You Have No Say In Your Government

If You Are a Voter in the US, that is.

I know. That seems harsh, overstated, maybe just click bait. It is not really. By the time we get to the polls our vote has been carefully arranged for us. And it’s not as simple as pitting conservatives against liberals. Although they must be maintained, those distinctions are side-show attractions to keep us distracted, the shiny thing distracting us from the men behind the curtain controlling the quality of our lives.

If you were curious about these men behind the curtain you could do worse than to scan the Forbes 400 list. That would be a start. It is really as simple as looking around at where the money is and recognizing all the things that would be good for us that would not be good for those interests.

Have you noticed that owning a home is becoming out of reach? Do a little research on REITs, Real Estate Investment Trusts. Think about how many single family homes are now on Air B&B instead of housing families. You will start to figure out why housing prices are what they are. Think health care should be part of being an American Citizen? How naive. Think about all those new shiny, for-profit hospitals with less shiny communities around them filled with people that might go bankrupt if they need to go there. The medical and pharmaceutical industries do not want single-payer health care. Beyond that, those profiting from the defence industry do not want any of our taxes going to fund health care and being diverted from their pockets.

I am not saying anything novel here. These realities should be obvious to any of us. The men behind the curtains have no need for a healthy population of prospering citizens building wealth for themselves through home ownership. What they have a need for is a population of consumers, divided using propaganda and which can be further manipulated to vote against their best interests.

Manipulation. Fun stuff. There are a lot of people making a lot of money with the single-minded goal to get us to first, mistrust each other, easy money, and then to vote against anything to improve our lives. It is like a game for them, and these folks are good at the game. How do they sell this snake oil to us in our democracy?

What is a 501(c) anyway?

Most of us know what 401(k) represents and how it matters to us personally. We all have an obvious vested interest in saving for our futures. That makes 401(k) a part of our daily lexicon. But, there is no reason to worry our little heads about complexities in the US tax laws beyond those which benefit us directly. Right?

It is understandable.

We are busy. Busy keeping our heads above water. Busy raising kids. Busy being good consumers. Busy arguing with people we have never met on the internet. And, oh yeah, don’t forget all those cute cat videos. There are just never too many of those. Personal aside, I love those.

But if you were, say one of our billionaire overlords, an industry organization, even a foreign entity interested in the direction, or lack of direction in these, our United States then you are very much familiar with a 501(c)(4).

It is a type of non-profit organization.

There are 29 types of non-profit organizations under IRS code 501(c). These include everything from Religions, 501(c)(3) to the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, 501(c)(28).

Feeling Sleepy?

I can hardly blame you. 501(c)(4) organizations are non profits represented by Civic Leagues, Social Welfare Organizations, and Local Associations of Employees. The previously mentioned manipulators of this, our wonderful country, love the Social Welfare Organizations.

The IRS considers Social Welfare Organizations legitimate if they exclusively focus on promoting the common good. What could be more in the interest of the common good than “educating” all of us good folks on where our votes should go? So very civic-minded.

Did I mention yet, that these Social Welfare Organizations do not disclose their members or funding sources? Let me say that again.

These organizations do not disclose the source of their money.

Now these organizations may use up to 50% of their annual budget telling us who to vote for, and handing out money directly to election campaigns. The only drawback to these direct contributions is that they are then taxable. That didn’t stop these organizations from making over $700M in political contributions in 2020. That kind of money does two things. It buys a lot of ear time. And, it is excellent intimidation. The carrot and the stick. Do as directed and your re-election campaigns will be helped along. Any politician who wants to think for themselves however, will find themselves with challengers in their next primary. Well funded challengers.

Politicians are quite aware of the club rules.

Now that the politicians are in hand, Social Welfare Organizations can turn to “educating” us on issues. And they do. Issue ads are everywhere telling you that everything that is in your best interest should not get your vote. These disbursements are not taxable since the ads do not tell us who or what to vote for, but rather “educate” us.

If you actually think about it, it would be unreasonable to expect the politicians to simply vote against our wellbeing. That might piss us off and bring people together. Can’t be having that. It is so much more practical to have the population “educated” so that when something good is proposed, there is a ready-made group to scream bloody murder against it. It helps the politicians service their masters while keeping us both occupied arguing with each other, and voting against our best interests. It is brilliant really.

So next time you see the ad “educating” you as to how an issue is un-American, soft on crime, bad for the economy, big government, etc, etc, etc, maybe do a web search on the organization at the bottom of the ad. You know. They all sound so patriotic. See if you can find out who the money is coming from. Good luck with that.

It is probably hopeless.

We are already primed to react to these ads. The first layer of distraction, whichever political cult has appealed to you most, has seen to that. It would take an act of will, a level of personal effort that is unlikely for Americans, at least in my experience, for most Boomers, to fight off their tribal identities and vote for each other. So keep thinking you are making your own decisions in these, our United States™. Vote as you are told. And, don’t forget to pick up your novelty flags, hats and bumper stickers on your way through the gift shop…