Paul B. Farrell
Sep 1, 2009, 10:42 a.m. EST
Democracy is dead ... lobbyists rule America
16-point manifesto for the new 'Lobbyist Nation of America'ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Democracy dead? Lobbyists ruling America?
Lobbyists the new "Unseen Hand" of capitalism? Sadly yes.
And here's why: Ask any neuroeconomist, behavioral-finance quant, investment psychologist or other practitioner of the mysterious "science of irrationality" and they'll tell you that Americans have two self-sabotaging mental biases that killed democracy from within: "Denial" and "Magical Thinking" make us easy targets. Our brains are being manipulated by clandestine forces beyond our control. We can't see them or resist.
Yet we refuse to believe in this new Orwellian America. We prefer the world of magic, myth and illusion.
Yes, folks, democracy is dead. Oh, the illusion will be kept alive in our history books, in the rhetoric of politicians, in the manipulated minds of America's 95 million Main Street investors. The propaganda machine works. Like a child's fairy tale, democracy has been deeply imbedded in our brains for decades; we prefer believing old, familiar stories. They comfort us, even when no longer true. The real democracy, what so many fought and died for since 1776, is dead.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/16-credos-for-our-new-lobbyist-nation-2009-09-01?ref=patrick.net