The SECRET Veto Letters

In previous periods of our history, American newspapers actually reported on the real events in Washington. News accounts would describe the legislation in Congress so that the significance of the bills being considered could actually be understood by the citizens of the country. When votes occurred, the newspaper stories would cover the significance of the votes from a variety of different political perspectives: political party, regional part of the country, local politics and so on. The trade-offs and compromises in votes would be noted, who voted for what bill so that their own bill would be voted for when it came up for consideration, and all of the other tradeoffs and compromises of politics as they are actually practiced. Party discipline was also reported on -- what were the positions of the parties, were there geographical or ideological splits, etc., etc.

With this information, the electorate of the country could make decisions on what party or politicians of a party to support. The role of the President in the political process was also actually reported on. What were the President's policies on this or that issue? Could the President build a majority in one or both houses to support votes on these policies, and on into other issues of importance to the American people. When the President vetoed a bill, it was a matter of some comment and had political significance. During the 1948 Presidential campaign, Harry Truman used the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act passed by Republican majorities in the House and Senate as a club to beat the Republicans with in front of labor audiences.

In the present day Mainstream Media, politics and political races are reported on as if they were some kind of sport or personality contest. The news coverage of celebrities is transferred for a short time to the political arena. In this way, it is possible for the Media to convince a gullible American public that the Media is actually covering politics when it really is not. The powerful private special interests who control the Media are engaged in a decades-old process to "dumb down" the American electorate so they can reduce its numbers and can better control elections. Politics are boring, don't you know? Hence the argument there is no difference between the two political parties. This means it does not make any difference if you vote or not, or who you vote for if you do vote. You are powerless in any case.

At the present time, the special interests still have to spend millions of dollars in advertising to counter those who do not believe the United States is "Of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations." More censoring of the news, and more lies and distortions in the news is required before the American people are totally turned off by the idea of elections and politicians. When this occurs, and representative government in the United States has been destroyed, the freedom of the American people has been destroyed, and the private special interests will be in total control.

I call the Clinton Veto letters of 1995 and the following five years the SECRET Veto Letters because almost all of the American People do not know what is in them and how what is in them relates to important issues and what has been going on in the United States Congress since 1995. The vetoes have been reported in the news but only as part of some boring political game. The fact that they have to do with the most significant issues of our times is buried in newspapers containing the massive coverage of sports, celebrities, and entertainment.

Read them, you may finally begin to understand recent American history.