[This is running as an op/ed in newspapers in my part of Virginia.]

We, the people of the United States, are losing control of our destiny to an untrustworthy power.

It stands to reason that if money can buy political power, whoever has the most money will rule. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision took us a long way down that path.  A recent study confirms that what the people want has almost no effect on political outcomes while moneyed interests have considerable influence.

If America is to be ruled by whoever commands the most money, it will be the corporate system, far more than individual billionaires, that calls the shots. This corporate system does not operate the same as a human being, and it is more than the sum of individual corporations, or even of whole industries.

Each powerful corporation and industry seeks to get government to serve its special interests – as in the subsidies given to oil and coal companies. But the corporate world has substantial common interests. Those who operate the system recognize those common interests and act to serve them.

It is in their interest to have a citizenry that distrusts the one power that might rival the power of the corporate world – the government. And the corporate system has worked to foment such distrust.

The history of how the United States came to have five justices on the Supreme Court hand down a decision like Citizens United – opening the floodgates for the rule of money – shows how the system can work over time to make our government its tool. It takes some doing to get five men onto the Supreme Court willing to say , with a straight face, “We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

Likewise, it shows the power of the corporate system that today’s Democratic president and Republican-controlled Congress are moving toward passing a trade bill that Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz calls “a secret corporate takeover.” That bill would take powers from our elected government and our legal system and hand them to a corporate-controlled panel. Regulation of economic activity could become so costly to governments at every level that the corporate system would be freed of some basic restraints.

Not just stealing the people’s power over our democracy but also stealing power away from the democratic system itself.

As this trade deal shows, today’s corporate system transcends national boundaries and is unencumbered by patriotic national allegiance. But we already knew this by watching supposedly “American” corporations devastate American communities and workers by shipping jobs overseas.

In the decades since the 1950s, the corporate world has undergone moral degradation.  You could call it “breaking bad.”

As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has written, the CEOs of that earlier era believed themselves to be “industrial statesmen,” managing their companies “for the benefit of all their stakeholders-not just shareholders but also their employees, communities, and the nation as a whole.” The corporate world prospered but so did average Americans.

But now, Reich says, “corporate statesmen” have been replaced by “corporate butchers,” who slice workers’ pay to the bone while their own pay has soared from 20 times to 300 times what the guy on the shop floor earns.



Taking more than its fair share. Stealing our democracy. And, in the face of the challenge of climate change, willing to sacrifice our children and grandchildren for its own enrichment.

(Exxon, for example, considered climate change in its decision-making more than 30 years ago. And yet, by sponsoring climate denial, this multinational corporation persists continues to work to make the American public believe what the industry knows is a lie.)

This is the moral spirit of the system that is taking control of our destiny.

America’s founders understood that the people will be well-served only when the power over their destiny lies in their own hands. The ruler now taking control is not so much our fellow human beings as a system that is on autopilot to sacrifice everything for its own wealth and power.

Andy Schmookler, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia’s 6th District in 2012, is the author of the forthcoming book, “WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST: The Destructive Force at Work in Our World- and How We Can Defeat It.”

Anyone reading this blog the past few years knows that I won’t be supporting Jim Webb for President, for a variety of reasons, first and foremost his refusal to confront the existential threat of global climate chaos in a serious way. However, when it comes to desperately-needed reform of our criminal justice system, I’m very much on the same page as Webb. For instance, see his Facebook post this morning (bolding added by me), which I enthusiastically endorse. Thank you to Jim Webb for his continued leadership on this issue; now Congress needs to act!

I have great respect for the professionals in our law enforcement community who work tirelessly, day in and day out, to maintain order in our communities and to ensure our safety. This is often dangerous, thankless work. At the same time it is clear that prison administration is in dire need of greater training and skill methods to address the needs of those who are mentally ill.

I don’t like to categorize, but we can put the entire population into two groups: Those who think the criminal-justice system desperately needs to be fixed, and those who haven’t been paying attention. Hopefully, through highlighting the tragic loss of Ms. Sandra Bland, the first group will grow.

We must face the fact our prison systems are becoming warehouses for the mentally ill, without providing adequate training for those who are required to administer the systems.

