There is so much to understand and so much of it goes back many years, but I really believe that all Americans need to make a concerted effort if we are to reshape our Democracy into a governnment that really serves the many and not just the few.  However tedious, we must all strive to bend our minds around it and learn the history and understand what has happened so we can rebuild our democracy.

Thomas Frank wrote a book a few years ago titled "What's the Matter with Kansas?"  In this book he explored the ways and how Americans vote against their economic interests. The book, for me explained the mystifying fact that there are people who must shop at Wal Mart to make ends meet who will still vote Republican. They do it because they have been brainwashed by the culture wars where the class enemy, instead of the people who own this country, are the liberals, the highbrow people, the ones against Christmas.

This needs clarification.

All large law firms have lobbyists. It's a fact of life.  And many of the most prestigious of them have had lobbyists working for them who have had criminal charges pressed against them and a few even sent to jail.

A Hillary fan recently posted an Obama smear regarding Obamas visit where he "slipped" into the offices of where Abramoff worked in Miami and got donations.

Fact:  Obama got donations from 183 employees at that firm for a total of $125,000.  He did not take money from any one there who worked as a lobbyist.

AT that same firm  Newsday [the source quoted by the blogger] says that John McCain and Hillary Clinton have also received money from Greenberg, and they’re correct. McCain has actually done better with Greenberg employees, to the tune of $142,000, and Hillary wins the gold medal with $163,000.

Gonzalez was executive director of the Georgia Republican Party from 2001-2002.

In 2001, Reed mounted a campaign for State Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, a volunteer job not usually the subject of heated contests. His candidacy attracted national media attention, two opponents and an independent "Anybody But Ralph" campaign. * * * Reed won on the first ballot, capturing almost 60% of the delegate vote against Shafer, who won 40%, and a third candidate, lobbyist Maria Rose Strollo, who won 1%.

Reed was endorsed by the "Confederate Republican Caucus," a block of almost 500 heritage activists who had participated in the state convention as a protest against the removal of the Confederate battle emblem from the State Flag. Associated with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Confederate Republican Caucus claimed credit for both Reed's victory and the large margin. They would later claimed that they were "double crossed" by Reed.

Documents released by federal investigators in June of 2005 show that Reed's 2001 campaign for State Chairman was secretly financed with contributions from the Choctaws, an Indian gaming tribe represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The party experienced success in the 2002 elections under Reed's leadership. Saxby Chambliss was elected as U.S. Senator [vs. Max Cleland(D)]