By Floyd Clifton

I was under the impression that we the people run our government, and our needs, wants and ideals come first. However, I have noticed that big businesses have more of a say in our day-to-day lives than we do.
If you take a moment to look at the political atmosphere, it is apparent that the more money you have, the more you get at the expense of the less fortunate. There are more lobbyist groups that work for big business than social groups.
Our minimum wage rate doesn’t keep up with the rate of executive salaries. If it did, minimum wage would be $23 an hour, not $7.25. Why is that? Because over the past 30 years businesses have been moving in and gaining control of our government and, thus, our way of life.
We no longer have a government that stands up against the abuse and mistreatment of its employers.
When big banks were bailed out with trillions of the American taxpayer dollars, what did we the people get in exchange? Did we get lower bank fees, lower interest rates, home owners and farmers keeping their property from being foreclosed?
No, we received nothing.
I want big businesses out of our government. I want them to be viewed as properties that have to follow laws that kept them in check.
Politicians constantly bow to corporations and the rich, yet ignore the needs of the people, like better education, health and crime. Their excuse is that big businesses are the job makers.
That doesn’t sit well with me because we are the consumers who keep the companies working and making a profit. We’re the ones who work the long hours, taking short lunches and doing the dirty work that the executives need to fatten their pockets.
And, it’s only getting worse.
More money was put into political campaigns in the last major election than any election before it. Also, only a handful of people donated billions into the election campaigns of the major parties.
So, who do you think politicians are going to listen to?
Corporations are now legally considered businesses, allowing any of them to donate as much as they like to campaigns without saying who they are.
Let’s look at the benefits that big businesses receive: tax rates under 1 percent, fewer environmental laws to control pollution, legal monopolization and protection from unions and workforce laws.
Then there’s my favorite: Even when a bank is caught and admits to providing billions to terrorist organizations, its executives are free to go.
I thought we were a nation of the people, not just the wealthy.
How long will it be until they bring back slavery and call it smart job safety?
In America today, the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the poor, who continue to get poorer.