The Plutocractic Corporatocracy

My computer is being a complete jerk.  It is being incredibly slow and crashes all the time.  Dang it.  In addition, when I load in my Tumblr account, I can only get the first five or six posts to show up.  It's extremely frustrating, because a few days ago, in Tumblr-speak, "My dashboard did a thing".

I was following what I believe was a budding conversation between Wil Wheaton (who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation) and author Diane Duane - which could only happen on Tumblr or maybe Twitter.  Now, I cannot get back to it, nor can I find it!  I can't load in any other posts beside those first half dozen.  Grrr....  The conversation was on whether our government was a plutocracy or a corporatocracy.  WHAT?  What did you say?  You haven't heard those terms?  And you can't imagine why these two particular people would be having this conversation?  Well, perhaps it's a conversation we ALL should be having.

Plutocracy: a country ruled by it's richest citizens, the rule of wealth; the rule of power provided by wealth.

Corporatocracy: An economic and political system controlled by corporations.

I admit I am not as interested in politics as I probably should be.  It's just not an arena that I resonate to nor understand.  I prefer to make a difference in different ways in the world.  However, since politics rules the world we live in and makes the rules we all have to follow, it's relevant.  I have heard these terms bandied about before (on a homesteading/patriot bulletin board I am also on elsewhere) but have not paid a lot of attention.  Now that our dear government has decided to shut down (WTF!), these terms are catching my attention a lot more these days.  So, I would like to encourage all of you to look into this yourself.  I don't know enough to educate you.  Wish I did.  When I find who I can throw my support behind who knows more about this than I do, I'll let you know.  In the meantime, please do some of your own research.  We do not (and never have) lived in a direct democracy.  And now it appears it has morphed into whole different animal; as a bloodless coup, a silent cancerous growth, rewriting the story of our lives.

"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor or private interests of any one man, family or class of men." ~ John Adams

"We, the people, are not free.  Our democracy is but a name.  We vote.  What does that mean?  It means we choose between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.  We elect expensive masters to do our work for us, and then blame them because they work for themselves and for their class." ~ Helen Keller

And finally, consider this quote:

"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreiciate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightening; they want the ocean without the roar of it's many waters.  The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both.  But it must be a struggle.  Power concedes nothing without a demand and it never will." ~ Frederick Douglass

Think on things.  Who are we as a people?  Who are we as citizens? What do we need?  Where do we go from here?  What is the next step?

You can follow Wil Wheaton on Twitter at @wilw and on Tumblr (but I can't access Tumblr right now to get the addie! Sorry!)