In view of all the recent revelations of government and corporate corruption one has to wonder about the state of our nation and whether or not we have deluded ourselves into believing we are the great nation we claim to be. When we look closely at the history of America’s covert activity and political and military intervention into the affairs of other nations over the past sixty years it makes any thoughtful person question the truthfulness of our government’s claims and intentions.
Is the view of America held by the people of other nations accurate?
Are we nothing but a nation of corrupt profit-mongers, criminal bullies and flim-flam artists with no respect for the rights and property of other nations or the lives and welfare of their people? Like a neighborhood thug are we running a protection racket shaking down other countries with threats of economic and military punishment if they don’t cooperate? Have we, by way of American corporations, unfairly manipulated the political leadership of these nations to our advantage and at their people’s expense? Have American corporations robbed these undeveloped nations of their natural resources and economic welfare to enrich the American economy and a few powerful and wealthy corporatists? How many of the people of these nations have suffered at the hands of America as we pursue total economic and military dominance of the world all in the name of democracy and freedom while the truth hides in the shadows?
Although the average American responds that we are a Christian nation that has a history of kindness and compassion and they will cite any number of examples, most often our heroic rescues of Europe in WWI and WWII and how we are a beacon of freedom and liberty for oppressed people of all lands. They point to the economic success of South Korea, and of Japan and Germany after the war. (War is good!)
This in fact is why we are in Iraq they will point out – to free this and other mid-east nations from the clutches of dictators like Saddam Hussein, to establish a democracy and an economic paradise like here in America.
They might go on and on citing examples of America’s compassion, generous assistance to others in time of need, selfless sacrifice and bravery all testifying to the greatness that is America, but how much of this greatness has been tarnished by the criminal behavior of America’s leadership both in our government and in the corporate world? How can we continue to say we are a great nation in face of the hypocrisy and corruption of our leadership?
In fact, the distinction between our government leaders and those of the corporate world has become almost nonexistent. The government has become the corporate world’s handmaiden.
This nation’s form of government, originally formed to protect the rights, freedoms and property of individual citizens, has been completely taken over by corporations and those with no sense of national loyalty to America or any other nation. These arrogant and powerful elitists view the people of all nations as chattel, to be utilized and disposed of at will.
There is an unwritten conspiracy, a meeting of the minds that needs no plan or agreement in principal. They all aspire to the same goal of optimal power and wealth and within that desire the means are all the same dictated by the degree of control of a nation’s people, its government and its leadership and the ability to establish or circumvent the laws and rules of that nation that stand in their way.
It’s called capitalism, a good idea as long as a nation’s governing body remains free from improper influence and control by those entities practicing production and trade.
In the corporate view of the capitalist system, individuals and firms have the right to own and use wealth to earn income and to sell and purchase labor for wages with little or no government control. The function of regulating the economy is then achieved mainly through the operation of market forces where prices and profit dictate where and how resources are used and allocated.
However, a nation’s government must have enough control over a capitalistic system, control over the laws and rules of play, to protect the interests of its citizens and the national interests. If this gets out-of-hand the corporations and the wealthy investment class will run roughshod over a nation and its people and engage in criminal behavior to achieve the insatiable goals of ever growing profit, power and control.
Thomas Jefferson recognized this very early in the infancy of our nation and issued this warning to its people, “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
That “trial of strength” and “defiance to the laws of our country” Jefferson warned of is upon us and has been for some time. We as a nation failed to “crush in its birth the aristocracy of its monied corporations”. That’s a fact!
The truth is this nation has almost been completely taken over by corporations. Our democratic model of government has been replaced by a corporate model that is by nature the antithesis of democracy.
Our congressional and senate bodies have been invaded and taken over by corrupt representatives of corporations. These are representatives who only pretend to represent the people of this nation or those who voted for them. These elected positions were bought and paid for by corporations and the majority of those men and women who occupy those seats are beholden to these interests. The majority came from the corporate world, are members of the corporate fraternity, and are first loyal to the corporations who placed them there and only secondarily does a nagging conscience cause them to consider the people’s interests. After all, if they don’t please the campaign donors whose largesse was ultimately responsible for them winning their seat they won’t get repeat contributions to insure reelection. When someone gives you money there is always an expected payoff.
The majority of our courts are now governed by judges placed there by corporate and monied interests. Those who rely on the wealthy and powerful to continue in their positions and to further their financial goals are corrupt by nature, pandering to the wealthy, the influential and well connected.
Corruption and crime in high office has always been with us, in local, state and national government and in business and finance. The nature of capitalism and the opportunity for accumulating private wealth breeds corruption and tempts people to be dishonest. But, corruption seems to exist at an all-time high and is more wide spread than ever in this nation’s history, even greater than the era of the robber barons. It has “trickled down” to all levels of our society even affecting religious bodies and small businesses. It abounds in the heath care industry, in finance and the investment community.
The mortgage industry as an example has been allowed to practice criminal predatory lending and use other rip-off tactics to bilk homeowners. Stock brokers are allowed to practice unlawful insider trading while publicly traded companies pump and dump their stock on the trusting and unwary public who are encouraged to invest in America’s stock market.
What can we do about any of this?
There is hope even though all appears hopeless.
There is a groundswell of discontent rising up in this nation. There is a veil being lifted from the average person’s eyes. The fog of subterfuge that has fooled so many for so long is being burned away by the reality of corruption and lies that has grown too large to remain hidden by the complicit, fawning and pandering corporate owned media.
There is a fast growing progressive movement among the rank and file members of all political persuasions that is rejecting the dishonesty of this corrupt culture that has swept over our nation like a pandemic. Those who call themselves Republicans are breaking ranks with those who call themselves Republicans but who serve only the corporate masters. Conservatives in either political party are breaking ranks with the fanatical fundamentalist Christians who support this corporate culture of corruption and deceit.
Those who call themselves Democrats are waking up to the mass of corporate corruption and deceit within their own party and the hypocrisy of those who talk the peoples talk, but walk the corporate walk.
A good example is the swift growth of progressive organizations like Democracy for America, an off-shoot of Howard Dean’s campaign, and MoveOn.org the amazingly powerful grassroots organization that, along with DFA is taking on the reelection bid of Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in an effort to chastise him for his support of the Bush war and other issues on the Republican corporate agenda. This is only the beginning.
David Sirota, who will appear on ”The Colbert Report” the night of June 14th,
just released a new book , Hostile Takeover – How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government – And How We Take It Back. In this revealing book Sirota unveils this pandemic of corruption issue by issue and offers a plan to take our country back from the “the aristocracy of our monied corporations” Jefferson warned us of. I encourage each of you to obtain a copy and fortify yourself with the ammunition you need to need to confront your representatives and to argue forcefully for change.
The America we have become is not the America I grew up in and is not the America I want my grandchildren to experience. This is my country and it’s yours. We have a responsibility to this country, to protect it and preserve it.
This government does not belong to corporations and it was not created for the benefit of corporations. Our country is a democratic republic – we our governed by a constitutional democratic body not a corporate style managed system which is the antithesis of a democracy. Big money and corporations have corrupted our democracy and have taken our government from us. They control our treasury and our military, our congress and our senate. Those who sell out to these interests are dabbling in treason.
