God. Country. Money. | Healthy Aging Series: S12 E23

I was a Smartass in High School. My dearest friends today would probably say that I’m still a Smartass.

I could cite several incidents in high school that prove my point, but the first one that comes to my mind involves Mr. Augsburger, my Senior Physics teacher.

Boonville High School was a small, rural High School. Things were pretty casual. Mr. Augsburger would pull Jeff Wilson and me out of Study Hall, and we would help him fill the Coke machines, sweep out the concession booths, and then just hang out. We still referred to him as Mr. Augsburger. He called us, Neese and Wilson. It’s hard to describe the relationship but maybe Professional-Friendship or maybe Mentor.

One morning, I walked into Physics Class, and I found Mr. Augsberger working on several light experiments. I was the only one in the classroom at the time, and he abruptly said, “Neese, don’t touch anything.” My smartass response was, “Why, you didn’t pay for any of it.”

In that moment, there was a collision of two different worlds, two different cultures. It was a clash of values. It didn’t matter that he didn’t pay for this equipment, he was a steward of the things that taxpayers had spent their hard-earned money on. Maybe behind his reaction was the belief that spending taxpayer money on education was a good thing. Spending taxpayer money to make this country into a more educated and more caring country, and into a country that takes care of the buildings, bridges, and people in it.

It was a collision with my adolescent, smartass, “I don’t care,” culture that I’m sure he confronted every day. You know, because he taught teenagers at a high school.

“Get out of here,” he said, pointing in the direction of Mr. Winsett’s office, the Vice Principal, who then lectured me for the next 30 minutes on why Mr. Augsburger reacted the way he did. It was “Collision of Two Cultures 101.”

I return to class. No smartass smirk. And partly because of that, I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut, mostly.

I’ve pondered that story over these 50 years. I forgive that younger version of me. I know that younger version didn’t mean what he said, the Smartass that he was. He has grown into a Liberal Social Worker. Someone who sees the power that money has to lift people out of poverty. He sees the importance of social welfare programs, that help people access the resources they need, things like education, healthcare, and housing.

But he’s also seen the power money has to shape politics and policy. And I see the power it has to corrupt.

Many Americans think that corruption is pervasive in our country. Most of it is legal. Some referred to it as soft corruption.

Money buys influence in our country.

Lobbying and Campaign Financing

Lobbying is one way money shapes policy, and spending on it now exceeds $5 billion a year. That money gives industries influence not only over legislators, but also over the agencies meant to regulate them.

This dynamic affects sectors from pharmaceuticals and Wall Street to fossil fuels and defense. It is often described as Regulatory Capture: the watchdog serving the very interests it is supposed to restrain.

If you follow the money trail, you often find energy companies, industry law firms, regulatory advocates, and billionaires at the end of it.

Long-term, this deregulation will increase air pollution, accelerate climate change, contaminate water, create a greater risk of industrial disasters, increase long-term health cost, disproportionately affect low-income communities, contribute to the loss of ecosystem stability, and I could go on and on.

Lobbying creates a climate where we are settling for short-term gains (quarterly profits) at the expense of long-term risks (environmental damage, future disaster costs).

“Critics argue,” writes the Center for Responsive Politics, “that such spending allows corporations and wealthy interest groups to exert, oversized influence on legislation, potentially prioritizing private interest over public good.”

This isn’t bribery. It isn’t illegal. It’s influence. The accumulation of wealth becomes a pathway to accumulating influence.  Fewer and fewer are having a greater and greater amount of influence in our country. The top 1% of our country owns more wealth than the middle class combined.

The wealthy billionaires have enormous influence through campaign financing, lobbying, media ownership, and patronage. As a result, the wealthier are becoming more wealthy.

Since the Supreme Court ruling in 2010, which allowed for corporate giving, super-PACs and dark money groups have become more powerful, elections have become more expensive, and candidates have become more dependent on wealthy donors and corporate interest, making politicians more responsive to wealthy donors then to ordinary voters.

Legal lobbying blurs the line between influence and corruption.

I wonder what Mr. Augsburger would think about how deeply money influences the policies that govern our country today.

It’s probably too late for a trip to Mr. Winsett’s office.

86-435

A number of years ago there was a movement to reroute I-64 out of the downtown Louisville corridor. It was called 8664. In response, I wrote a letter to the Courier Journal proposing 86–435.

It was a proposal to put term limits on the House of Representatives and Senate. We have term limits for many elected offices, why not on the House and Senate. Someone would say, “We do, it’s called an election,” but the simple fact is that about 80 to 90% of House incumbents and 70 to 80% of Senate incumbents win reelection. And money plays a key role in incumbent reelection.

The obstacle, of course, to imposing term limits, is that it would require an Amendment to the Constitution, which would require 290 of the House of Representatives and 67 Senators or 2/3 of state legislators to request a constitutional convention. Once proposed, it must be approved by 3/4 of the states.

The attempt to limit the terms of the House and Senate members was tried in 1995 and failed.

We are broken. Money is at the root of it. And there is very little we can do about it.

Maybe our salvation is a matter of attrition and awakening.

By attrition, I mean the passing on of the Boomer Generation, which will begin in the 2040s, and by awakening, I mean the stirring up of the Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha’s.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier episodes, Jane Goodall’s book, “The Book of Hope,” highlights that what gave her hope was the power of young people. Young people worry about the high cost of living, student debt, inflation, healthcare cost, and job instability.

They worry about climate change.

They distrust the government, political institutions, and worry about corruption and the decline of Democracy.

Now, they feel powerless.

I hope one day soon there will be a change in the balance of power, and young people will flex their strength and become what our country needs.

I hope they will infect our country with a passion for fairness, decency, and honesty.

And then, maybe, just maybe, the fever will break.