1/ Someone asked me if “things were always so corrupt.” Of course there has always been corruption, but what has changed in the last 40 years is that corruption is now legally and socially sanctioned.

2/ People used to at least give lip service to the fact that things *should not* be corrupt, and someone caught was forced to feel some shame even if they didn't face consequences.

3/ Since the 1980’s, corruption in the form of “let’s give it all to the rich guys” has been sold as *good for the economy*! And SCOTUS said letting money direct our politics is “free speech.*

4/ So now corruption is built into the system; our democracy is like a cake that’s laced with arsenic. The most corrupt forces wear the most expensive suits, laughing about their corruption because it’s legal after all and made stockholders a lot of money.

5/ Can we beat it? Yeah. But only by showing up to elect people who realize this happens and are willing to take it on, on every level of government. It will take time but it’s our generational mission to correct this.

6/ In the words of the late Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

7/ Today is Independence Day. Corporate aristocracy today isn't all that different than landed aristocracy in 1776. "Inalienable rights to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness" needs to *mean something* - but means nothing if the majority of people are economically shackled.