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.
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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”.
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