Worst Blog Ever

I have been giving a lot of thought to the Occupy movement lately.  Not specifically the occupy walls street movement, but the occupy movement as a whole.  These are people who are saying that this system is inherently flawed, and we've got to fix it! Which system?  Virtually all of them.  Over the next little while, I would like to write a bit about some of the problems I see in the system.  Here is part one.

Who Writes the Laws
Right now (and for a long time now), in virtually every democratic country, the laws of the land are not being written by elected officials, they are literally being written by corporate interests who's sole design is to make the playing field work to their advantage. A perfect example of this are the many laws that were either written or heavily influenced by ACTA.  In almost every democratic country, if you commit a crime, or are accused of committing a crime, you are usually innocent until proven guilty.  That means that the burden of proof is on your accusers to show that you did indeed commit the crime, but this gets all turned around with ACTA laws.  Throughout many countries, they are implementing these laws to say that if you are accused, you are guilty!

This is only one example of the many abuses that are being perpetrated by corporate interests.  Others include tipping the balance of power to favor the dominant player in the market, using government to prop up out dated business models, etc. And don't get me started on privatizing state services.

Then there is the problem of gaining access to the politicians.  Lobby groups have the connections, and the money to not only gain access to politicians, but also to influence the politician's vote.  It isn't controversial to say that unless you have tonnes of money, you haven't got a chance in hell of raising your concerns directly to a politician.  Don't believe me?  Try booking an appointment with your MP, or MLA, or even your city/district Counselor.  Without clout, without connections and without money, it will rarely happen.

These are just a couple of the things that the occupy movement wants to address, and instead of being seen as people who want to make things better for everyone (except big business), they are accosted and insulted. I just don't get it.  Does Fox News own every media outlet in the world now?  What the hell is going on?

Anyway, that is today's rant.  I hope to continue posting more about this topic as long as I'm not busy choking down the bile coming up every time I think about these things.