Tom Toles for December 04, 2019

Ask your doctor if Congress is right for you.

Shouldn’t the Swamp be Drained? – {rhyme}

The “swamp” is a bog where lobbyists prevail

‘cause politicians are up for sale

to score big fundings for re-elections; -

- ergo the corporate lobbyists’ connections,

ergo the lawmakers’ genuflections,

and ergo the Lefties’ irate objections

that corporate money so loudly talks

that over us People the Plutocrat walks.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Surgeons can remove dysfunctional “lobes” via “lobectomy”.

So why not remove distended “lobbies” via “lobby-ectomy”?

The lobbyist doing the writing makes like easier for the Congressman who wants to have exposure in the newspaper. The Congressman’s signature on the oped piece makes it easier for the lobbyist’s ideas to be placed in front of the public. Such a deal.

Moo!

Since you’ll never get politicians to remove money from politics by themselves, it’s time to start using voter referendums to start limiting the length of campaigns and the amount spent on them. For the first referendum, how about “money does not equal speech”?

Corporatocracy rules! I can’t imagine truly competent, highly knowledgeable, expert-level representatives even being considered by either party, so lobbyists will continue drafting legislation to serve corporate while the representatives focus on reelection. It’s now a tradition.

“A Lobbyist and His Dog”:

.

The lobbyist walks his political dog

After having fed him his industry’s blog.

While on that walk the dog makes “doo”

That contains the lobby’s industrial view.

.

And the dog with a wag signs an op-ed piece,

As on a public hydrant a dog makes p—s.

What breed of dog such lobbyists fetter?

Think the herb “horehound,” but add just one letter.

Non-Profit hospital patient charges have increased 40% since 2010 [The Economist 29 Nov]

Presumably, Mr. Toles isn’t talking about the WaPo.

Let’s face it. There has been, is now, and always will be a vast, indeed unlimited, amount of money available for the purpose of torpedoing any reasonable reform of the cash cow that is America’s wealth care system. Be very skeptical of anyone arguing that some form of M4A or single-payer system, or even enhanced Obamacare, is unworkable. Such medical care systems work quite well in many countries.

Couldn’t believe it! Yesterday, refilled a GENERIC prescription which cost me 60 bucks. When I was obviously gobsmacked, the clerk assured me, “your insurance paid $515!”

{Off-topic:}

Bad Kings – {a rhyme}

God is in charge

of hist’ry writ large,

but often a nation’s not thereby “blessed”.

Instead it’s often being put to a test: -

- the nation’s chastised

‘cause it authorized

an economy of rapacious greed

{where the needy remain in need},

and a culture with a racist creed,

and many anOther misdeed.

… Coda:

The Bible has many a story

that things aren’t hunky-dory

when God enthrones a bigly bad king

like America’s tyrannical ding-a-ling.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It’s not just the hospital corps and insurance companies that do this. The fossil-fuel industry, the military-industrial complex, booze and tobacco companies, banks and investment houses, and a host of others all take advantage of the Supreme Court’s horrendous decision in Citizens United to buy public policy that’s opposed to the public interest all the time!

Follow the money! Better yet, get RID of all that money. The only long-term answer to this fundamental flaw in the American political system is a Constitutional amendment declaring, in terms so crystal clear that even Anthony Kennedy couldn’t mistake them, that:

1) only actual human beings have human rights,

2) free spending doesn’t count as free speech, and

3) all aspects of campaign financing can be reasonably and fairly regulated by local, state, and federal laws, uniformly applied.

So, did the bundle of cash pass under the tale before, during, or after the last word of the op-ed?

“The Washington Post obtained private e-mails of multiple lawmakers, showing that they ran their op-eds by health-care industry lobbyists before publishing them. Montana representative Kathy Kelker and state senator Jen Gross, both Democrats, included language from John MacDonald, a lobbyist who reached out on behalf of Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, an industry group founded in 2018 and funded by hospitals, private insurers, drug companies and other private health-care firms. Among other edits, MacDonald apparently deleted a table from one of the op-eds showing that Americans spend more per capita on health care than France, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland.”

https://www.gq.com/story/lobbyists-medicare-for-all-op-eds

They wrote all the parts of Obamacare that affect their clients.