Most people don’t understand how big the corporate lobbyists footprint is because all of the deals are made in the back rooms and are never exposed to the light of day. We have become so naïve as a voting public that we believe just about anything the politicians tell us because the establishment media is usually singing the same song. When you have the corporate lobbyists donating to politicians campaigns and the corporations controlling how many dollars the various media outlets get in advertising, you have the perfect propaganda machine to culture public opinion in favor of legislation they want enacted.
Let’s go back to Idaho’s State Healthcare Exchange, you know the one that Governor Otter said he would never approve. For a year before this exchange was approved, the Health insurance companies, medical associations and hospitals were busy taking public polls with their propaganda arm IACI that this would help everyone in Idaho, and lower insurance cost overall for everyone. What they didn’t tell you that this would bring hundreds of millions of dollars into their coffers and contain any outside companies from intruding on their turf. During that period they made sure they made substantial campaign contributions to anyone of our legislators who were willing to listen to them on voting in favor of a State Exchange. They poured over $250,000 that we know of into various legislators’ campaigns and abracadabra the bill was passed.
In case anyone didn’t notice during that period there were all kinds of advertisements in the media talking up how great it would be to have an exchange in Idaho how it would keep down costs and serve people who could not afford private insurance. Who do you think has benefited from all of this advertising? Of course the establishment media, radio, TV and newspapers. They raked in all of the advertising dollars from the Health Insurance companies, the hospitals and the exchange itself. Well how cozy of an arrangement was this? If you ever get one of them to open up to you as I have, they will tell you it’s just business. Much like if you ask an assassin why he kills people for money, he will tell you its just business.
You have only to look at the past problems in our state with the Corrections Corp of America contract and the ensuing scandal. Or how about the Idaho Education Network conceived by corporate lobbyists promoted by politicians and sold to the public by the establishment Media as a great idea until the scandal where a contract was switched last minute by a bureaucratic lackey to placate the establishment donation machine. Keep in mind that both the Corrections Corp of America and Century Tel were large contributors to the election of our governor and many other legislators, which cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and no one has been held accountable.
When people rob banks they go to prison.
When they rob the taxpayer they get re-elected.
People are finally beginning to see how our state is manipulated by corporate lobbyist, giants like IACI who have the power to give huge sums of money through political PAC’s and their corporate entities to elect politicians who will vote in favor of bills they want passed. One only has to look at how hard they are pushing from behind the scenes to get Medicaid Expansion in Idaho to feather the nest of their corporate members who want to lower their health insurance bills for low paid employees.
“We Get the Government We Deserve”