.
This is my country and it’s yours. It is our government, not theirs, and it is the duty of every citizen of this nation to heed the call of Abraham Lincoln to insure that this government “of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
God, I Miss Paul Wellstone
In the New York Times today it is reported that the government subsidized giant mortgage buyer Fannie Mae must pay $444 million in a settlement over executives manipulating the books to award themselves huge bonuses and parachutes. This comes on the heels of the $125 million settlement that Freddie Mac, its smaller rival, paid regulators in 2003 after it was found to have understated earnings by about $5 billion from 2000 to 2002 to minimize large profit swings.
Investigators cataloged how Fannie Mae repeatedly “violated accounting principles” to show stable earnings and less volatility, allowing executives to show profits that didn’t exist and thereby pay themselves huge unwarranted bonuses.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are settling with the government for the crime of theft by former executives who were quietly allowed to step down and keep their loot they stole from American taxpayers?
Excuse me, isn’t stealing a crime? At what rung on the ladder of success does blue-collar felony crime become simply white collar impropriety or misdemeanor?
Don’t local bank clerks who “violate accounting principles” go to jail for theft? At what corporate level or level of government must one reach to no longer be held accountable for theft? This is just more example of the morass of corruption that permeates the business world and our government.
The Federal National Mortgage Association, nicknamed Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Mortgage Corporation, nicknamed Freddie Mac, have operated since 1968 as government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). This means that, although the two companies are privately owned and operated by shareholders, they are protected financially by the support of the Federal Government. These government protections include access to a line of credit through the U.S. Treasury, exemption from state and local income taxes and exemption from SEC oversight.
Why would our government purposefully exempt this huge cash generating private enterprise, protected from insolvency by American taxpayers, from oversight?
To paraphrase Dana Carvey’s church lady from SNL, “Isn’t that convienient? And who do you think may have caused these executives to steal from American homeowners and taxpayers? Could it be . . . . . . SATAN!
Ohhhh! But never fear, retribution for these criminals is being considered. The Office of Federal Housing and Enterprise Oversight, who stepped in to correct this situation, could call for the company's former executives to return part of their pay package. Ooo-hooo! They might call for the executive crooks to return part of their theft. Maybe – maybe not.
Perhaps the courts should follow this model for local lawbreakers convicted of theft.
So, you stole fifty tires from the Goodyear tire store in Cool Springs? Well, young man, you “violated ownership principles” by taking tires that didn’t belong to you. Okay, we’re gonna let you keep, ohhh say - 30 of them - but you have to return 20 of them – and let that be a lesson to you.
David Sirota, in his bestselling new book,Hostile Takeover,exposes how our government has been taken over by corporations and the stench of corruption that links both. In today’s Baltimore Sun, Sirota addresses government and corporate corruption in an article entitled Money Plus Secrecy Equals Trouble.
“ - the problem is clear: Money mixed with secrecy is the real reason most of the pay-to-play scandals ravaging Capitol Hill are coming out of the appropriations committees. In the corporate world, it is the same thing. Recent headlines document how the CEO of UnitedHealth Group was given $1.6 billion in stock options, the CEO of Pfizer Inc. was given an $83 million pension and the CEO of ExxonMobil Corp. was granted a $400 million retirement package. The Wall Street Journal subsequently found that companies are quietly footing the bill for their executives' taxes. And USA Today reports that over the last five years, at the 60 worst-performing companies in America in terms of their market value, executives have pocketed $12 billion. All of this has raised a question from shareholders: How have these executives been able to raid company treasuries like this with such little fanfare?”
That’s a rhetorical question. It’s because our elected officials that are employed by us to oversee and regulate corporations and government spending are in on the take. They are part of the criminal culture that passes itself off as “working for the benefit of the American people”.
What are we going to do about it? Is the reason we don’t speak out that we are all part of the problem? Are too many of us “on the take” in one fashion or another? Maybe that’s why there is no public outcry and call for justice.
God, I Miss Paul Wellstone.
Investigators cataloged how Fannie Mae repeatedly “violated accounting principles” to show stable earnings and less volatility, allowing executives to show profits that didn’t exist and thereby pay themselves huge unwarranted bonuses.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are settling with the government for the crime of theft by former executives who were quietly allowed to step down and keep their loot they stole from American taxpayers?
Excuse me, isn’t stealing a crime? At what rung on the ladder of success does blue-collar felony crime become simply white collar impropriety or misdemeanor?
Don’t local bank clerks who “violate accounting principles” go to jail for theft? At what corporate level or level of government must one reach to no longer be held accountable for theft? This is just more example of the morass of corruption that permeates the business world and our government.
The Federal National Mortgage Association, nicknamed Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Mortgage Corporation, nicknamed Freddie Mac, have operated since 1968 as government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). This means that, although the two companies are privately owned and operated by shareholders, they are protected financially by the support of the Federal Government. These government protections include access to a line of credit through the U.S. Treasury, exemption from state and local income taxes and exemption from SEC oversight.
Why would our government purposefully exempt this huge cash generating private enterprise, protected from insolvency by American taxpayers, from oversight?
To paraphrase Dana Carvey’s church lady from SNL, “Isn’t that convienient? And who do you think may have caused these executives to steal from American homeowners and taxpayers? Could it be . . . . . . SATAN!
Ohhhh! But never fear, retribution for these criminals is being considered. The Office of Federal Housing and Enterprise Oversight, who stepped in to correct this situation, could call for the company's former executives to return part of their pay package. Ooo-hooo! They might call for the executive crooks to return part of their theft. Maybe – maybe not.
Perhaps the courts should follow this model for local lawbreakers convicted of theft.
So, you stole fifty tires from the Goodyear tire store in Cool Springs? Well, young man, you “violated ownership principles” by taking tires that didn’t belong to you. Okay, we’re gonna let you keep, ohhh say - 30 of them - but you have to return 20 of them – and let that be a lesson to you.
David Sirota, in his bestselling new book,Hostile Takeover,exposes how our government has been taken over by corporations and the stench of corruption that links both. In today’s Baltimore Sun, Sirota addresses government and corporate corruption in an article entitled Money Plus Secrecy Equals Trouble.
“ - the problem is clear: Money mixed with secrecy is the real reason most of the pay-to-play scandals ravaging Capitol Hill are coming out of the appropriations committees. In the corporate world, it is the same thing. Recent headlines document how the CEO of UnitedHealth Group was given $1.6 billion in stock options, the CEO of Pfizer Inc. was given an $83 million pension and the CEO of ExxonMobil Corp. was granted a $400 million retirement package. The Wall Street Journal subsequently found that companies are quietly footing the bill for their executives' taxes. And USA Today reports that over the last five years, at the 60 worst-performing companies in America in terms of their market value, executives have pocketed $12 billion. All of this has raised a question from shareholders: How have these executives been able to raid company treasuries like this with such little fanfare?”
That’s a rhetorical question. It’s because our elected officials that are employed by us to oversee and regulate corporations and government spending are in on the take. They are part of the criminal culture that passes itself off as “working for the benefit of the American people”.
What are we going to do about it? Is the reason we don’t speak out that we are all part of the problem? Are too many of us “on the take” in one fashion or another? Maybe that’s why there is no public outcry and call for justice.
