Giving as Much as I Spend on Myself to Charity for the Next 3 Years

Given how horribly my society is behaving I have decided to give at least as much money as I spend on myself to charity each of the next 3 years.  My guess is that I will continue this past 3 years, but I will see how it goes and then re-access my long term plans.

I don't spend much, compared to my middle class USA peers (for housing, health insurance, food, car, technology, travel …). I have been spending more over the last couple of years and I expect spending will continue to go higher.

I think it is important for us to take action to protect the USA and the world from the horrible behavior by those in charge of the USA government now. Like most of those in the USA, that have prospered, most of my wealth is due to living in the USA. I feel I must use some of that wealth to fight the incredible damage being done to the people of the USA and world by the Republican party.

The USA Capital (photo by John Hunter)

We need many others to take meaningful steps to protect the world from the USA's actions. Direct action (volunteering in a food bank, for get out the vote efforts, to provide legal help for those being harmed by the USA government's violating the constitution and the rule of law…) is great; money need not be the way you participate. For me, giving money to charity is way I can make a difference. For others, different actions may be sensible.

My charity donation posts on Mastodon - https://fosstodon.org/@curiouscat/tagged/charity

Some of my 2025 donations

Trickle Up  

https://trickleup.org/

Southern Poverty Law Center   

https://www.splcenter.org/

Navajo Hopi Health Foundation  

https://navajohopihealthfoundation.org

Develop Africa  

https://www.developafrica.org/

Marketplace  

https://www.marketplace.org/about-us/

Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School 

https://www.brennancenter.org/

Electronic Frontier Foundation 

https://www.eff.org/

Texas Civil Rights Project    

https://www.txcivilrights.org

Partners for Health  

https://www.pih.org/

I hope you will take time to consider how much you have benefited from the rule of law, common decency, civil rights, the previous commitment to science and engineering in the USA, relatively minor corruption (certainly compared to the current kleptocracy level of Republican corruption we now are in the midst of), health care policy that wasn’t ignoring science…

And then consider making serious sacrifices to make sure the USA reverses course and makes meaningful changes to the disastrous policies and behavior they have engaged in and encouraged recently.

I fear for our future if those of us who can do much more chose not do so and just pretend their actions don’t matter. We must take action to stand up to the incredible abuses of our government today, if not, the harm to all of us, and even more so to future generations, will be heartbreaking.

Certainly the USA has long had many problems. I thought for most of my life that even if our progress toward fairness, decency, improved economic opportunity (for those that are not trust-fund babies)… was too slow, in significant ways we were getting better decade after decade. The last decade has seen us destroy decades of progress. I also now think, my estimation of how much progress we were making was far too optimistic.

I hope a decade from now the USA has fundamentally changed and realizes how close we came to critically damaging the future of hundreds of millions of USA citizens and billions of people around the world.  I am old enough and wealthy enough that the harm my society is inflicting on ourselves, future generations and the world are likely to be very minor compared to most of the billions of people that will be harmed. 

What I am concerned about is the damage my society is doing. I need to do something substantial to try and help halt the damage that is increasing every week and hopefully start to recover from this catastrophe.  So this is my attempt to help do what I can to protect the world from the catastrophic damage my government and the Republican Party are doing to the USA and the world. 

Related: I Fear for the Future of the USA if We Do Not Vote in Favor of the Rule of Law this Year (2024) - Society is being shaped for us while we are busy making other plans (2011) - Disregard for the Rule of Law by Government (post from 2013, things are so much worse now that it is shameful how badly we have chosen to behave recently) - Freedom Increasingly at Risk (2008)

I Fear for the Future of the USA if We Do Not Vote in Favor of the Rule of Law this Year

The USA has enjoyed a long run of economic success. That is due to many factors, but a very large factor is that the rule of law in the USA was more trustworthy in the USA than elsewhere. That is at risk given how systemically the Republican Party has packed the courts with those from carefully crafted lists of judges supporting extreme judicial activism.

That process has been underway for several decades and those actions have reached a point where the rule of law as we have know it is in great danger. If we allow the even more extreme Republicans that have taken control of the party in the last 6 years to gain the presidency and retain their positions in the USA house and senate I fear the USA will not resemble what we have known in the last 100 years in the next 10 years.

I cannot fathom how anyone seeking political office in the USA that doesn't strongly speak out against someone with the horrendous track record Donald Trump has amassed during his life and the last 8 years can get even 5% of the USA population to consider voting for them. However, the USA public has shown that my beliefs are very different than many, at least it seems about 40% or maybe even more, voters.  I fear we could not only elect him but also those that have not strongly spoken out against his hundreds of violations of criminal, ethical and other abuses against our society.

