\u201cWe\u2019ve trended toward more freedoms for law-abiding citizens.\u201d That\u2019s how Missouri State Senator Brian Munzlinger recently described the outlook of the Missouri legislature.<\/p>\n

I have been thinking about which citizens have been receiving these \u201cfreedoms.\u201d A partial list of some of these \u201cfreedoms,\u201d enacted and proposed, helps me arrive at the answer:<\/p>\n

\n
• Freedom to overturn the will of the people who voted against conceal\/carry weapon in 1999<\/li>\n
• Freedom for lenders to charge exorbitant interest rates<\/li>\n
• Freedom for health insurers to raise premiums without oversight<\/li>\n
• Freedom to reduce taxes on corporations<\/li>\n
• Freedom of businesses to curb the rights of unions<\/li>\n
• Freedom for candidates and legislators to take as much money from lobbyists as they can get<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Now it becomes clear: Follow the money. Our legislators are protecting the groups that put and keep them in office.\u00a0They are protecting:<\/p>\n

  \n
  • The freedom of the gun lobbyists to help sell as many weapons as possible<\/li>\n
  • The freedom of the banking lobbyists to enable payday lenders to earn money at the expense of the vulnerable working poor<\/li>\n
  • The freedom of the health insurance lobbyists to protect insurers from disclosing the reasons for their rate increases<\/li>\n
  • The freedom of large corporate lobbyists to assist corporations in avoiding taxes to fund the services of the people in the state in which they do business<\/li>\n
  • The freedom of the\u201d right to work\u201d lobbyists to allow businesses to pay low wages giving their employees “the right to work for less.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    But what freedoms do we, the law abiding citizens of the state of Missouri\u2014and other states, too\u2014really need? Freedom from the grip of the moneyed few<\/em>.\u00a0We need to have our voices heard above the din of the lobbyists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cWe\u2019ve trended toward more freedoms for law-abiding citizens.\u201d That\u2019s how Missouri State Senator Brian Munzlinger recently described the outlook of the Missouri legislature. I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":636,"featured_media":21828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,128,1656,113,908,119,16,1253],"tags":[783,1426,887],"yoast_head":"\n