God, I Miss Paul Wellstone.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Al Gore and The Progressive Movement
Amidst all the speculation about whether or not Al Gore will be a candidate in 2008 are a number of clues. One of them is in the abbreviated promotional blurb on the front of the just released book by David Sirota, Hostile Takeover: "Every politically engaged citizen should read this book." ~ Al Gore.
On the back of the cover the list of praise for the book has Al Gore's comment first on the list. "Hostile Takeover makes a strong case that American democracy is under attack. Every politically engaged citizen who wants to know what challenges we face and how we can rebuild our country's democracy should read this book" - Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States.
Inside the book Sirota takes on the corrupt political establishment and pulls no punches. He exposes the flagrant lies, the perpetrators and those that profit from them - both Republicans and Democrats. In this compendium of political and corporate corruption Sirota attacks and exposes the underlying motives of legislation being sold as good for the American workers and taxpayers but in truth serves only corporations, the wealthy and the powerful. He exposes the depth of the corruption and the hypocrisy of those who twist and spin the issues in favor of corporations while hiding the truth, that their legislative action comes at the expense of the working class, low and middle income Americans, those Americans all politicians swear are their main interest. Sirota names names and among those he names and calls to task are prominent Democrats, some being considered as presidential hopefuls in 2008.
What has this got to do with Al Gore and a possible run in 2008?
Recently, while I was hyping Gore as a possible candidate, someone pointed out that Al Gore was a free trader and that it was the Clinton-Gore administration that pushed NAFTA and set the stage for CAFTA. Knowing my position on the free trade agreements and an apparent conflict in my support of Gore, they asked, "why do you think Al Gore has changed his mind?".
I'll explain.
In his book, Sirota takes on NAFTA and CAFTA and the public's opposition to these "free" trade agreements and their effect on American workers, wages, job losses, the environment, etc. My point is, I can't believe Al Gore would recommend this book if he first didn't read it, and second if he was in complete disagreement with any of the salient points, many which expose Democratic sins including those of the Clinton-Gore administration..
It is true that Gore supported NAFTA but he was in favor of agreements that were primarily "fair" trade agreements that are linked to labor and environmental standards, not what we ended up with. And, while I can't speak for Gore's position regarding free trade at this time, I'm sure he has altered his position after seeing the results of NAFTA and I arrive at that conclusion by simply looking at the progressive groups he now stands with and those that support him. I can't imagine Gore is out of sync with these groups on the issue of free trade and other progressive positions.
Besides, one of the most important characteristics of any great leader would be the intellectual ability to process new information, admit mistakes, make adjustments and change directions rather than stubbornly hold a course that was harmful to our nation and its people, and one which the majority of Americans are against. In stark contrast to the current occupant of the oval office, I believe Gore possesses that ability and much more. I feel Gore has had several come-to-the alter experiences beginning in 2000 and since. One of the first was evident in his painfully delivered, courageous and brilliant concession speech, "no matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out."
Keep in mind that Al Gore gave his full support to Howard Dean in 2004 and a former Gore staffer, Roy Neel, took the helm of the Dean campaign after Trippi stepped down. Here was Dean's position on free trade at the time.
"NAFTA and the WTO only globalized the rights of multinational corporations, but they did not globalize the rights of workers. They are not going to globalize human rights, environmental rights, the right to organize. That needs to happen. And if it doesn't happen, NAFTA and the WTO simply aren't going to work. Right now, we're exporting jobs.
Globalization is here to stay whether we like it or not, but the rules for globalization are not. Both NAFTA and the WTO help large multinational corporations but ignore the needs for the people who work for them. In order to make globalization work we also have to globalize worker protection, labor rights, environmental rights and human rights. Free trade won't work under the present circumstances.
I supported NAFTA, I supported the WTO. We benefited in Vermont from trade. But in the Midwest, our manufacturing jobs are hemorrhaging. We have to go back and revise every single trade agreement that we have to include labor standards, environmental standards & human rights standards. If we don't, the trade policy that we seek to help globalize and help workers around the country & the world is going to fail."
Either Gore or Dean was exactly what we needed in 2000 and 2004, but we got neither and our country has been in a nose dive ever since, debt going through the roof, massive theft of tax dollars, jobs being eliminated and shipped offshore by corrupt corporations, political corruption on a scale never before witnessed, our constitution shredded, our freedoms trampled, stolen elections and democracy in it's death throes.
But, David Sirota is right, as he states below, there is hope and a reason for optimism. All is not lost. The progressive movement is real and is growing more power each and every day. Howard Dean showed the way in 2004 and Americans are slowly waking up to the hostile takeover of our government by those whose self-serving interests are destroying a nation.
I devoutly believe Al Gore has seen the light and is prepared to accept the mantle of the gallant knight who will lead us toward it. All we have to do is follow Gore's advice, read Sirota's book and come-to-the -alter together in our effort to save our nation.
Also, in his http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/algore2000concessionspeech.html>concession speechon December 13, 2000 , Al Gore said to all Americans but especially those who voted for him, "Some have asked whether I have any regrets and I do have one regret: that I didn't get the chance to stay and fight for the American people over the next four years, especially for those who need burdens lifted and barriers removed, especially for those who feel their voices have not been heard. I heard you and I will not forget."
I don't believe Gore has forgotten. Not for a moment.
Gary
Subscribe to Sirotablog for daily updates and progreeive commentary. http://www.davidsirota.com/
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=58F35103-C702-1D69-C3944D8C17C34CBDThe'>">2006: The Year the Progressive Movement Became a Movement
By David Sirota
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic these days if you are a progressive. A look accross 2006's campaign landscape shows that our movement is no longer theoretical - it is very real, and increasing in power every single day. But as the Denver Post today notes in a piece about our growing movement (attached below), progressives also face stiff opposition in the form of a corrupt political Establishment desperate to preserve the status quo.
The confrontation brewing between this new movement and the Establishment is not to be downplayed - it is escalating, and it will have profound results that go far beyond just one election.The Denver Post notes that those defending the status quo are, to be sure, entrenched. "Political corruption comes in two varieties," the Post notes. "There are brazen payoffs, and then there is a kind of gooey rot: the venal abandonment of principles, spurred by the favors of corporate lobbyists and the need for campaign cash." Ultimately, "All but the toughest pols and pundits get seduced, and over time, the party establishment starts to stipulate: globalization is a blessing, free trade is sacred, billionaires need tax breaks, job loss is inevitable, workers are expendable, wages will decline, the war in Iraq is necessary."
On the back of the cover the list of praise for the book has Al Gore's comment first on the list. "Hostile Takeover makes a strong case that American democracy is under attack. Every politically engaged citizen who wants to know what challenges we face and how we can rebuild our country's democracy should read this book" - Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States.
Inside the book Sirota takes on the corrupt political establishment and pulls no punches. He exposes the flagrant lies, the perpetrators and those that profit from them - both Republicans and Democrats. In this compendium of political and corporate corruption Sirota attacks and exposes the underlying motives of legislation being sold as good for the American workers and taxpayers but in truth serves only corporations, the wealthy and the powerful. He exposes the depth of the corruption and the hypocrisy of those who twist and spin the issues in favor of corporations while hiding the truth, that their legislative action comes at the expense of the working class, low and middle income Americans, those Americans all politicians swear are their main interest. Sirota names names and among those he names and calls to task are prominent Democrats, some being considered as presidential hopefuls in 2008.
