Corrupt AF

Clarence (Rent-A-Judge) Thomas is dirty, and he has enough company at SCOTUS to give Trump a fair shot at getting himself off the hook.

Clarence Thomas is not a rich man. Not rich the way he's always wanted to be rich. Even at $300,000 a year, he's not rich.

Guys like Leonard Leo's gang of billionaire plutocrats know this. And they know Thomas can be treated to some of the mega-perks enjoyed by the über wealthy, which gives him the feeling of power he's always coveted, which gives them a pretty fair shot at getting what they want.

Power is what money is about. Every dollar is a Power Coupon.

If you have power, you can get money

If you have money, you can get power

You never see one without the other

Thomas has a lifetime membership in the most exclusive club in world, and he knows it's next to impossible to throw him out, and all he has to do is rationalize his way to making decisions that favor his plutocrat benefactors. And the kicker is that even when he's in the minority - when the court's decision goes against his paymasters' interests - he can still get paid for having dissented in their favor.

Accountability can't just be retroactive and remedial. It has to be preventative.

I think the problem we're faced with - how do we take appropriate action against an offender when the offense is obvious and action is warranted - is very much at the root of the opposing ideologies we're trying to deal with. I see it as a matter of having to combat the conservatives' insistence that "The Free Market" can and should be extended - to rid ourselves of this cumbersome democracy thing, and replace it with "Free Market Government".

The right wing has made it a cornerstone of their movement to stand against regulation at every opportunity. They believe the market will always correct for any harm being done by whatever company causing whatever problem. We know by history and experience that this is not true. And even if the company is "punished" retroactively by losing profits &/or taking a bad PR hit, the customers (aka: people) who have suffered because of that company's actions or neglect can never be truly made whole again.

So we have to do sensible things that mitigate risk and prevent harm, and that means we have to regulate.

This common sense approach has to be applied to government as well - especially when we're talking about a piece of the government that is currently holding itself above the law - believing it's not subject to the checks & balances that were written into the US Constitution.