Details on some of the many abuses (frankly even 5% of which should disqualify anyone from supporting such an individual for any political office and most certainly from the most powerful political office in the USA):

• Read the full Trump indictment on mishandling of classified documents - Evidence of Trump’s Knowledge and Involvement in Retaining Mar-a-Lago Documents 
• Jan. 6 committee’s summary of its final report - Jan. 6 panel sheds light on the 187 minutes Trump went dark during Capitol siege - Jan. 6 committee's final report finds Trump was 'central cause' of attack on U.S. Capitol
• ‘High crimes and misdemeanors': Dems unveil impeachment charges against Trump - The Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry report, annotated
• Republican Liz Cheney calls Trump 'clearly unfit for future office' - Democracy is at stake if Trump is reelected, Liz Cheney warns
• President Trump’s staggering record of uncharged crimes
• A Guide to the Criminal Cases Against Donald Trump
• These are the 10 episodes Mueller investigated for obstruction of justice
• Among 160 years of presidential scandals, Trump stands alone
• New Trump scandal shows the depth of his assault on America’s democratic foundations 
• Trump’s administration can’t clean house because its leader is too soaked in scandal
• 13 Trump Scandals You Forgot About.  Any other year, one of these could have derailed a presidency.
• Lest We Forget the Horrors: A Catalog of Trump’s Worst Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes
• New York jury finds Donald Trump sexually abused E Jean Carroll in civil suit
• ‘The Daily Show’ List of Trump’s Top 100 Scandals Continues
  
• Chris Christie Drops Long List of Misdeeds When Asked If The Trump Family Is Corrupt
• The Shockingly Long List of Corrupt Officials and Political Allies Pardoned by Trump
• A lengthy list of Trump's disastrous business deals
• Trump Organization charged Secret Service as much as $1,185 per night to stay at Trump properties 
• Trump received at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments as president
• Trump paid $2 million judgment for misusing his charity
• Trump University: A Look at an Enduring Education Scandal
• At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters. Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs, coast to coast. Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And, ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits and others.
• Texas town continues to demand $500,000 from Trump four years after hosting rally
• Ten city governments from Arizona to Pennsylvania say the president’s political committee has failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars that the Trump campaign owes.
• Trump paid little to no federal income taxes over many years as he piled up losses and debt
  

These links added to the original post as new evidence on the depth of the corruption, undermining of democracy, and unfitness for duty are learned:

• 11 damning details in Jack Smith’s new (Oct 2024) brief in the Trump election case
  
• No person has ever posed more of a danger to the United States than the man who served as the 45th President of the United States according to General Mark Milley, the US Army general who Donald Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• The U.S. Army said an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who tried to "ensure adherence" to rules that prohibit political activities at the cemetery "was abruptly pushed aside" by Trump staffers
  
• "Depressed, disgusted and horrified": These lifelong Republicans say they're finally done with Trump
  
• Over 100 Republican National Security Leaders Endorse Vice President Harris
  
• ‘Vengeful’ Trump withheld disaster aid and will do so again, ex-officials warn
  
• Network of Georgia election officials strategizing to undermine 2024 result
  
• The former president spent the weekend spewing dangerous nonsense at a rally. The press spent its weekend polishing it into palatability.

There are an unprecedented number of officials President Trump appointed that have withheld their endorsement of him based on the his abuses.  This is yet another sign of how unfit he is for office and yet some people continue to ignore the incredibly dangerous warning signs. If we don't wake up and take action to support those that will protect the USA from those supporting such an unfit person from taking office we will suffer greatly for our failure.

• List of Former Donald Trump Officials Refusing to Endorse Him

We need everyone that cares about the future of the USA to vote this year for the Democrats that have shown they care about protecting the USA from the dangers we face from political extremists.  We need to make clear with an overwhelming showing at the ballot box that such extremists are not going to be tolerated in the USA.  Only if we do that can we return to the debate about what policies our country should pursue. 

This year the only thing that matters is saving the future of our country.  Then we can have the Republican Party decide to promote those that will first concern themselves with our country, rule of law, democracy and the constitution and then after those things we all agree on they can provide alternative policy options that we can chose from.  Or we can have a new party take over the position the Republican Party used to hold.

If we as a society fail to provide a clear victory to those promoting democracy the rule of law and our constitution the dangers to the USA are enormous.  Those that think just because the USA has survived challenges before we can just not worry that much about the terrifying behavior of those leading the Republican Party the last 10 years are taking a much larger risk than I think they understand.

Unmasking the Anti-Democracy Agenda of Project 2025

Many people just want to hope they can avoid thinking about the dangers we face since in the past we have survived dangerous situations. I think we did survive because enough people cared to confront the difficult challenges they faced and take a stand for what they knew was right, even if that meant going against what was easiest for them in that moment.

