We hold these truths to be self evident

Corporate establishment ideology is concerned only with profit for their shareholders by law:  this means then that the needs of the many are superfluous, by law.

Mr. Trump won the Republican primaries; Mrs. Clinton the Democratic.

In each case, we saw the full weight of each party support their heir apparent despite both the candidate’s flaws and unpopularity.

This is one reason why any establishment vote, to me, is a vote for the perpetuation of the status quo:  increased disparity between rich and poor; perpetual war; lack of tax revenue; corporate downsizing and offshore accounts; global trade deals, backed by large corporations and pushed by their political allies that force US workers to compete with workers in countries that pay extremely low wages compared to ours. 

Status quo politics has given us omnipresent corporate influence from elections down to the local level, to ongoing economic woes, declining quality of life in the United States, diminished manufacturing base, crumbling infrastructure, endless war, and widening gap between affluent and what used to be called the middle class.  And many other negative things such as polarization, stagnation, and distrust of government.

How can a society that reaches for the stars believe that stagnation is good enough?  Or sustainable?

By status quo I mean politicians seem to pay just enough attention to domestic issues to say the right buzz words and get people’s attention without doing much to improve the ability of average Americans to sustain decent work throughout their lifetimes without going into heavy debt for education and healthcare.  Savvy establishment politicians come out in favor of same sex marriages, or against it; pro-life or pro-choice; and marijuana legalization depending on how the wind is blowing locally.  They certainly are not providing leadership on these issues generally.  But let’s face it:  those issues, while valid, do little to influence the ability of average Americans to put food on the table, earn retirement, and not get drawn into international disputes. 

Those issues, played well in the political arena, distract many people from the disastrous economic and foreign policies this country has pursued for almost four decades now which feed econo9mic disparity, and instability with some of our foreign neighbors.

When it comes to the larger issues of putting our citizens in harm’s way, bailing out big business and banks, and trade deals that continue to diminish our already diminished manufacturing base, status quo politics means saying promising words to the many such as the importance of bailing out too big to fail banks, auto companies, and finance companies, and following the dictates of the few for profit:  Status quo establishment politics means giving corporate welfare to corporations that continue to downsize and develop foreign manufacturing centers  for goods they sell back to the very people whose jobs they took;.  Corporate status quo politics means lobbyists who are guided by think tanks and lawyers write the legislation they pay their well-financed legislators to promote and get passed such as welfare reform, Medicare reform, and the Patriot Act.

Corporate establishment status quo political ideology has us in economic and social crisis, denied. 

Corporate establishment status quo political ideology has us in a feeding frenzy for diminishing profit and jobs while we pay to watch millionaire sports figures, actors, and news media figures entertain us.

It is not enough for me nor for posterity to be distracted and manipulated by corporate establishment will into perpetual poverty.  With the resources we have in this country (or had?), status quo establishment ideology is mismanagement of our most valuable resource:  human capital. 

I want the pursuit of excellence in economics, in society, in justice, in jobs, and this is contrary to the corporate status quo.

Our US constitution does not guarantee the pursuit of happiness.   That’s in the Declaration of Independence.  Freedom, justice for all, and the pursuit of happiness are in the Declaration of Independence.  These are the spirit of our constitutional laws; and theoretically inform our laws in this country since the Declaration came before the laws.  If the law demands separation of powers in spirit, then the reality of that means separation of corporate powers as well as religious.

Not cleverly spun laws to oppress the vulnerable in the name of family and what legislators, again, usurped by corporate influence, consider to be moral and right.  

But law that educates and promotes uniform justice and uniform prosperity.  

A simple case in point of how corporate establishment ideology has usurped the spirit of our laws is this:  it is not just, or equal, nor does it promote the uniform pursuit of happiness if people who earn more than $120K per year do not pay into Social Security based on all of their earned income.

Establishment political ideology perpetuates the status quo of corporate influence in all strata of US life.  

If corporations are concerned only with profit for their shareholders by law, then the needs of the many are superfluous, by law.

Corporate establishment politics, Democratic or Republican represent this ideology.

And this ideology is not sustainable.

This corporate establishment ideology makes healthcare secondary to profit.  Makes food prices and quality secondary to profit.  Makes entertainment secondary to what is formulaic and profitable.

Corporate establishment ideology permeates every strata of life in the US, and cheapens it in lieu of profit.  Life itself under this ideology is expendable, as we see with extreme poverty, war, and continued cutting of social service benefits.

Yet we still have the resources to sustain life in our country; in our society. 

hu·man cap·i·tal

noun

noun: human capital

1. the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.

Having our resources at the whim of corporate establishment ideology limits our good use of our resources; our human capital.

Therefore, starting with our votes on the local, state, and national level, it is necessary to send a message to the corporate establishment that says “No, I will not fall in line.”  

"No matter how seductive, how empowering, how slick the sideshow, and how insecure the corporate establishment tries to make us feel, I/we are worth more than corporate establishment ideology, profit, and war.

People come first.  Not corporate profits.  This is the spirit of the constitutional laws.  Or should be, based on the Declaration of Independence.

People first, not corporate profit.  Not corporate political shills.