdraw from actively participating in the process.  For those of you who remember Paul Weyrich (famous republican strategist), he famously said, “As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”  He was talking about how republicans should want LESS VOTERS!  Their present “plan” clearly follows Weyrich’s “advice.”  Overtly, they are trying to restrict access to the polls for MILLIONS – covertly, they are trying to turn people OFF by the MILLIONS.  In the end, they are working “overtime” to reduce the number of Americans voting and if liberals don’t vote the republican strategy which includes McCutcheon, Citizens United, and a gutted Voting Rights act will lead to their success!  If you’re reading this and you don’t want multinational corporations running America’s government, participate somehow in the process of voting the present day republican party into the history books!

As an afterthought – if you want a perspective that is not beholden to corporate interests (remember, even MSNBC is owned by GE) check out Free Speech TV.  It’s definitely NOT part of the “liberal media” that sucks up to Fox “news” and America’s corporate oligarchs.