From This Life-Long Republican to Another (a post on Reddit)

This isn't about Republicans vs. Democrats. This is about corruption, religious extremism (nationalism), the reputation of the United States on the global stage, and the legitimacy of the Presidential Office and democracy. It's about upholding the Constitution, Woman's Rights, my Daughter's rights, and future Granddaughter's rights. It's about our national security and maintaining our position as the country "you do not fck with." For me, this is about not letting a sick minded narcissist unravel the wisdom of our founding fathers so he can squander the American Empire and our economy... just like he squandered his own father's real estate empire he inherited and drove himself into bankruptcy repeatedly... then defrauded banks along the way with lies about the portfolios value, hiding his tax returns from us all and committing fraud while he slept with a porn star while his pregnant wife sat at home alone, preparing to give birth thinking she was "the only one for him."  ...

The Current Republican Party is a Huge Risk to the Future of the USA

 I am very concerned about the long term extremism that dominates the USA Republican Party.  Far too many people are complacent believing that the USA has done pretty well over the last 100 years so that will continue.  It need not continue. There are societal level critical risks today due to the behavior of voters over the last 20 years.

We have allowed our health care system to tax the economic well being of the country enormously. We pay twice as much as other rich countries for worse overall health outcomes. We also have huge waste stress and health care avoidance due to how poorly matched the system is to modern life. That tax can be paid and the economy can survive (as we have seen) but it is a large drag on the country and reduces the leeway to survive other mistakes.

The USA Capital (photo by John Hunter)

The Republic Party has been on a long term effort to destroy the rule of law in the USA. The continued tolerance of those that openly tried to overturn the results of the election they lost is a critical issue that anyone that cares about the rule of law should not tolerate. 

The behavior of the Trump administration at the Department of Justice and IRS were unacceptable. Trumps personal behavior while President should have resulted in his removal from office for anyone that cared about the rule of law or national security of the USA.  The Republic Party failed to put the rule of the law and the country above their personal fears about what Donald Trump would do to their careers. We need to elect people that care about the country first. We have not done so.  Unless we change we are taking a huge risk.

We need to stop tolerating those risking the constitutional republic we have been for over 200 years.  That is by far the most urgent and critical issue.  I cannot see voting for any Republicans that haven't loudly spoken out against the dominant practices (undermining the rule of law, putting a party and person above the interests of the country, ignoring national security concerns...) of the current party leaders.  And beyond that having demonstrated their actions to halt such behavior and withhold all support for Republican Party leaders that have gone along and pursued policies that undermine the rule of law and national security of the USA.

Inside Mike Johnson’s Ties to a Far-Right Movement to Gut the Constitution

For the last 10 years, the “Convention of States” movement has sought to remake the Constitution and force a tea party vision of the framers’ intent upon America. This group wants to wholesale rewrite wide swaths of the U.S. Constitution in one fell swoop. In the process, they hope to do away with regulatory agencies like the FDA and the CDC, virtually eliminate the federal government’s ability to borrow money, and empower state legislatures to override federal law.

As far-fetched as this idea might sound, the movement is gaining traction — and now, it believes, it has a friend in the speaker of the House.

The long term efforts of the Republican Party to disenfranchise voters is another completely unacceptable behavior.  I am extremely worried about the risk of voters electing even more officials that will overthrow the rule of law in the USA. But it is unacceptable to d disenfranchise such voters. If the voters in the USA decide to vote for those that will take future steps to toss out the constitutional protections we have had in our political discourse the last 200 years then we must deal with the consequences of such a catastrophic result. The Democratic Party in some states does engage in extremely damaging gerrymandering but the level of the the Republican Party's actions in this area have been enormously more damaging to the country.  And the Republican Party's continued efforts to suppress voting by those they feel won't vote for them is completely unacceptable and unique to them (in any significant form).

It is easier to ignore the huge risks to our society and hope everything works out ok. That is a huge risk. Once it is obvious that you should have acted strongly 5 or 10 years ago it may well be too late to make a difference.  

Don't be complacent. Speak out against those that are placing the USA's future at risk. Take actions to make a difference in avoiding the USA further degrading the protections of the rule of law and a government that is most interested in the interests of the country rather than institutionalized corruption favoring those with political power.

There is always going to be some corruption (Lobbyists Keep Tax Off Billion Dollar Private Equities Deals and On For Our Grandchildren, 2007) but the trends we are seeing and risks under another Trump administration are potentially catastrophic.  Waiting until the risks are even more obvious that they are today may well mean you waited past the chance you had to save the future of the USA.

