Is it simply too embarrassing for Americans to admit that our elections are controlled by money? That legislation is always compromising with the desires of money. That to stay in office candidates must raise inordinate Amounts of money? It must be because the answer to everything for Democrats seems to be defined by searching for charismatic candidates and also marketing them as great fundraisers. So do we think that the Democrats have a 29% approval rating because they’re not charismatic? Or could it be because they’re really on a corporate leash and while they’re generally more liberal than the Republicans their policies still have to correspond to the laws of profit? And the laws of profit at the end of the day keep the minimum wage at $7.19 an hour. Keep daycare and childcare priced out of reach. Keep American healthcare more expensive than any other in the World. And yet not a single person stands up in Congress to suggest how we could blunt the power of money in our elections. All the European and Scandinavian Parliaments have managed much better than we do. And they do it through a couple of simple procedures that you think might at least be discussed in the mass media. One is full federal funding of elections. Every candidate gets the same amount. Corporate and private donations are severely restricted, and the transparency is easy and accurate, making it simple to find out who gave money to which candidates so that voters could track down the correlations between donations and policy. Europe and Scandinavia have lots of rich people, they’re not prejudiced against wealth, but they’ve determined that letting it have unrestricted access to their elections is corrupting. Until we discuss money like adults, without blindfolds, we are never going to make fundamental changes in our system. The Democrats will get into power and by the end of 18 months, they will have disappointed their voters and another charismatic brilliant person who’s good at raising money will take over and hopes will be high for 18 months. I’m 84 and I’ve been involved in politics since I was 14. Do the math as to how many times I’ve watched this cycle return again and again to the point that today in 2026 we are still fighting reconstruction from the Civil War. Now that our media is all owned by the corporate sector and is under no obligation to present ideas to the public they’re not fond of, American audiences are deprived of the full bandwidth of political ideas that are available to every European and Scandinavian citizen. Could that be why THEY all have free healthcare, free, higher education, and a public sector, unencumbered by the need to make profits? Our failure to discuss money is an imposed taboo and until we break it, we’re just gonna remain ineffectual whiners. I’ll make a wager that if the Democrats had walked out of Congress when Trump‘s Lush fund passed. Or if they had physically occupied the site of his stupid ballroom, I’ll bet their poll numbers would’ve shot skyward. Americans want to see some courage in their leadership. Our house is on fire and we’re arguing with the fireman about what country their hoses are made in.