What has this got to do with Al Gore and a possible run in 2008?
Recently, while I was hyping Gore as a possible candidate, someone pointed out that Al Gore was a free trader and that it was the Clinton-Gore administration that pushed NAFTA and set the stage for CAFTA. Knowing my position on the free trade agreements and an apparent conflict in my support of Gore, they asked, "why do you think Al Gore has changed his mind?".
I'll explain.
In his book, Sirota takes on NAFTA and CAFTA and the public's opposition to these "free" trade agreements and their effect on American workers, wages, job losses, the environment, etc. My point is, I can't believe Al Gore would recommend this book if he first didn't read it, and second if he was in complete disagreement with any of the salient points, many which expose Democratic sins including those of the Clinton-Gore administration..
It is true that Gore supported NAFTA but he was in favor of agreements that were primarily "fair" trade agreements that are linked to labor and environmental standards, not what we ended up with. And, while I can't speak for Gore's position regarding free trade at this time, I'm sure he has altered his position after seeing the results of NAFTA and I arrive at that conclusion by simply looking at the progressive groups he now stands with and those that support him. I can't imagine Gore is out of sync with these groups on the issue of free trade and other progressive positions.
Besides, one of the most important characteristics of any great leader would be the intellectual ability to process new information, admit mistakes, make adjustments and change directions rather than stubbornly hold a course that was harmful to our nation and its people, and one which the majority of Americans are against. In stark contrast to the current occupant of the oval office, I believe Gore possesses that ability and much more. I feel Gore has had several come-to-the alter experiences beginning in 2000 and since. One of the first was evident in his painfully delivered, courageous and brilliant concession speech, "no matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out."
Keep in mind that Al Gore gave his full support to Howard Dean in 2004 and a former Gore staffer, Roy Neel, took the helm of the Dean campaign after Trippi stepped down. Here was Dean's position on free trade at the time.
"NAFTA and the WTO only globalized the rights of multinational corporations, but they did not globalize the rights of workers. They are not going to globalize human rights, environmental rights, the right to organize. That needs to happen. And if it doesn't happen, NAFTA and the WTO simply aren't going to work. Right now, we're exporting jobs.
Globalization is here to stay whether we like it or not, but the rules for globalization are not. Both NAFTA and the WTO help large multinational corporations but ignore the needs for the people who work for them. In order to make globalization work we also have to globalize worker protection, labor rights, environmental rights and human rights. Free trade won't work under the present circumstances.
I supported NAFTA, I supported the WTO. We benefited in Vermont from trade. But in the Midwest, our manufacturing jobs are hemorrhaging. We have to go back and revise every single trade agreement that we have to include labor standards, environmental standards & human rights standards. If we don't, the trade policy that we seek to help globalize and help workers around the country & the world is going to fail."
Either Gore or Dean was exactly what we needed in 2000 and 2004, but we got neither and our country has been in a nose dive ever since, debt going through the roof, massive theft of tax dollars, jobs being eliminated and shipped offshore by corrupt corporations, political corruption on a scale never before witnessed, our constitution shredded, our freedoms trampled, stolen elections and democracy in it's death throes.
But, David Sirota is right, as he states below, there is hope and a reason for optimism. All is not lost. The progressive movement is real and is growing more power each and every day. Howard Dean showed the way in 2004 and Americans are slowly waking up to the hostile takeover of our government by those whose self-serving interests are destroying a nation.
I devoutly believe Al Gore has seen the light and is prepared to accept the mantle of the gallant knight who will lead us toward it. All we have to do is follow Gore's advice, read Sirota's book and come-to-the -alter together in our effort to save our nation.
Also, in his http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/algore2000concessionspeech.html>concession speechon December 13, 2000 , Al Gore said to all Americans but especially those who voted for him, "Some have asked whether I have any regrets and I do have one regret: that I didn't get the chance to stay and fight for the American people over the next four years, especially for those who need burdens lifted and barriers removed, especially for those who feel their voices have not been heard. I heard you and I will not forget."
I don't believe Gore has forgotten. Not for a moment.
Gary
Subscribe to Sirotablog for daily updates and progreeive commentary. http://www.davidsirota.com/
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=58F35103-C702-1D69-C3944D8C17C34CBDThe'>">2006: The Year the Progressive Movement Became a Movement
By David Sirota
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic these days if you are a progressive. A look accross 2006's campaign landscape shows that our movement is no longer theoretical - it is very real, and increasing in power every single day. But as the Denver Post today notes in a piece about our growing movement (attached below), progressives also face stiff opposition in the form of a corrupt political Establishment desperate to preserve the status quo.
The confrontation brewing between this new movement and the Establishment is not to be downplayed - it is escalating, and it will have profound results that go far beyond just one election.The Denver Post notes that those defending the status quo are, to be sure, entrenched. "Political corruption comes in two varieties," the Post notes. "There are brazen payoffs, and then there is a kind of gooey rot: the venal abandonment of principles, spurred by the favors of corporate lobbyists and the need for campaign cash." Ultimately, "All but the toughest pols and pundits get seduced, and over time, the party establishment starts to stipulate: globalization is a blessing, free trade is sacred, billionaires need tax breaks, job loss is inevitable, workers are expendable, wages will decline, the war in Iraq is necessary."
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The Death of a Nation
The Bush administration has handed everything over to corporations - even the running of our government. Corporatists now dictate national policy and control all arms of government including our military as they empty our national treasury and saddle us and our children with debt for decades to come. What Thomas Jefferson and other founders of this nation warned us could happen - has happened.
"Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust." - Thomas Jefferson, 1812
Democracy - not our government- is being drowned in the bathtub as Grover Norquist, Gingrich, and others have vowed to do. Government has grown under Bush. The money no longer available from taxes to fund our excessive budget is being borrowed from China, Germany, Japan and other nations and is being divided up among wealthy investors and corporate executives. We are a nation under siege and the Trojan horse is free trade agreements and corporate crime.
Bush, the so-called president of our nation, has been reported to have privately said of our Constitution, " Stop throwing the constitution in my face . . it's nothing but a God-damned piece of paper."
Our constitution is not sacrosanct to these pirates who have gained control and are in the process of scuttling the national ship. We, the people, the crew of this ship, must mutiny if our nation is to survive.
Here is just one more example of the hostile takeover from today's New York Times:
"This is an unusual invitation," the deputy secretary of homeland security, Michael Jackson, told contractors this year at an industry briefing, just before the bidding period for this new contract started. "We're asking you to come back and tell us how to do our business."
Seeking to Control Borders, Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors By ERIC LIPTONSeveral large companies plan to bid on a multibillion-dollar contract to build a "virtual fence" along the nation's borders.
"Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust." - Thomas Jefferson, 1812
Democracy - not our government- is being drowned in the bathtub as Grover Norquist, Gingrich, and others have vowed to do. Government has grown under Bush. The money no longer available from taxes to fund our excessive budget is being borrowed from China, Germany, Japan and other nations and is being divided up among wealthy investors and corporate executives. We are a nation under siege and the Trojan horse is free trade agreements and corporate crime.