Related: Critical Thinking is Needed to Counter Propaganda (2018) - Preaching False Ideas to Men Known to be Idiots (2010) - The USA Should be Ashamed of Who We have Elected (2017) - Selling Out the Country - We are Electing the Wrong People to Control Our Government (2015) - The Continued Fall of the USA's Political Leaders that We Give Power To (2017) - Living Through Your Society Becoming a Police State (2013) - Society is being shaped for us while we are busy making other plans (2011) - Bikinis For Liberty (2010)

Critical Thinking is Needed to Counter Propaganda

As everyone expected the continuing investigation by the US Justice Department has further detailed the attempts by Russians to spread propaganda and influence the USA election. I find it amazing that the Trump Administration and many Republican representatives have continually attempted to discredit the attempts to investigate the actions taken by Russians to interfere in the USA election.

As with any attempts to manipulate people through propaganda, misinformation and distraction the solution is critical thinking and transparency.

The attempts by talking heads to turn the focus to the paper and pencil used (or the which particular websites were) to spread the misinformation and propaganda should be a transparent attempt to misdirect our next steps. What is needed is for this investigation to continue and expand. And I really don't understand how political leaders can be cooperating with attempts to block investigations into the attempts to subvert democracy by foreign actors.

Acting as though Facebook or Twitter are the focus is about as useful as saying text and spoken language are responsible. Sure there is some amount of looking at the lack of transparency of any speech (and who is hiding behind the lack of transparency). And to some extent that specific risk (people pretending to be something other than what they are) is an issue on various webs sites. But the issue isn't the website it is the lack of transparency and that lack of transparency is what needs to be addressed (whether it is on Twitter or using front interest groups to hide the identity of those special interests, or using advocacy groups to run ads on TV without disclosing clearly who is funding those organizations, etc.).

Photo of the White House in Washington, DC

There is a great deal of history of Russian money being used to finance Donald Trump's businesses. Donald Trump's refusal to provide transparency about that should have been enough to keep people from voting for him to be President but it was not. Given that history and the evidence that has been known to our political representatives for more than a year it is unconscionable that many of them have not demanded investigation into these very deep ties and the deep ties to others in the administration (such as Jared Kushner).

That Russians used propaganda and misinformation to attempt to get voters to vote for Trump is important. But the main thing that should have prevented those attempts is sensible critical thinking. The best defense against propaganda is critical thinking and transparency. If the population is trained and accepts being lead to conclusions with obvious propaganda it doesn't matter if you shut off one path for propaganda, others will emerge.

What you need to do is create an expectation of reasoned debate. Sadly the USA has done a very poor job of this. We have allowed politicians get away with obviously false claims. We have promoted not critical thinking but the unthinking following of propaganda.

Until we greatly increase the respect for critical thought and debate we are in trouble. It doesn't matter much what form those seeking to use propaganda use to manipulate people what matters is how susceptible a large number of people are to propaganda.

All talking heads that are interested in democracy and patriotism should be calling on the exploration and the making visible the ties between those with large financial ties to Russia and the attempts to block and weaken efforts to investigate the meddling in our election. My guess is we will instead see the continued attempts oto hindering investigations into making visible what should be made transparent.

On an somewhat related and important matter, for at least 10 years the extremely poor computer security of the voting process has been noted by computer experts and ignored by our governments (federal, state and local). It doesn't appear that direct hacking of votes took place in the last election. The continued failure to adopt secure voting methods is a disgrace. And it seems we may well continue to neglect this matter until an election is impacted with direct evidence of large scale abuse. This is obviously an extremely poor way to manage a process that is critical to a functioning democracy.

Related: Preaching False Ideas to Men Known to be Idiots - The USA Should be Ashamed of Who We have Elected - The People We Elect Recently Are Dramatically Falling Us - When You See the Problem as Capitalism Instead of Corruption You Seek to Solve the Wrong Problem - Money Is Corrupting Our Political Process

The USA Should be Ashamed of Who We have Elected

The bill passed by the House of Representatives in the USA today to cut taxes for the very rich and eliminate heath care coverage for tens of millions of people was a disgrace.

Every Republican who voted for this abomination must be held accountable

I won’t mince words. The health-care bill that the House of Representatives passed this afternoon, in an incredibly narrow 217-to-213 vote, is not just wrong, or misguided, or problematic or foolish. It is an abomination. If there has been a piece of legislation in our lifetimes that boiled over with as much malice and indifference to human suffering, I can’t recall what it might have been. And every member of the House who voted for it must be held accountable.

He is right. We have to stop voting in such reprehensible individuals.

The last 2 administrations have been very disappointing. The actions of the administration and the Republicans in the House and Senate now though are taking things to a level not seen since at least Watergate and maybe back to McCarthism.

