Hunks of thinking meat

Something that is becoming more and more clear in the heath care struggle and the other economic upheaval we are going through: people only count insofar as they vote for politicians and give money to the corporations (by buying goods and services) or the government (through taxes). The people who are in government and corporate America don't really care about us, the citizens who make less than enough to be considered rich, except as hunks of thinking meat to manipulate through the media or exploit through fear and advertising in all its forms.

That sounds so simple, yet runs so counter to the idea that we live in a representative democracy. And, by the way, from what I can see there is no difference---or so small a difference as to be irrelevant---between the Democrats and the Republicans on this.

The majority of the populace wants single payer health care similar to Canada's current system, and it is not ever part of the discussion. How much does this contradict the idea that we have a say it the issues by which we are most affected? That one of the elements of the current health care bill is a mandate REQUIRING that citizens buy health care from private insurers is a clear indication of who is really important in this country, and it ain't the ones who will be footing the bill for the stupid wreck of a "reform" bill that will fail miserably. We will jack up the profits of the insurances companies, but how much do you wan to bet we will still be denied insurance when we need it?

"We the people" are no more to these oligarchs than a natural resource to be strip mined and used up like any other.