Bush, the so-called president of our nation, has been reported to have privately said of our Constitution, " Stop throwing the constitution in my face . . it's nothing but a God-damned piece of paper."
Our constitution is not sacrosanct to these pirates who have gained control and are in the process of scuttling the national ship. We, the people, the crew of this ship, must mutiny if our nation is to survive.
Here is just one more example of the hostile takeover from today's New York Times:
"This is an unusual invitation," the deputy secretary of homeland security, Michael Jackson, told contractors this year at an industry briefing, just before the bidding period for this new contract started. "We're asking you to come back and tell us how to do our business."
Seeking to Control Borders, Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors By ERIC LIPTONSeveral large companies plan to bid on a multibillion-dollar contract to build a "virtual fence" along the nation's borders.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Tennessee Democrats Involved in Fiscal Insanity
A little over a week ago, Congressmen Harold Ford Jr., Lincoln Davis, and Bart Gordon and 12 other Democrats voted with Republicans to pass another $70 billion in tax cuts, almost all of which would benefit corporations and the wealthy. The Washington Post sums up the impact: "Budgetary dishonesty, distributional unfairness, fiscal irresponsibility -- by now the words are so familiar, it can be hard to appreciate how damaging this fiscal course will be." I've had enough of Gordon, Davis and Harold Ford, Jr. voting with Republicans. The same goes for Jim Cooper and John Tanner.
What about you? Are you too afraid to speak up? What happened to the Democratic voter's voice? Where is labor's voice here in Tennessee? Are we like the Illinois labor organization that just endorsed the re-election bid of Melissa Bean (D) Illinois?
Bean was one of the infamous CAFTA 15, those 15 Democrats along with Tennessee's Jim Cooper and John Tanner who voted with the Republicans for CAFTA, a damaging trade agreement that hurts labor, the working class of all participant nations and is a blatant giveaway to corporations.
CAFTA passed by only two votes! Our Democratic representatives, Cooper and Tanner, represent the two deciding votes. How sad is that? Has no one asked them to defend these votes? Labor docilely stands by and says we don't like it but we have to support them, we have no other choice.
Where are the union protestors? Lee Schillinger, president of the Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor, said Bean's record supported labor consistently enough to earn the organization's endorsement for the upcoming November election against GOP nominee David McSweeney. "We felt it was much more important to support somebody with a 73 percent voting record on labor issues rather than zero percent, which is what you'd get with (David) McSweeney," he said, speaking of Bean's Republican opponent. "We don't want the ultra-conservative wolf to get back in." Is this the position we think we are in? That we have to accept disloyalty and infidelity to Democratic voters, a thumb of the nose to American workers by our representatives because we have no other choice? By voting this way these defectors are serving special interests who they apparently are beholden to. The only special interests they should be serving are the common interests of the voters who elect them. Just because they call themselves Democrats and just because they vote with the Democratic majority on some issues doesn't mean these representatives don't have to answer to their constituents.
There is hope. Although the AFL-CIO almost always backs Democratic incumbents, it will not support freshman Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) because of her vote for CAFTA this summer and they have vowed to work against the other fourteen Democrats as well. AFL-CIO's national President John Sweeney said he was "really angry" at Bean and the other Democratic defectors, but I haven't heard of any effort by labor here in Tennessee to hold our representatives responsible.
Don't be silent. Let Ford, Cooper, Gordon, Davis and Tanner know what you think about their Republican voting record - and if there is anyone out there who would like to challenge them in an election, please step forward.
Enough is Enough!
What about you? Are you too afraid to speak up? What happened to the Democratic voter's voice? Where is labor's voice here in Tennessee? Are we like the Illinois labor organization that just endorsed the re-election bid of Melissa Bean (D) Illinois?
Bean was one of the infamous CAFTA 15, those 15 Democrats along with Tennessee's Jim Cooper and John Tanner who voted with the Republicans for CAFTA, a damaging trade agreement that hurts labor, the working class of all participant nations and is a blatant giveaway to corporations.
CAFTA passed by only two votes! Our Democratic representatives, Cooper and Tanner, represent the two deciding votes. How sad is that? Has no one asked them to defend these votes? Labor docilely stands by and says we don't like it but we have to support them, we have no other choice.
Where are the union protestors? Lee Schillinger, president of the Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor, said Bean's record supported labor consistently enough to earn the organization's endorsement for the upcoming November election against GOP nominee David McSweeney. "We felt it was much more important to support somebody with a 73 percent voting record on labor issues rather than zero percent, which is what you'd get with (David) McSweeney," he said, speaking of Bean's Republican opponent. "We don't want the ultra-conservative wolf to get back in." Is this the position we think we are in? That we have to accept disloyalty and infidelity to Democratic voters, a thumb of the nose to American workers by our representatives because we have no other choice? By voting this way these defectors are serving special interests who they apparently are beholden to. The only special interests they should be serving are the common interests of the voters who elect them. Just because they call themselves Democrats and just because they vote with the Democratic majority on some issues doesn't mean these representatives don't have to answer to their constituents.
There is hope. Although the AFL-CIO almost always backs Democratic incumbents, it will not support freshman Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) because of her vote for CAFTA this summer and they have vowed to work against the other fourteen Democrats as well. AFL-CIO's national President John Sweeney said he was "really angry" at Bean and the other Democratic defectors, but I haven't heard of any effort by labor here in Tennessee to hold our representatives responsible.
Don't be silent. Let Ford, Cooper, Gordon, Davis and Tanner know what you think about their Republican voting record - and if there is anyone out there who would like to challenge them in an election, please step forward.
Enough is Enough!
Monday, May 08, 2006
What's So American About Illegal Immigrants?
Sad, isn't it, this problem of illegal immigrants? It's an issue we have to deal with and it's not easy. But why was it allowed to reach this stage?
Everyone doesn't agree with me on this issue. I say to those who think I'm wrong - show me where I'm wrong. I'm as compassionate as the next person or more so but this is not just about being friends to our neighbors to the south - or to the north.
And don't play that "this is America, we are a nation of immigrants" or "give me your tired, your poor" card on me. This is not 1850. The territories have all been settled and divided into states.
Besides, I am pro-immigrant, I've never said otherwise. I just believe in following our laws, complying with immigrant quotas and protecting our borders. It has nothing to do with compassion, etc. It has everything to do with proper security of our ports and borders (both borders), and management and control of who enters our country, for what reason and whether or not they should be allowed to stay. Every developed country has immigrant laws to protect the interests of their citizens. Even during the early days of our country when large numbers of immigrants were needed to develop and expand this nation, immigration was controlled.
How did it ever get this out of control?
The problem that is never given attention by the "corporate' media is that American businesses continue to break the law by giving illegal law-breaking immigrants jobs that once were worked by legal law-abiding American citizens. If there were no jobs and no welfare, illegal immigrants would not risk their lives and break our laws to enter our country. And the media does not point out that our administrative branch of government, whose first duty is to enforce the law, has winked and nodded to corporate interests and by doing so the administration itself breaks the law. By breaking our laws this administration and this government has failed to protect the citizens of this country and has violated our civil rights. Why hasn't this been taken to the courts?