It is shocking to see the country so let down by those we vote in and day after day see that disgrace trumped by even greater failures of basic decency, honesty or competence.

Naming the Results of Corruption as "Free Market" Failures is Damaging to Society

We shouldn't allow those using plain corruption to call it "free market." They, and their talking heads, seek to do so in order to prevent sensible actions being taken to address the corruption. It is much better for them if people think what they are doing is capitalism instead of just being criminals. That is the same as allowing kleptocrat dictators to call what they do "democracy."

Corruption destroys the potential value to the public. It does that when it corrupts free markets. And it does it when it is used for other purposes (corrupting the rule of law, etc.).

If we call corruption - "free market" - it makes it difficult to design the correct counter measure to address the damage being done to society.

Those practicing corruption win if those that what to have society address the damage being done think the problem is free markets instead of focusing on the real problem which is corruption. There may well also be some issues with how free markets work and therefore putting in place political adjustments is sensible to discuss in terms of "free market" adjustments. But most often people complaining about the failures of "free markets" are complaining about straight up corruption. And failing to address the problem for what it is results in what we see now - those problems growing instead of being addressed.

Related: We Need to be More Capitalist and Less Cronyist - Political and Corporate Cronyism are not Capitalism - Monopolies and Oligopolies do not a Free Market Make

Democrats and Republicans Have Failed the USA on Health Care for Decades

It is so sad that Democrats and Republicans have played games for decades while those of us in the USA are stuck coping with the disaster of a health care system those two parties have created. A good health care system is very close to the most important feature of a modern society. Yet those two parties have bungled for decades and left us to suffer.

Many Flexible Health Plans Come With A Costly Trap

Vince Hess of Grandview, Mo., racked up about $800 in costs related to surgery for a broken hand in 2013. Hess, an actuary, first checked that his surgeon was in network. He had the operation at an in-network surgical center, but only learned later when he was billed that the two anesthesiologists who assisted in the surgery were not.

This kind of thing should result in health care providers (insurers etc.) going to jail. It is intolerable that someone has insurance and is expected to police the health care provided to them in such a way. Costs must be detailed up front or they should not legally allow to be billed.

I realize emergency situations will create some complexity with providing all costs in advance, fixing that part can be delayed. This behavior of billing after the fact for huge expenses has gone on for at least a decade. It should have been stopped after a year. It is intolerable that our political parties just make excuses and sacrifice our lives to disreputable business practices by health care providers. This needs to be fixed now. Not after another decade or two of the parties not fixing it. Now.

If you have insurance and use the insurance, the insurer must be expected to deal with the games hospitals and doctors chose to play to try and stick USA citizens with bills after the fact. This isn't about making the USA system close to as good as the second worst rich country heath care system this is about fixing an intolerable hardship placed on citizens by the medical care system the Democrats and Republicans have put in place over the last 20 to 40 years.

Related: Medical Debt Increases as Economy Declines - Out of Pocket “Maximum” – Understanding USA Health Care Costs - USA Health Care Spending 2013: $2.9 trillion $9,255 per person and 17.4% of GDP - USA Spends $7,960 Compared to Around $3,800 for Other Rich Countries on Health Care with No Better Health Results (2009 data) - Our Failed Health-care System (2008)

Experimentation and Evidence Based Decision Making is Missing in Washington DC

Comments on: Solution-Jumping in the 21st Century

I found in Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-first Century... a lack of a clear problem statement, a lack of thorough problem breakdown, no clear target, at best tenuous links between root cause analysis and proposed solutions, and a lack of consensus-building effort around the preferred countermeasure. To be fair, Piketty never intended this book to be a practical problem solving primer. The topic he is addressing, of building a more fair and stable society through greater wealth for a larger number of people, is vitally important for our future. It deserves the best minds and the best approaches to problem solving. However, I am grateful both for the information and ideas presented in the book and for its problem solving flaws, as these flaws serve as a teaching tool for lean learners on how not to do practical problem solving.

I agree with much of what Jon said. One of the big problems with our current government and leadership of our governments is the lack of policies based on evidence. Policies should be experimented with and effective ones expanded and ineffective ones changed or abandoned.

There is a possibility for more of that within essentially our current political and government system. But there are big limits without some serious changes in that system. My guess is they would not have to be legal, but they would have to be huge. Fundamentally politicians and the political parties would have to put the well being of the country ahead of their own pursuit of power and cash.

It is hard to see that as likely given the current parties. And we don't seem to have any desire to vote out those people and put in people that put the well being of the country first. There are lots of ways the system encourages that behavior, still honorable people could stand up to pressures to be corrupted (however relying on that honorable nature of leaders has not proven very effective in human history).

