Politics – Citizens’ Money Accountability

September 16, 2023

Politics

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Citizens’ Money Accountability

Padmini Arhant

The governments from city to federal level funded by the people with taxes seldom if not never account for people’s money, the tradition being the epitome of corruption.

The most frustrating factor about politics worldwide is lack of transparency and systemic unaccountability.

Those at the helm in politics getting away with any crimes ranging from corruption to their criminal indulgence not barring treason and human rights violations are the norm.

The reason behind the trend is the people granted power abused against people contrary to electoral mandate eliciting the republic – the true power in society.

Politics run by money from assortments of sources again with no disclosure on campaign funding except falsely claiming to exist on public donations of $5 and above often found misleading is the foundation of corruption.

Inarguably, running for public office having become an expensive extravagant event, only the wealthy get involved to get even wealthier considering politics is the cash cow and treasure trove for those who are in it with economically life changing experience for them and drastically for the people either way.

Accordingly, the once self-declared penniless and poor per own projection of self-image on the campaign trail to win the empathy and trust of the real poor and economically struggling population only to be ditched post election, ride on the populous banner.

They are also known to commonly forget their roots upon assuming power and engage in shame politics rather than addressing the economic plight and social stigma.

Not surprisingly, they never turn back given the meteoric rise in individual and collective financial status.

The fortune cookie standard message for them is – wealth and prosperity guaranteed to members at all costs viz. at taxpayer expense.

The political status quo evading accountability is a universal problem for the electorate and taxpayers at large. As always, the ordinary folks across the spectrum bear the brunt of the issue.

Politics is not amenable to self-reform in character and ethics considering the trading of these values is accompanied by price tag allowing politics’ violation of public trust pledging loyalty to campaign financiers and puppeteers behind candidacy throughout term in office and later.

However, the unsustainable political environment demand remedy and they are as follows.

The public funded governance by the city, county, district to state and federal failure to account for taxpayer money spending is constitutional breach and ethical violation.

The government default make tax collections from the public illegal in addition to null and void the process.

The taxpayers declining to pay taxes in the absence of local and government hierarchy accountability on taxpayer deposits would justify people rights to alleviate corruption.

The government crackdown on those not in alliance with political authorities citing tax evasions are executed to the fullest not excluding imprisonment.

Conversely, the governments from top to bottom not in compliance on presenting facts and figures to the taxpayer balancing the tax collections and fund appropriations grant taxpayer to refuse governments such transgressions.

The taxpayer funded local, state and federal government’s expenditure details made publicly accessible and verifiable in public domain without any financial, physical and social constraints to the people funding the payroll and operations of the system is the fundamental requirement and obligation of the public office.

The Federal Reserve and Pentagon up and until now have evaded accountability with politics’ approval and complicity barring exception of rare political voices in the past.

Nonetheless, the scarce representation made to pay the price with forceful displacement for daring to seek explanation on public money without any digital or paper trail on transactions from the self-empowered monetary and defense authority regarded critical wings within political establishment.

The Federal Reserve and the Pentagon slighting accounting on trillions of dollars with a direct impact on ordinary people proved a grave consequence in the privileged setting.

The government printing money guided by the Federal Reserve monetary policy routinely lead to government having to raise the debt ceiling regardless of administrations in power.

Such situation could arise when fiscal spending exceed government budget combined with monetary policy lacking in effectiveness on the purpose.

Not to mention the government budget reconciliation, the protocol once served in government performance assessment has long been made irrelevant and inconvenient.

The defunct governments with government shut downs as the pattern not yielding expected results increase the burden on ordinary people with negative dividends and enormous liabilities carried over generations in real life.

The government actions in either raising debt ceiling or arbitrarily printing money besides corruption related unaccounted money supply in the economy contribute to persistent inflation in many economies draining the pockets of average income households, the primary regular retail consumers, who are also the axis of the business in any economy.

In the absence of any accountability on financial status involving taxes as revenue and printing money to run the public sector, the ordinary citizens’ from farmers to service providers in diverse industry and entrepreneurs including the entire human work force are eternally kept in the dark with state run media engaged in distraction and censorship intact on truthful information from the isolated independent communication outlet.

Meanwhile, the mandatory tax payments are collected deploying undemocratic and aggressive means to which accounting never correlate revenue and expenses or otherwise unaccounted for in the misuse of public office.

Likewise, the economy’s GDP and per capita income proudly highlighted to boost political image neither correspond nor reflect the economic reality predominantly due to fudged employment data and job growth etc.

It is clear from the governmental stagnant omissions and negligence on factual presentation of economic and financial activities to taxpayers in various formats, the income inequality and economic disparity among overwhelming population remain the fact of life.

The society is reflective of those running the gamut as the authority in control of money and economic matter.

When politics is plagued by corruption, secrecy and combative measures upon called for openness and transparent dealings, the conditions impetus influentials in the economic sector behind politics exploit the permanent opportunity to personal and vested interests.

The unfortunate yet curable disease affect ordinary lives with generational debts and perpetual economic misery.

The imminent solution is for citizens’ anywhere to subject their governments at all levels to account for their money collected via taxes, fees, levies and other sources from wherever with valid clarifications on tax increase, interest rates hikes and manufactured inflation.

The other issue with politics is plutocracy – the government of the rich, for the rich and by the rich and wealthy leaving the rest as perpetual human capital servicing the sovereign debt piled on the public and provide for plutocrats’ enrichment in the form of massive labor as well as consumer force shackled in exorbitant interest ridden debt cycle.

In this regard, the electorate seeking candidacy complete verifiable disclosure on the campaign financing as to who is behind them, the names and details of all the internal, external and special interests as well as de facto partners, alliances and endorsements are paramount to ascertain the actual conglomerate entity reining control over people destiny.

The days and customary practice of being the face of the incognito / shadow power must end with plutocracy bid farewell from the eternal beneficiary position on public (forced into living paycheck to paycheck) funded payroll and lifelong benefits availed in the public office tenure.

Simultaneously, the slaving and slogging among the vast majority of ordinary average citizens is continued through descendants to maintain the exploitative parasitic culture of plutocracy.

Plutocracy is not democracy by any definition or reasonable interpretation of fairness and democratic rights.

Citizens efforts and participation as taxpayers, electorate, labor force and consumers are quintessential in political transformation implementing transparency and accountability on citizens’ money in public spending, economic investments and divestments other than election campaign funding receipts declaration. 

Padmini Arhant 

PadminiArhant.com

Prakrithi.PadminiArhant.com

Written by Padmini Arhant · Filed Under Corruption, Editorial, Featured, Politics 

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