Only congress can make law and even then not at the whim of only a few men, the majority not elected to office. Our constitution does not allow the presidential branch of government to make laws or ignore them at will. By breaking our laws the current administration is itself illegal. By operating outside the constitution we are effectively no longer a Republic. If this is allowed to continue, the hostile takeover of America by corporations will be complete and their will be no return. We will have become an oligarchic fascist state. America, home of the free will be no more.
And the ridiculous argument that "illegal immigrants are doing jobs that American workers won't do" makes my blood boil. Please tell me who did these jobs before illegal immigrants were allowed to flood our country while the government looked the other way? It was American workers, legal citizens who worked these jobs and even then at pitiful low wages for a country as wealthy as ours. But American corporations don't want to share the wealth with workers. These jobs are now being worked by illegals at lower wages still while companies cry that if they have to pay more they will go out of business, more workers will suffer and the American economy will go in the tank. Bullshit! Corporate executives through poor management, stupid decision-making and by greedily raiding the corporate treasuries are the ones driving corporations to the brink of bankruptcy, not the American workers.
So what do these corporations do to separate more wealth from American workers? They break our laws by hiring illegal workers at less than minimum living standard wages. And our government sanctions it by also breaking the law by not enforcing it - complicitly failing to act and looking the other way.
In fact, this current administration is all about breaking laws. Corruption in government is as high as it's ever been and corporations have bought and paid for our elected representatives on both sides and at all levels of the political spectrum. They apparently want to globalize not only our economy but our nation as well and bring it down to the level of other developing nations where the workers are victimized and paid slave labor wages. More of our national wealth is in the hands of fewer people now than at any time prior to the early part of the last century. The fewer the number that hold power the more abuse of power and the more danger of becoming a true fascist state.
And the free trade agreements, NAFTA/CAFTA, enacted by the free traders including Clinton and other Democrats are complicit as well. These free trade agreements that benefit the wealthy and the powerful have reportedly set the stage for jobs in Mexico and other Latin American countries to be shipped to China and other developing nations where workers are victimized. Many of the jobs created by American companies moving American manufacturing operations to Mexico for example have now been moved from Mexico to Taiwan and China by these same companies who continually chase the lowest production and labor costs. This causes more Mexican citizens to leave their country looking for work in the US.
Other aspects of the free trade agreements have also had a negative impact on those participating nations by fouling their air and water and endangering workers by taking advantage of low or non-existing environmental and safety standards. In a further example Costa Rica has hesitated at ratifying CAFTA because those who oppose it see large multinational companies as vultures that will pick there state owned companies clean of meat leaving Costa Rica with only the bones.
Also on the auction blockunder CAFTA is Costa Rica's national healthcare plan that provides essentially free healthcare to all citizens and extremely low cost drugs. Under CAFTA healthcare will be privatized and generic drugs now available will be replaced by brand name expensive drugs. The wonderful healthcare system now enjoyed by Ticos, as Costa Ricans refer to themselves, will be destroyed and replaced with unaffordable healthcare and drugs. CAFTA in essence allows big pharmaceuticals and large multinational healthcare operations to rape and pillage Ticos as they do elsewhere, driving up costs to employers and making citizens less healthy and less prosperous. Oh, thank you America!
Back to the illegal immigrants. Let's provide amnesty and establish a guest worker program the Bush team says.
How about just complying with the friggin laws?
The US has a temporary (guest) worker program already in place and it has been for years. We as Americans continue to fulfill our time-honored commitment to immigrants under our current immigration law that allows for an annual total of 675,000 legal immigrants, this level to consist of: 480,000 family-sponsored; 140,000 employment-based; and 55,000 “diversity immigrants.” The limited number of aliens who may be issued visas or otherwise provided nonimmigrant status under the temporary worker category is limited to 65,000 annually but these numbers are being exceeded by millions. This temporary worker category is based on the numbers required to harvest crops and there is a system in place for temporary workers to apply for legal entry.
Now we have 12 million or more illegal immigrants demanding their rights. Tyson foods had to shut down about a dozen meat processing plants last Monday when the illegals went on strike. What does that say about Tyson and their respect for the law?
Over the past twenty years or more Tyson foods ran all the mom and pop poultry farmers out of business. Now they are doing it to small pork and beef producers. Tyson now owns or contracts all the livestock producing operations that supplie their slaughter houses and have replaced all their processing plant jobs with illegal workers for wages less than a single worker can live on. What's American about any of that?
Small farmers have introduced a new word to the American lexicon. It's the verb "Tysonized". When a previous poultry farmer or pork or beef farmer are forced out of business they say they were "Tysonized". Just as in the music business artists who are victimized for speaking out against our government as being "Dixie Chicked".
While Tyson makes record profits and executives live like royalty and retire with benefits comparable to a king's ransom they claim this is all in the public's interest and that this is why we can buy affordable chicken.
Bullshit!
Supply and demand dictates cost. If chicken gets too high people don't buy. Profits slide and cost to the consumer comes down. Unlike gasoline, there are viable and cheaper alternatives to the food we eat. Gasoline is high because we are a captive market. Those in control of the petroleum industry have formed a true oligopoly. So have corporate farmers like Tyson and other large monopolies. These monopolies, Wal-Mart at the forefront, are ruining America. Whatever happened to monopoly laws?
The petroleum giants, Tyson Foods and Wal-Mart contribute heavily to Bush and Republican campaign funds. Now do you see why I favor anyone who opposes the so-called Republicans in office? This is just one of the reasons.
Do Democrats also stink? YES! But often less than the corrupt corporatist Republicans holding office. These are not true Republicans in control - these are corrupt imposters.
It's not Republican voters I'm against - like me and you they are just victims of elected representatives that have sold their souls to the devil for profit and power. Once true Republicans see the truth they will respond.
I am an American and a patriot. Join with me in opposing the corrupt government of this nation, both Democrat and Republican. Do everything you can to speak out and hold those guilty accountable for crimes against America.
Gary
Everyone doesn't agree with me on this issue. I say to those who think I'm wrong - show me where I'm wrong. I'm as compassionate as the next person or more so but this is not just about being friends to our neighbors to the south - or to the north.
And don't play that "this is America, we are a nation of immigrants" or "give me your tired, your poor" card on me. This is not 1850. The territories have all been settled and divided into states.
Besides, I am pro-immigrant, I've never said otherwise. I just believe in following our laws, complying with immigrant quotas and protecting our borders. It has nothing to do with compassion, etc. It has everything to do with proper security of our ports and borders (both borders), and management and control of who enters our country, for what reason and whether or not they should be allowed to stay. Every developed country has immigrant laws to protect the interests of their citizens. Even during the early days of our country when large numbers of immigrants were needed to develop and expand this nation, immigration was controlled.
How did it ever get this out of control?
