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Conservatives love Small Town America™. They extol its virtues all the time. Too bad conservative economics is wiping Small Town America™ off the map.

Just what is this Koch Industries? Should it be called a "company?" If so we need to re-think the idea of what a company and a business is supposed to be. Even the brother of Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch called the company an "organized crime" operation.

Voting doesn’t work anymore. If it did, Americans would get what they want -- or at least some of it -- from Washington.

But they don’t.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the year of protecting Social Security, and the year of cutting Social Security. It was the age of defending Medicare, and the age of ending Medicare.

One year ago this week, blogger Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast pranked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by posing as billionaire David Koch on a phone call.

Does it seem to you like many of the things conservatives advocate end up bringing the country down? The budget cuts they demand hurt our schools and infrastructure -- which ends up making us less competitive in the world. They're against a national economic/industrial policy when every other G20 country has one -- so we send our companies out to compete alone against national systems.

On Thursday, December 8th, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a constitutional amendment to drive big money out of politics for good. He was not alone. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska joined him.

The Senate scheduled a vote for 5:30 p.m. today on restricting labor rights in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. Committee Dems caved and gave away union election rights. At least 18 unions, including the Communications Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union, have voiced opposition. Here are some actions you can take right now.

Undue corporate influence over U.S. elections has been a serious problem in American politics for decades, but this year's Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission made things worse. Worst of all, we may never know the extent of the damage.

Originally published in Politico.

Financial wilding led to our economic collapse. Use of exotic “innovations” — like derivatives and credit default swaps — exploded. Regulators were paralyzed while huge bets were made in the shadows. Markets, we were assured, self-regulate. Congress blocked reform. Big money rushed in, seeking ever higher returns. Laws legitimized shadow financial activities. Speculation careened out of control.

A similar wilding now threatens our democracy as out-of-control big money floods our elections. These exotic derivatives are the super PACs and related operations, fueled by cartloads of secret money. The Federal Election Commission is toothless and paralyzed. Congress blocks new regulations. The Supreme Court opened the floodgates with Citizens United, ruling that corporations have the right to spend unlimited sums in “independent expenditure” campaigns. The marketplace of ideas, we are assured, can regulate itself.

This financial wilding is likely to escalate until it thoroughly corrupts our democracy.