Our democracy is at peril. In a system where money equals speech, the rich can afford to drown out the rest. They own mainstream media outlets, fund the Commission on Presidential Debates, bankroll think tanks and policy institutes, fund academic research, finance artificial grassroots (“astroturf”) organizations — in short, the wealthy have built a propaganda empire that manufactures consent for all things contrary to the public interest. In addition, they underwrite influence factories such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), institutionalizing and streamlining the quid pro quo process and matching corporate contributors with legislators-for-hire in a highly structured arrangement that leaves voters entirely out of the loop. The Citizens United ruling was a serious  blow to American democracy, which is now for sale to the highest bidder.

There is the further problem. Joseph Stalin said, "You know, comrades, that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how." There is increasingly evidence documented below in ever increasing references that the votes are not being correctly counted.

We pay more than any other industrialized country but have the least to show for it both in terms of health and coverage.

Less transparency and more secrecy are bad for a democratic republic. Unfortunately this is an increasing trend documented in this article.

We need to evaluate who our real heroes are. We need to acknowledge those who reveal a crime are not worse criminals than those who commit a crime. (Germans apparently get this. See Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden statues unveiled in Berlin    I understand the statues are gone now, but the heritage of the three individuals will live on in Wikileaks)

Poverty is getting much worse thanks to the policies of both parties. All indications are that poverty is not only getting worse, it is approaching third world status in many areas. We can ill afford to ignore these dangers.

This describes  the decline of labor over decades thanks to the policies of both parties.