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I’m generally not one to believe in conspiracies or fall for the first negative story about someone or something I don’t like anyway.  But putting together a few stories from the last few weeks leads me to be quite worried about where we’re headed in this country.

1. As (if) you watch the Republican Convention this week in Tampa, keep in mind something Grover Norquist (one of the more important persons in the Republican world and one who most Americans don’t know), said at the CPAC convention earlier this year (Feb. 11):

“All we have to do is replace Obama…We’re not auditioning for someone to tell us what to do,” he declared. “We know what to do. We just need a president who can sign the legislation that the Republican House and Senate pass. … We don’t need someone to think. … We need someone who knows how to hold a pen.”

As you know, Romney will be chosen this week as the Republican presidential nominee. Whether or not Norquist is correct (that Romney will do as he is told), if the House and the Senate are in Republican hands and Romney wins, Congress will likely drive the agenda. Not Romney.

2. Another article which didn’t get much coverage, but which, if true, means the Executive Branch will be further indebted to a very few, very wealthy individuals, ones with a very specific agenda.

Roger Stone (go here to learn more about this long time Republican consultant, turned libertarian) a few days ago wrote in his The Stone Zone:

“I’ve waited a few days to lay out my analysis of the selection of Paul Ryan for the VP slot on the Romney ticket. Unlike politicos like Dick Morris who bad-mouths the selection privately and shills for it publicly, I’ll tell you what I really think. My sources tell me David Koch played a key role in Ryan’s selection and that Koch’s wife Julia had been quietly lobbying for Ryan. The selection was cemented at the July 22nd fundraiser Koch held for Romney at the former’s sumptuous Hamptons estate.”

According to Stone, “Koch pledged $100 million more to C-4 and Super PAC efforts for Romney for Ryan’s selection.” (For the entire article, go to The Stone Zone.)

3)  And according to Joel Kotkin’s article, The Screwed Election: Wall Street Can’t Lose, and America Can’t Win, it doesn’t even matter if Obama wins the election. Wall Street wins whether Romney or Obama is president.

A very recent example of what Kotkin writes about, the power of business to affect policy, in this case, the Obama administration, can be seen in this NYTimes article: Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility. (Hat tip to RW for pointing out the article).

If any of the above, never mind all three, are true, it’s kind of discouraging.

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