The problem that is never given attention by the "corporate' media is that American businesses continue to break the law by giving illegal law-breaking immigrants jobs that once were worked by legal law-abiding American citizens. If there were no jobs and no welfare, illegal immigrants would not risk their lives and break our laws to enter our country. And the media does not point out that our administrative branch of government, whose first duty is to enforce the law, has winked and nodded to corporate interests and by doing so the administration itself breaks the law. By breaking our laws this administration and this government has failed to protect the citizens of this country and has violated our civil rights. Why hasn't this been taken to the courts?
Only congress can make law and even then not at the whim of only a few men, the majority not elected to office. Our constitution does not allow the presidential branch of government to make laws or ignore them at will. By breaking our laws the current administration is itself illegal. By operating outside the constitution we are effectively no longer a Republic. If this is allowed to continue, the hostile takeover of America by corporations will be complete and their will be no return. We will have become an oligarchic fascist state. America, home of the free will be no more.
And the ridiculous argument that "illegal immigrants are doing jobs that American workers won't do" makes my blood boil. Please tell me who did these jobs before illegal immigrants were allowed to flood our country while the government looked the other way? It was American workers, legal citizens who worked these jobs and even then at pitiful low wages for a country as wealthy as ours. But American corporations don't want to share the wealth with workers. These jobs are now being worked by illegals at lower wages still while companies cry that if they have to pay more they will go out of business, more workers will suffer and the American economy will go in the tank. Bullshit! Corporate executives through poor management, stupid decision-making and by greedily raiding the corporate treasuries are the ones driving corporations to the brink of bankruptcy, not the American workers.
So what do these corporations do to separate more wealth from American workers? They break our laws by hiring illegal workers at less than minimum living standard wages. And our government sanctions it by also breaking the law by not enforcing it - complicitly failing to act and looking the other way.
In fact, this current administration is all about breaking laws. Corruption in government is as high as it's ever been and corporations have bought and paid for our elected representatives on both sides and at all levels of the political spectrum. They apparently want to globalize not only our economy but our nation as well and bring it down to the level of other developing nations where the workers are victimized and paid slave labor wages. More of our national wealth is in the hands of fewer people now than at any time prior to the early part of the last century. The fewer the number that hold power the more abuse of power and the more danger of becoming a true fascist state.
And the free trade agreements, NAFTA/CAFTA, enacted by the free traders including Clinton and other Democrats are complicit as well. These free trade agreements that benefit the wealthy and the powerful have reportedly set the stage for jobs in Mexico and other Latin American countries to be shipped to China and other developing nations where workers are victimized. Many of the jobs created by American companies moving American manufacturing operations to Mexico for example have now been moved from Mexico to Taiwan and China by these same companies who continually chase the lowest production and labor costs. This causes more Mexican citizens to leave their country looking for work in the US.
Other aspects of the free trade agreements have also had a negative impact on those participating nations by fouling their air and water and endangering workers by taking advantage of low or non-existing environmental and safety standards. In a further example Costa Rica has hesitated at ratifying CAFTA because those who oppose it see large multinational companies as vultures that will pick there state owned companies clean of meat leaving Costa Rica with only the bones.
Also on the auction blockunder CAFTA is Costa Rica's national healthcare plan that provides essentially free healthcare to all citizens and extremely low cost drugs. Under CAFTA healthcare will be privatized and generic drugs now available will be replaced by brand name expensive drugs. The wonderful healthcare system now enjoyed by Ticos, as Costa Ricans refer to themselves, will be destroyed and replaced with unaffordable healthcare and drugs. CAFTA in essence allows big pharmaceuticals and large multinational healthcare operations to rape and pillage Ticos as they do elsewhere, driving up costs to employers and making citizens less healthy and less prosperous. Oh, thank you America!
Back to the illegal immigrants. Let's provide amnesty and establish a guest worker program the Bush team says.
How about just complying with the friggin laws?
The US has a temporary (guest) worker program already in place and it has been for years. We as Americans continue to fulfill our time-honored commitment to immigrants under our current immigration law that allows for an annual total of 675,000 legal immigrants, this level to consist of: 480,000 family-sponsored; 140,000 employment-based; and 55,000 “diversity immigrants.” The limited number of aliens who may be issued visas or otherwise provided nonimmigrant status under the temporary worker category is limited to 65,000 annually but these numbers are being exceeded by millions. This temporary worker category is based on the numbers required to harvest crops and there is a system in place for temporary workers to apply for legal entry.
Now we have 12 million or more illegal immigrants demanding their rights. Tyson foods had to shut down about a dozen meat processing plants last Monday when the illegals went on strike. What does that say about Tyson and their respect for the law?
Over the past twenty years or more Tyson foods ran all the mom and pop poultry farmers out of business. Now they are doing it to small pork and beef producers. Tyson now owns or contracts all the livestock producing operations that supplie their slaughter houses and have replaced all their processing plant jobs with illegal workers for wages less than a single worker can live on. What's American about any of that?
Small farmers have introduced a new word to the American lexicon. It's the verb "Tysonized". When a previous poultry farmer or pork or beef farmer are forced out of business they say they were "Tysonized". Just as in the music business artists who are victimized for speaking out against our government as being "Dixie Chicked".
While Tyson makes record profits and executives live like royalty and retire with benefits comparable to a king's ransom they claim this is all in the public's interest and that this is why we can buy affordable chicken.
Bullshit!
Supply and demand dictates cost. If chicken gets too high people don't buy. Profits slide and cost to the consumer comes down. Unlike gasoline, there are viable and cheaper alternatives to the food we eat. Gasoline is high because we are a captive market. Those in control of the petroleum industry have formed a true oligopoly. So have corporate farmers like Tyson and other large monopolies. These monopolies, Wal-Mart at the forefront, are ruining America. Whatever happened to monopoly laws?
The petroleum giants, Tyson Foods and Wal-Mart contribute heavily to Bush and Republican campaign funds. Now do you see why I favor anyone who opposes the so-called Republicans in office? This is just one of the reasons.
Do Democrats also stink? YES! But often less than the corrupt corporatist Republicans holding office. These are not true Republicans in control - these are corrupt imposters.
It's not Republican voters I'm against - like me and you they are just victims of elected representatives that have sold their souls to the devil for profit and power. Once true Republicans see the truth they will respond.
I am an American and a patriot. Join with me in opposing the corrupt government of this nation, both Democrat and Republican. Do everything you can to speak out and hold those guilty accountable for crimes against America.
Gary
Thursday, May 04, 2006
OpEd: Gore Redux
Saturday, 29 April 2006
The former veep is refusing to play overt campaign politics. But could his focus on the environment be his ticket to the presidency?
(Newsweek) - A movie about Al Gore giving a PowerPoint presentation about global warming doesn’t sound all that exciting, but if you liked “March of the Penguins,” you’ll love “An Inconvenient Truth.” Gore is as relentless in his travels to save the planet and faces almost as many obstacles as those penguins making their way across the tundra.
Getting the country to face up to global warming is his life’s mission, and it could be his ticket to the presidency. Voters yearning for a principled leader who truly believes in something may find what they’re looking for in the former vice president. Gore told NEWSWEEK that he’s in the middle of a campaign, but it’s not a campaign for a candidate. “Been there, done that,” he said.
