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Transnational corporations, in order to maximize investor profits and wealth are capturing our government. We can only restore government of, for and by the people with a popular and sustained political effort.
A recent Gallup Poll showed that 90% of Americans agree that corporations have too much political power. Only a small fraction of these are aware that corporatism is a serious threat to democracy.
Big auto and oil corporations have long focused government actions toward a continued dependence on oil and gasoline. Many of us are confident that the war in Iraq was motivated to continue oil profits. Corporate government ignored the earlier warnings of an impending crisis and stopped President Carter's efforts to prevent it. When Exxon Mobile's CEO was asked to provide American citizens some relief on gas prices, he stated that his goal is to maximize profits for his stockholders.
Corporate funds and investor wealth were highly visible in the 2004 election, providing President Bush with the largest ever election campaign fund. Subsequent to the election the corporate lobbies of the federal government have dominated new law-making in favor of higher profits instead of providing for the people's interests.
Presidential efforts to reward contributing corporations were apparent in both the proposal to privatize Social Security and the Medicare Drug Program. Big finance, using legally accepted unreadable small print to sell high rate credit cards to inexperienced youngsters, got tighter rules on bankruptcy for credit card debt. Class action lawsuits, misidentified as frivolous lawsuits, were shifted to more corporation friendly federal courts.
Our supreme court has found that corporations have constitutionally protected human rights; like free speech, privacy, and equal protection under the law. These corporations have limited liability and are not subject to prison or the death penalty. The court-awarded corporate privacy right requires OSHA and the EPA to provide a warning before they can enter and inspect corporate property for compliance with work safety and environmental laws. Corporate fines for lawbreaking are so small that they are considered just a minor cost of business.
Our federal judges have recently shown their corporate favoritism. Last year the Supreme Court found that the Constitution permits local governments to take private property from individual homeowners and transfer it to corporations for shopping centers.
Corporate government has weakened the financial condition of the US government, as evidenced by the trade deficits and recent government deficits, while corporate profits are the highest and stock prices rise. Rapid deterioration of the dollar is considered more and more probable, decreasing pensions and savings. Strong corporations competing with a financially weak government and uninformed citizenry make a corporate takeover easier.
The WTO, GATT, NAFTA, and CAFTA and FTAA all give corporations control of trade and eliminate all other authority or law that might impede trade. These agreements permit corporations to bypass laws, developed in the US over many years, laws that protect workers and the environment. Free trade of WTO is not free, and fair trade, which attempts to correct the problems, is very difficult to enforce.
Government's lack of enforcement of immigration laws provides corporations with cheaper labor so they don't have to pay a living wage to American workers. Although the hiring of these illegal immigrants is also illegal, our government has also not enforced these laws. If illegal jobs had not been available, the purely financial motivation for illegal immigration would have been eliminated.
The most fundamental element of democracy, our votes, has been clouded with doubt after being tampered with by computers and voting machines under corporate control. Though efforts are being made to assure fairness and accuracy in voting, corporate controlled government prevents opportunity to bring the solutions up for vote.
What can we do about it? Educate ourselves! Teach others! Let our voice be heard on Internet surveys and petitions, and on the editorial pages of our local papers. Vote and work in elections. Join an organization that promotes democracy over corporatism. Educate the members of our own political party about the consequences of corporate rule.
Ultimately, we will need federal courts to reverse several erroneous and dangerous rulings, or we might have to amend the constitution to deny personal rights to corporations and limit wealth's influence in elections. ”
This opinion was forwarded by F. Tim Holt, a retired design and development engineer.
