Mission Accomplished Sans Election

I got into a discussion on a political forum elsewhere which turned interesting, as the conversation evolved into the topic that about half of what's said in political discussions everywhere addresses, namely, why is our country so fucked up, considering that its government is elected, and how did we get into this mess we're in now?

My personal opinion -- and I can't really prove any of this -- is that the ruling class (another name for it would be "the very rich") have had an iron grip on political discourse at least since Reagan took office nearly 30 years ago. They've controlled the conversation mainly through two means:

a) By manipulating a system of Congressional bribery ("campaign contibutions"), the corporatocracy controls national legislation and buys only the laws it wants, at the same time eliminating any public safeguards or benefits it hates; and

b) Through its ownership of the corporate media, especially network and cable network TV outlets, the corporatocracy controls and "frames" the national political debate. That's why it's "terrorism" when they do it and part of "the struggle for democracy" when we do the exact identical same thing.

Fortunately, the iron grip of this ruling class is now broken, and not beause we elected Obama, a corporate tool if I ever saw one. It's because the ruling class has done us the favor of committing economic suicide, and the way of life we've lived for 60 years, a way of life which brought us the pleasures of excessive affluence, but which benefitted mainly them, this way of life is finished.

So thanks, ruling class! You've made our daily lives for the near and distant future much, much materially harder, but at least we won't have to put up with you any more, and maybe we can even go back to being rational, self-interested, independent citizens again, with actual minds of our own.