Nobody believes him. By not playing the overt political game, Gore may be putting in place the first issue-driven campaign of the 21st century, one that is premised on a big moral challenge that is becoming more real with soaring gas prices and uncertain oil supplies. A senior Democrat who once ran for the White House himself but harbors no illusions the party will turn to him in 2008 looks at Gore and marvels, “This guy is running the best campaign I’ve seen for president.”
Whether he is or isn’t running almost doesn’t matter. Gore has the luxury of waiting until late in the political season to announce. He has universal name recognition, a proven ability to raise money, and he can tap into the MoveOn.org machinery to launch a grass-roots campaign.
Unlike front runner Hillary Clinton, there is no doubt about where Gore stands and what he believes in. He opposed the Iraq war, he was against the Patriot Act and he spoke out forcefully against President Bush’s torture policies and warrantless eavesdropping. Gore has become the darling of the left, yet global warming is not, or shouldn’t be, a partisan issue. The days when the first President Bush mocked Gore as “Ozone Man” are over, relegated to the dustbin of history. Conservative evangelical Christians see themselves as stewards of the earth. When asked at a screening of his film in Washington this week what he would say to Bush’s claim that global warming needs further study, Gore quipped, “I hope he finds the real killer,” adding quickly, “I shouldn’t have said that.”
There is a parallel for Gore in another president who lost narrowly, retreated to private life and then returned to win the presidency. His name was Richard Nixon. He lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960 in what was then the closest race in American history. Written off by the political establishment, Nixon went to New York and practiced law. Then in 1964, the Republicans took a drubbing with Barry Goldwater, a conservative whose loose talk about going to war scared the country, and suddenly the uptight and sober Nixon looked pretty good to a party desperate to regain the White House. John Kerry came much closer to winning than Goldwater, but Kerry turned out to be a wind-surfing dilettante who in retrospect reminded Democrats they had a better candidate in Gore. “It’s like the [line in] “Mrs. Robinson”: ‘Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you’,” says a Democratic strategist recalling the Simon & Garfunkel song from the movie, “The Graduate.”
This could be the ultimate remake for Gore, whose struggles with his persona during the 2000 campaign made him an object of ridicule. He’s older now, 57, and the pounds he’s put on have robbed him of that princely patrician look that the voters never liked anyway. He seems more approachable, and he’s a first-rate teacher as he explains in “An Inconvenient Truth” about the inescapable march of global warming, along with its consequences, that first captured his imagination as a college student. The film is not apocalyptic; you don’t leave the theater feeling all is lost. Gore says he deliberately left out recent scientific predictions that the world has just 10 years to reverse global warming or a tipping point will be reached beyond which it cannot be stopped. Reflections about the 2000 presidential race (“It was a hard blow, but you make the best of it”), a childhood split between farm life and a hotel room in Washington and his beloved sister’s death from lung cancer interspersed with the slide show give the movie a biopic feel that makes viewers wonder what might have been if history had taken a different turn.
Gore is not anything like Nixon, but there is an underlying psychological subtext they have in common. Once you’re bitten by the presidential bug, you stay bitten. The only cure is formaldehyde. This is his Richard Nixon remake. “He would get in if the timing’s right,” says a Democratic strategist. “The question is—is he willing to challenge [Hillary Clinton]?” That’s a question not even Gore seems to be able to answer.
Original by Eleanor Clift
The former veep is refusing to play overt campaign politics. But could his focus on the environment be his ticket to the presidency?
(Newsweek) - A movie about Al Gore giving a PowerPoint presentation about global warming doesn’t sound all that exciting, but if you liked “March of the Penguins,” you’ll love “An Inconvenient Truth.” Gore is as relentless in his travels to save the planet and faces almost as many obstacles as those penguins making their way across the tundra.
Getting the country to face up to global warming is his life’s mission, and it could be his ticket to the presidency. Voters yearning for a principled leader who truly believes in something may find what they’re looking for in the former vice president. Gore told NEWSWEEK that he’s in the middle of a campaign, but it’s not a campaign for a candidate. “Been there, done that,” he said.
Nobody believes him. By not playing the overt political game, Gore may be putting in place the first issue-driven campaign of the 21st century, one that is premised on a big moral challenge that is becoming more real with soaring gas prices and uncertain oil supplies. A senior Democrat who once ran for the White House himself but harbors no illusions the party will turn to him in 2008 looks at Gore and marvels, “This guy is running the best campaign I’ve seen for president.”
Whether he is or isn’t running almost doesn’t matter. Gore has the luxury of waiting until late in the political season to announce. He has universal name recognition, a proven ability to raise money, and he can tap into the MoveOn.org machinery to launch a grass-roots campaign.
Unlike front runner Hillary Clinton, there is no doubt about where Gore stands and what he believes in. He opposed the Iraq war, he was against the Patriot Act and he spoke out forcefully against President Bush’s torture policies and warrantless eavesdropping. Gore has become the darling of the left, yet global warming is not, or shouldn’t be, a partisan issue. The days when the first President Bush mocked Gore as “Ozone Man” are over, relegated to the dustbin of history. Conservative evangelical Christians see themselves as stewards of the earth. When asked at a screening of his film in Washington this week what he would say to Bush’s claim that global warming needs further study, Gore quipped, “I hope he finds the real killer,” adding quickly, “I shouldn’t have said that.”
There is a parallel for Gore in another president who lost narrowly, retreated to private life and then returned to win the presidency. His name was Richard Nixon. He lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960 in what was then the closest race in American history. Written off by the political establishment, Nixon went to New York and practiced law. Then in 1964, the Republicans took a drubbing with Barry Goldwater, a conservative whose loose talk about going to war scared the country, and suddenly the uptight and sober Nixon looked pretty good to a party desperate to regain the White House. John Kerry came much closer to winning than Goldwater, but Kerry turned out to be a wind-surfing dilettante who in retrospect reminded Democrats they had a better candidate in Gore. “It’s like the [line in] “Mrs. Robinson”: ‘Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you’,” says a Democratic strategist recalling the Simon & Garfunkel song from the movie, “The Graduate.”
This could be the ultimate remake for Gore, whose struggles with his persona during the 2000 campaign made him an object of ridicule. He’s older now, 57, and the pounds he’s put on have robbed him of that princely patrician look that the voters never liked anyway. He seems more approachable, and he’s a first-rate teacher as he explains in “An Inconvenient Truth” about the inescapable march of global warming, along with its consequences, that first captured his imagination as a college student. The film is not apocalyptic; you don’t leave the theater feeling all is lost. Gore says he deliberately left out recent scientific predictions that the world has just 10 years to reverse global warming or a tipping point will be reached beyond which it cannot be stopped. Reflections about the 2000 presidential race (“It was a hard blow, but you make the best of it”), a childhood split between farm life and a hotel room in Washington and his beloved sister’s death from lung cancer interspersed with the slide show give the movie a biopic feel that makes viewers wonder what might have been if history had taken a different turn.
Gore is not anything like Nixon, but there is an underlying psychological subtext they have in common. Once you’re bitten by the presidential bug, you stay bitten. The only cure is formaldehyde. This is his Richard Nixon remake. “He would get in if the timing’s right,” says a Democratic strategist. “The question is—is he willing to challenge [Hillary Clinton]?” That’s a question not even Gore seems to be able to answer.
Original by Eleanor Clift
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