Despite improvements in many systems nationwide, America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a nation of fundamental fairness.

Ms. Bland’s death while in custody is another example of why reform of our entire criminal justice system must be a top priority for the next administration. I am speaking of reform from the point of apprehension all the way through how we release people from prison.

This is a tragedy that appears to have started wrongly. It could and should have been prevented by law enforcement from the very start.

I have been working for nine years to lead a major, nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences of incarceration.

Nationwide, our prison facilities are too often overcrowded, ill-managed places of violence, physical abuse, and hate, making them breeding grounds that perpetuate and magnify the same types of behavior we purport to fear. That should not be the case.

We need to understand our justice system is all too often locking up the wrong people and not locking up the right people in many cases. We are not protecting our citizens from the increasing danger of criminals who perpetrate violence and intimidation as a way of life, and we are locking up too many people who do not belong in jail.

It is incumbent on our national leadership to find a way to fix our prison system. I believe that American ingenuity can discover better ways to deal with the problems of drugs and nonviolent criminal behavior while still minimizing violent crime.

We all deserve to live in a country made better by such changes.

I’m glad to see that the Lexington News-Gazette has now apologized for running a viciously racist ad in its newspaper on July 15, but why was it published in the first place?

About the Confederate flag: Because of all the trouble the democrats [sic] and black races are causing, I place this ad…No black people or democrats are allowed on my property until further notice. Furthermore, I believe our government purposefully put our country in $18 trillion debt, knowing it could cause bankruptcy. It is a plot to take away our Social Security and cause taxes to skyrocket.

Also, the initial “apology” by the newspaper’s editor was muddled and confused, claiming that he published that “ad” because “I felt that it was important for our readers to see that the views expressed in the ad are held by people in our community.” The editor added: “We refrain from publishing things that are libellous, personal attacks or that incite violent or illegal acts. Did the ad meet any of those standards? In my judgement, I did not think so. I admit that others may have decided differently.”

Brilliant.

Anyway, in its current edition (not available online without a subscription as far as I can tell), the editor FINALLY gets around to stating the obvious, that Agnor’s viciously racist ad was “repugnant” and a “message of hate” which “violates a basic standard that we’ve always tried to adhere to – that of maintaining a civil level of discourse within these pages.”

Ya think? The question is, why was it so hard to figure that out in the first place? Amazing…

P.S. I love the top-rated comment on Raw Story, which pretty much sums it all up.

Dear Mr. Agnor,

We would like to correct you on several mistakes you made in your ad. It isn’t the government who is trying to take away your Social Security and bankrupt the nation. It’s the Republican Party and those of us who vote Republican who are trying to make your life hell. We believe the rich man should have all your Social Security money and we want to bankrupt the nation so we can take away any security net you might need. In other words pull the rug out from underneath you and watch you drown. We tried to bankrupt the nation under St Reagan and Buffoon Bush Jr. We truly feel that you are disposable.

Yours Truly,

Republicans and those who vote Republican.

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, July 25. Also see President Obama’s weekly address, in which he discusses “the progress we have made in making our financial system stronger, safer, and more fair in the years since financial crisis.”

*How The New York Times Bungled the Hillary Clinton Emails Story (It’s really sad when the country’s top newspaper starts going glub-glub-glub in terms of its credibility, but that’s what’s been happening to the New York Times for several years now.)

*Ted Cruz accuses Mitch McConnell of telling a ‘flat-out lie’ (Go Ted! LOL)

*Obama’s visit to father’s homeland of Kenya shows his new sense of confidence

*Kerry Says Israel May Deepen Its Isolation by Opposing Iran Nuclear Accord

*TV hosts remember alleged Lafayette gunman as anti-tax, anti-feminist ‘gadfly’

*La. gunman was a Tea Partier who hated Obama, admired Hitler and wanted women to shut up in church

*In Swing States, Voters Want Action On Climate Change

*Release likely for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard (He’s been in jail since 1985, so it’s now been 30 years…)

*McAuliffe to name Roush to state Supreme Court

*In Iraq, I raided insurgents. In Virginia, the police raided me. (This is FUBAR, as they say in the military.)