In order to start moving to a more evidence based decision making system fairly fundamental changes are required in who is given power within the system. The current system gives power to those who can gain and wield influence and power. Those who can effectively improve the well being of the country don't gain much say in the current system. Until that dynamic is changed I am skeptical practical improvement methods will gain much sway.

There is a huge amount of room for improvement that has nearly no political ideology behind it. Granted in the current system everything has the political ideology angle emphasized to the hilt. There may well be political disagreements about the methods used but doing things like

- educating our kids
- paving our roads
- we can get medical care that is safe and effective (drug are reliable, experts are knowledgeable, hospitals are operated safely...)
- policing our streets
- providing health care to veterans
- operating our national parks
- ensuring the food we eat is safe (from things like e-coli)
- etc.

are things 90+% of the population agree we should do well. If we could use evidence based methods to have our government help be sure our society was having our needs met we would be better off. The political decisions about methods are going to get messy in some contentious areas. But we would be much better off if primarily we operated to produce the best results and only allowed politics to take the primary focus when it was really a contentious debate. Now we default to crony capitalism style political maneuvering and only rarely let evidence based methods seek to provide the best results for us.

Related: The estate tax is the tax most aligned with capitalism - The Aim of Modern Day Political Parties is To Scare Donors Into Giving Cash - USA Congress Further Aids Those Giving Them Cash – Risks Economic Calamity Again - "Bring Me Solutions Not Problems (“Having no problems is the biggest problem of all.” – Taiichi Ohno)

Selling Out the Country - We are Electing the Wrong People to Control Our Government

Sadly the corruption of the USA political parties has been growing dramatically the last few decades. It is true they have always had a fair amount of corruption and a bit longer ago they were even more corrupt. But the ethics that had been growing that corruption was bad and should be reduced has been decimated by the leadership of both parties the last few decades.

Warren Buffet provided more comments about the damage being done to the country by this corruption.

With Citizens United and other decisions that enable the rich to contribute really unlimited amounts, that actually tilts the balance even more toward the ultra-rich…The unlimited giving to parties, to candidates, really pushes us more toward a plutocracy. They say it’s free speech, but somebody can speak 20 or 30 million times and my cleaning lady can’t speak at all.

I am very frustrated by us continuing to elect people that sell out the country for their person gains (both as politicians and even more importantly staff). The politicians couldn't sell out the country if their staff were not also bought and paid for (normally most completely by the revolving door of huge salaries on completion of selling out the country for the benefit of those paying you huge salaries). The advertising cash for politicians is important but less so than the ability to corrupt the staff.

The corruption, corrupts the entire process. If the parties and staff cared about the country they would not go along with much of the selling out of the country. The differences on tactics to benefit the country would still be in conflict. But if we had patriots in positions of power they couldn't be paid to sell out the country in this instance and then we will let you sell out the country in this other instance to earn your pay (from those corrupting them).

There really is little to do about it until the political scene is much different. As long as the parties are lead by people happy to sell out the country and we continue to elect them things won't change. The process of changing that is difficult. There is a system that re-inforces this corrupt systems continuation. With so much of the power structure so corrupt you can't do much with the few crumbs around the edges that are not interested in selling out the country for personal gain.

And when the public accepts absolutely pitiful journalism and doesn't pay attention to the few worthwhile efforts to look at what is going on it is hard to have people learn about the deeply embedded corruption. The parties play a game of distraction between themselves which when the journalists and public allow to set the conditions for discussion puts the issue of embedded corruption across the board of the political establishment off the table.

To some extent the embarrassing details of the extent of some corruption can be used pressure to reduce the level (not change the system) of corruption. I have a pipe dream that the continued evidence of such wide spread and thorough corruption finally seeping into the understanding of the public, but I really don't believe this will happen - I just hope it does. For now the only real hope is limited the scale of corruption by publicizing the worst and easiest to understand corruption.

To some extent I look to help shine the light on the corruption of the political process (mostly in the USA) on the cash for votes subreddit. I would have thought things like the absolutely horrid practices of Comcast, At&T, Verizon... would at least stop the political parties from acting in the same corrupt way they do with everything for those organization that have actively caused so much pain to so many in the USA. It is a sign of how bad the corruption is that even those companies easily buy majorities of both parties who happily profess that those companies are deserving of favors. When such obvious sell out are so widespread you can be certain the level of other corruption is beyond comprehension.

The damage this does to the USA is enormous.

The current political parties are selling out the country, it isn't quite as noticeable as if they attempted to auction off the Louisiana Purchase for the benefit of themselves, their staffs and their friends but it is doing as much damage as that would do.

