General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This is not about Obama or Snowden, this is about the corporate takeover of our democracy [View all]Bjorn Against
(12,041 posts)I used to think pretty much like you think about Obama as well, but the more I think about it the more I realize just how complex the situation is. It is easy to say Obama sold out, it is far more difficult to put ourselves in his shoes. We don't know all the pressures that exists behind the scenes, we don't know about the blackmail that happens and we don't see first hand just how deeply entrenched the corporations are. It is easy for us to say that politicians need to grow a spine because we don't have any idea as to what happens when they do grow a spine. These are very powerful interests we are talking about, if Obama were to take such a bold move as to sign an executive order banning the NSA from spying all those people who built that spy network would be very pissed off. How would they react? I don't know but I suspect something this big would bring a lot more than harsh words, it would bring revenge and that act of revenge could potentially harm a lot of people.
I am not saying this to defend Obama, I am saying this because I think it is important that people think about the power that unelected wealthy people have on Washington. It is not about excusing Obama, it is about recognizing that there are people so powerful that they make even the President bow to their will. It is very dangerous to our democracy to have so much wealth concentrated in so few hands and that is what needs to be talked about.