Our Government is Broken

Published in the Oregonian: Thursday, September 30, 2010, 8:00 AM    

Guest Columnist

By Charlie Phillips

The political struggles of our modern times are illusions. Democrats vs. Republicans, tea partiers vs. socialists -- all are false divisions maintained and propagated by the corporate media and the powers that be in order to polarize, anger, frustrate and distract -- anything to keep us from focusing on the sad truth that our government, that our democratic system of government, is broken. It's been overrun by corporate interests and big money and has long since morphed into corporatism -- a form of fascism. Our system of government is broken, and few in the mainstream are talking about it.

OK. So what? Capitalism is at the heart of our heritage, so isn't this just it's natural extension?

Well, here's the so what. We face far-reaching problems such as global warming that threaten our entire planet. Problems that will require decades of cooperative international effort to solve. Problems that require commitment to something other than profit and consumption. Corporatism has no mechanisms to address such problems. We desperately need a way to overcome the ever-growing influence of corporate and extreme ideological concerns that threaten the world's economy, international relations and peace, the environment, the very ability of our system of government to function as it was meant to with checks and balances and meaningful debate. And no one is talking about it.

We're at a crossroads in this country. In its essence, it's corporatism vs. democracy – greed, short-sightedness and eventual self-destruction vs. prosperity and sustainability through responsible government and balanced empowerment of all. And no one is talking about it.

Our government is broken. Fixing it should be Job One. And no one is talking about it.

Charlie Phillips lives in Southwest Portland.