Related: The Aim of Modern Day Political Parties is To Scare Donors Into Giving Cash - Reducing Corruption - Research by Princeton and Northwestern Professors Shows USA Political System Very Focused on Doing What Rich Want Done - Lobbyists Keep Tax Off Billion Dollar Private Equities Deals and On For Our Grandchildren - Monopolies and Oligopolies do not a Free Market Make - Anti-Market Policies from Our Talking Head and Political Class

Terrorism Response by the USA is Society’s Immune System Attacking Itself

Simon Phipps states very well and concisely what the results of the reaction to terrorism driven by the USA in his post On Terrorism

Terrorism isn’t just performing a terrifying act. It’s provoking society’s immune system into attacking itself, making its defence systems attack the values and people they are supposed to be defending. Terrorism is an autoimmune disorder of democracy. You don’t fight terrorism by attacking the virus; you fight it by strengthening the immune system.

Related: Living Through Your Society Becoming a Police State (2013) - USA Encouraging Governments Worldwide to Spy and Hack Globally is Very Dangerous - Freedom Increasingly at Risk (2008) - What Principles Does the USA Government Still Honor? - Liberty and Support or Control and Hate - Disregard for the Rule of Law by Government - Anti Liberty Sentiment in Congress (2012) - Liberty Again Denied - It is Sad How Little We Seem to Care (2011)

Research by Princeton and Northwestern Professors Shows USA Political System Very Focused on Doing What Rich Want Done

I have become (over the last 10 to 15 years) very frustrated with how corrupt the USA political system is. Petty corruption exists in the USA and is annoying but doesn't do much harm and is not that troublesome (it is lower than most places - other than in Scandinavia and a few other places). But the extent to which we elect people who then do the bidding of those giving them lots of cash (directly to their campaign, indirectly, in post career cushy high paying gigs if you do them favors while in office and in cushy high paying gigs for staff) the corruption is endemic and does great damage to the USA.

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens by Martin Gilens Princeton University and Benjamin Page Northwestern University.

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. Our results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.

Bolding added by me.

In some ways politicians make it even worse than just direct bribery that at least ends when the briber gets what they paid for. The current system encourages legislators to maintain a state of constant threat to economic interests in order to bleed them for more donations. Rather than address issues that are important for the country they leave open wounds festering in order to get interested parties to pay more cash to get the needed changes made.

In legislation there are going to have to choices made and interested parties will win or lose. That people who don't get what they want will be frustrated I understand. That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that

1. politicians create legislation (or pressure for regulation and enforcement) that is clearly against the interests of the country (no matter what political frame you have in mind). This is a subset of what is done but this is horrible and widespread and only supported by corrupt parties.
2. that we elect these corrupt people and parties after decades of clear evidence they are corrupt.

Given that we continue to elect them the blame falls heavily on the voters, in my view. Yes, the corrupt people selling out the country and their fellow citizens for their personal well being are unethical, unpatriotic and despicable. But we could throw out the corrupt people and parties if we chose to, and we don't.

More quotes from the paper:

Not only do ordinary citizens not have uniquely substantial power over policy decisions; they have little or no independent influence on policy at all.

By contrast, economic elites are estimated to have a quite substantial, highly significant, independent impact on policy. This does not mean that theories of Economic Elite Domination are wholly upheld, since our results indicate that individual elites must share their policy influence with organized interest groups. Still, economic elites stand out as quite influential – more so than any other set of actors studied here – in the making of U.S. public policy.

Similarly, organized interest groups (all taken together, for now) are found to have substantial independent influence on policy. Again, the predictions of pure theories of interest group pluralism are not wholly upheld, since organized interest groups must share influence with economically elite individuals. But interest group alignments are estimated to have a large, positive, highly significant impact upon public policy.

These results suggest that reality is best captured by mixed theories in which both individual economic elites and organized interest groups (including corporations, largely owned and controlled by wealthy elites) play a substantial part in affecting public policy, but the general public has little or no independent influence.

As with most economic research there is plenty of room to argue with their conclusion (the data is often somewhat subjective and appropriateness of proxy measures can be argued). But I agree with some of the big conclusions they draw. They don't then tie the cash payments to politicians as the reason for why the most wealthy and most organized interest groups get their way but it lays out part of the story that exposes the corrupt system in place now.