*McDonnell asks entire appeals court to reverse ruling that upholds conviction

*Fairfax leaders learn ways to better handle mentally distressed offenders

*Portsmouth’s auditor has missed his own deadlines on two jobs

*Scherzer struggles, Nats fall to Pirates

*D.C. area forecast: Staying toasty, turning up the humidity

Hours after President Obama made these comments to the BBC, there was another mass shooting, this one by a Tea Partier who hated Obama, admired Hitler and wanted women to shut up in church and who Suggested Admiration For White Supremacy. Sensing a pattern here?

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, July 24. Also see the interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates on how we accept violence against African Americans in this country as normal. It’s true, sadly, and also 100% unacceptable.

*Here’s What We Know So Far About the Deadly Cinema Shooting in Louisiana (The most important thing we know is that a white male with a GUN. How long are we going to keep allowing this s*** to happen in America?)

*Obama’s critics are the real gamblers on Iran (” The deal’s opponents have conjured up a fantasy scenario in which the world will sign up for more sanctions, Tehran will meekly return to the table with further concessions, or perhaps the Islamic republic will itself implode – and its successors will then denounce and dismantle the nuclear program. To bet on this scenario is the real gamble, a high stakes one with little evidence to support it.”)

*Turkey to allow U.S. to use base to strike Islamic State

*Jim Webb Losing His Early Allies With His Quixotic Presidential Bid (“I don’t know where he’s coming from, I don’t know where he’s going.” — Yours truly.)

*Meet The Press’ Chuck Todd Acknowledges Lack Of Climate Coverage, Pledges To “Do More … Soon” (He actually responded to my question on Facebook, now let’s see if he follows through.)

*Medicare Cost Projections Are Down Stunningly in 2015 Report

*The M.I.T. Gang (“Meanwhile, in the United States, Republicans have responded to the utter failure of free-market orthodoxy and the remarkably successful predictions of much-hated Keynesians by digging in even deeper, determined to learn nothing from experience.”)

*Why Scott Walker is so dangerous (“His technique of scapegoating unions for the nation’s ills is demagogic.”)

*New law not in effect, but lawmakers already receiving fewer gifts

*Connecticut Dems remove Thomas Jefferson from dinner name over slavery (They got rid of Andrew Jackson’s name too, which is more important.)

*Senators Warner and Kaine Introduce Non-Discrimination Bill (“The Equality Act would outlaw discrimination in the workplace, financial markets, housing, public accommodations & more.”)

*High-speed rail – taken for granted? (“Jaw, jaw is better than war, war, said Winston Churchill. But is it better than build, build? Federal officials certainly seem to think so.”)

*Howell, handful of others, at ALEC in San Diego (“Along with Howell, who is on the group’s board of directors, delegates Kathy Byron, R-Lynchburg, Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell, and Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, are attending.” Appalling.)

*Flare-up over Planned Parenthood hits Senate race in Loudoun (Dr. Jill McCabe: “Women need health care choices and Planned Parenthood provides that. That’s kind of the end of it for me.”)

*Virginia unlikely to follow suit as minimum wage increases come to East Coast (Thanks for nothing Dillon Rule and Virginia Republicans.)

*Virginia Democrats criticize Dye as extremist on abortion (“The state Senate GOP candidate replied by repeating her anti-Planned Parenthood position.”)

*Shipyard layoffs could top 1,500 by 2016

*Nationals fall to Pirates as Fister continues to struggle

*D.C. area forecast: More low-humidity warmth today before muggy air starts to return this weekend

So let’s get this straight: according to EW Jackson, people should NOT be able to, as the Christian Science Monitor explains, “object on religious or moral ground” to military service when taking the Oath of Allegiance, by omitting the words “bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law.” But the same EW Jackson goes nuts at any suggestion that people can’t object on religious grounds to their businesses serving gay customers cakes or whatever. As one friend of mine put it, “EW doens’t really much get consistency, does he?” And as another noted, “One person who might have objected to taking up arms? Jesus.”

P.S. It’s interesting that this language was added in 1950, at the height of Cold War hysteria/McCarthyism, “several years after the Supreme Court decided that the promise to bear arms was not implied in the overall promise to ‘support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'”