Related: Why Congress Won’t Investigate Wall Street - Lobbyists Keep Tax Off Billion Dollar Private Equities Deals and On For Our Grandchildren - TPP Transparency Confirms the Worst Fears: USA Government Still Trying to Strip Away Rights of Citizens in USA and Elsewhere - Monopolies and Oligopolies do not a Free Market Make - Society is being shaped for us while we are busy making other plans - Good Journalism Aids Society by Shining the Light on Corruption - Failure to Regulate Financial Markets Leads to Predictable Consequences - Bad Behavior Shining the light on the actions of those in power

An important feature of interest group influence is that it is often deployed against proposed policy changes. On the 1,357 proposed policy changes for which at least one interest group was coded as favoring or opposing change, in only 36% of the cases did most groups favor change, while in 55% of the cases most groups opposed change. (The remaining cases involved equal numbers for and against.)

The Cash for Votes subreddit collects links to examples of political corruption in the USA and elsewhere.

Homicides by Gun Have Declined a Great Deal in the USA the last 20 Years - Still Over 11,000 People Killed with Guns in the USA Every Year

Homicides using guns in the USA have seen a big decline in the last 20 years. In 2010, CDC data counted 11,078 gun homicide deaths, compared with 18,253 in 1993 which is a rate of 3.6 gun homicides per 100,000 people, compared with 7.0 in 1993. This is great news. But this leaves the USA with 11,078 gun homicides in 2010 which is horrible.

From 1993 to 2000, the death rate dropped 45%. From 2000 to 2010, the death rate declined only 7% more.

The Pew Research report provides a large amount of detail on this aspect of our safety and health.

Deaths from mass shootings are a relatively small share of firearm homicides. According to a recent Congressional Research Service report (Congressional Research Service, 2013), 78 public mass shootings occurred in the United States from 1983 through 2012, claiming 547 lives and injuring 476 people.

... The United Nations Global Study on Homicide (UNODC, 2011) estimated that 199,000 homicides, or 42% of the 468,000 worldwide total in 2010, were committed by firearm.

According to U.N. statistics, the U.S. firearm homicide rate and overall homicide rate are higher than those in Canada and in Western European and Scandinavian nations, but lower than those in many Caribbean and Latin American countries for which data are available.

Where does the U.S. rank internationally in terms of gun crime of all types? A report that compared 2003-2004 victimization survey data for 30 countries, including most developed nations, found that the U.S. ranked about average in an overall index of common crimes (Van Dijk et al., 2007).

However, the report placed the U.S. among the top countries for attacks involving firearms. “Mexico, the USA and Northern Ireland stand out with the highest percentages gun-related attacks (16%, 6% and 6% respectively).” The U.S. had the highest share of sexual assault involving guns.

If the USA had the rates of gun homicides as Western European countries over 9,000 people would spared every year. At the Japan rate nearly 11,000 people would be spared every year.

USA rate for 2011 4 per 100,000 (homicide 3.6 + accident .3 + undetermined .1)
France = .68
Canada = .59
Italy = .47
Germany = .3
Spain = .2
UK = .07
Japan = .02

The improvement in the USA is good, but we shouldn't ignore the 9,000 people killed every year that other societies have shown is not necessary. That is 90,000 people every decade. That is a huge number, even based on the lower rate of gun homicides we have today compared to 20 years ago.

Related: Militarized Police Culture Creates Long Term Large Scale SWAT Raid Failure for Society - Using Deming’s Management Ideas to Reduce Violence in Prison - Police Failing to Enforce Law If Lawbreaker is a Police Officer - Police State

HP Leaders Once Again Caught in Corruption Scandal

Hewlett-Packard seems destine to continue to have extremely bad behavior by those chosen to lead the company. At some point they need to appoint a board with the ethics and moral compass to take the proper actions and the competence to take effective action.

Hewlett-Packard Admits to International Bribery and Money Laundering Schemes

Hewlett-Packard has admitted to creating and using slush funds for bribes, money laundering, and clandestine “bag of cash” handoffs in order to profiteer off of lucrative government contracts in Russia, Poland, and Mexico, according to court documents.

HP’s guilty plea carries with it a $108 million penalty — a combination of SEC penalties, as well as criminal fines and forfeitures paid out to the Department of Justice. Thus far no criminal charges have been brought against American HP executives. The multi-agency investigation, which was conducted by multi-national law enforcement partners, the FBI, IRS, and SEC, has revealed kleptocracies in the three foreign governments and corruption and dishonesty among HP corporate fat cats.

I have written before about the corruption on the HP board and other bad behavior. Such a shame for a company that once was ethical and produced value for society.

Related: Geo-obsolense from anti-global HP (in addition to planned [coded-in] obsolescence HP breaks customers products based on geography - HP Poor Service – Industry Standard? (2006) - $8,000 Per Gallon Ink from HP (2007) - Another Year of CEO’s Taking Hugely Excessive Pay (in 2008 HP CEO took 7.4% of corporate profits personally before being tossed due to ethical failings). - Bad Behavior at HP (2006)