3.15.2006
Mr. Bush, Get your "Business" out of My Government!
I was reading through the March 20th issue of The Nation magazine when a regular column caught my eye. It was the weekly installment of “Diary of a Mad Law Professor,” written by Patricia J. Williams, entitled “Perfect Knowledge, Perfect Ignorance.” In it, Williams puts into a predictable focus and context, the ongoing antics of the Bush Administration, in a whole new light.
WHAM! The last six years play out in my mind. How wonderful it is to finally understand what it is Bush and his cronies were so brazen, so blatant, and remain so willing to disregard democratic rule of law, and the American people, as they manage the country as if it were their own private trillion-dollar, for-profit corporation (and considering how badly Bush ran his own business into the ground, is it any wonder why our nation is experiencing record debt?).
When one stops to think about how major corporations and business decisions are made, and how the Bush White House has been managing our country becomes so obvious that it is a wonder more of us didn’t see it sooner, but we had “real” problems to worry about, or did we? If a multi-million dollar corporation can convince people to buy cheap crap at outrageous prices, just how much influence do you think a multi-TRILLION dollar government, which is being run like a corporation, might have? Think about that, long and hard. Handing American ports over to a questionable Arabian country may not make good sense from a government perspective, but it makes terrific “business sense.” It makes one wonder just how many “deals” have been made at the expense of the American People, in favor of profitability.
Should we be surprised when more and more American jobs move overseas and Bush doesn’t do a thing to stop it? Why should he? From the “corporate” perspective, this is a profitable move. Unfortunately for the Bush Administration, the corporate world and world governments are not the same thing, nor is the President of the United States afforded the luxury of treating citizens like “customers,” while he treats his “fat cat” cronies like major shareholders. Tax cuts for the wealthy? No, no, that’s “dividends” to the major shareholders (campaign contributors). Rather than worry about “the people,” corporations rely on clever marketing and public relations to “sell” their message (in politics it’s called propaganda). Their message is the only one that matters to them, and they have the resources to see to it that their message is louder, gets more play, and is more “catchy” than all the rest.
The “Corporate Culture” has another advantage over government, it doesn’t have to put up with dissent, “…The Boss says so” is law, therefore no need to concern one’s self with such trivial matters as the Constitution, that’s between the government and the people, not private business. The corporate world has its own set of rules, where ethics, morals, compassion, are not virtues, they are “excess baggage.” The first, and only, rule in the corporate world is “…Show me the money.” People in the corporate world don’t care too much about others as they climb their way up, or protect their “niches.” It is far easier to be silent and do nothing than it is to “…buck the system,” especially when the “corporate sharks” are sniffing for blood. The Left has been effectively silenced because it doesn’t want to lose what little power it has left, it’s either “tow the company line, or get marginalized.” Protesters are at best, ignored and corralled away from “the seat of power,” at worst, they’re arrested and manhandled on trumped up charges. Corporations aren’t democracies; the only votes that count in a corporation are the ones cast by the board of directors, the major contributors and shareholders, not the “working stiffs.”
And so the Bush Administration has turned our government into Major Corporation, busy at work, selling all democracy money can buy. They’re even “opening up new markets” overseas, albeit at the point of a gun. I’m sure it is wonderful what the corporate mindset can accomplish when it has its own private “all-volunteer” military force at its disposal (it gives whole new meaning to the term “hostile takeover”)? Who has to care about “foreign competition” when the Bush Administration is managing the biggest superpower in the world? Imagine just how much regard this “mindset” has for the rest of us? At best, most Americans qualify as “worker bees” to these people. They may need us, but they don’t want us to know too much about that. Far better to keep us busy, fighting amongst ourselves, while they “conduct their business” from the boardrooms of the Senate, and White House.
But wait one minute…this is America, “…Land of the free, home of the Brave…” we’re smarter than this, how did we let this happen? How did they do this to us? Who brought us television advertising, popular entertainment, “Reality TV,” tabloid journalism, and got us “hooked” on sensationalism? Who constantly bombards us with messages to buy, buy, buy, and takes our money with a smile? Who has peppered us with repeated messages of just how inadequate we are: too fat, too skinny, too ugly, to pretty, too bald, too short, too tall, sexually impotent, physically ill, mentally ill, too self-indulgent, uneducated, unskilled, too ignorant, too smart for our own good? Who makes us doubt ourselves so effectively that we’ll believe whatever we’re told, spend any amount of money, and take all the right pills, if it will “fix” us and make us feel better? That’s right, corporations do. Business as usual, except now it’s firmly wrapped its slithery coils around the very arteries of our nation and it’s beginning to squeeze tighter. Before too long, we’ll no longer be able to tell the difference.
Government doesn’t operate on a profit motive, and democracy isn’t supposed to be for sale, yet this is exactly the sort of “corporate culture” which has been cultivated by the Bush White House, and despite ever mounting evidence of widespread corruption, and scandal, after scandal, after scandal, after scandal, yet it has been far too easy to keep us from actually knowing the facts: “cover-ups” are a normal part of the corporate culture, “business as usual,” is the name of the game. Control what information gets play and what does not, and there wasn’t really a scandal at all, it was all just a big misunderstanding that is easily explained, justified, and just as easily forgotten, at least until the next time.
Well, I’ve got news for you Mr.Bush. My government isn’t your “business.” You aren’t the CEO of a world superpower, you are a public servant, and all your cronies are too. You can’t sell me what I’m not buying, and you’re just about out of “capital.” Governments cannot be “managed” like big businesses, and you and your cronies will only get away with it for so long before everyone realizes the truth, the days of taking “corporate gambles” with the American people, Our government, and Our nation are over. That’s right, Mr. Bush, finally the REAL stockholders of this nation are wising up to you and yours, and we’re not about to let you run this great nation into the ground so your corporate friends can keep profiting at our expense. You have lied to us again and again. Your lack of concern for the American people permitted the worst attack ever on American soil to occur. You used crooked intelligence to justify the invasion of a country with the second largest oil reserves in the world, you have debased the Presidency by using the tremendous power and influence that office carries with it, around the world, not to make it safer, not to “…Protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic,” but to “conduct business.” How many people have died so you and yours could make money? How many more lives will you “throw away” so you and your buddies can brag about your “record profits?”
I am reminded of a scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” when Jimmy Stewart lets Mr. Potter know why he can’t quite “figure out” what life is about, why Mr. Potter can have all the money in the world, but he can never have everything, and he can’t take it with him.
I’m reminded of an even more appropriate Jimmy Stewart movie: “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” where a man who is willing to live an die by his word trumps the corrupt machinations of a political machine gone awry: “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for,” and this is one cause that is far from lost. It is time for this country to remember the people who died for it, the people who willingly gave their lives so we could be free. It is time to end the sham once and for all and it is time for our government to return to the cherished ideals spoken so eloquently by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg:
The American people don't want, or need any more of your “corporate management style” Mr. Bush. We don’t want or need any more of your empty promises, your lies, your willful disregard for the law, nor do we care for your blatant disrespect for the American people. You want to manage our government, you're going to do it the way the Constitution says, or you and all your corrupt pals are going to find themselves out of a job. I don't suspect your corporate world will welcome you back with open arms if the words "IMPEACHED" were to appear on your resume.
©J.S.Brown Date & Time as listed above
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Bush always promised he would run the country like a corporation, and so he has (even if the corporation that springs to mind is Enron). In business ethics good corporate leaders are beholden first and foremost to their investors and trustees, not to the public at large.
WHAM! The last six years play out in my mind. How wonderful it is to finally understand what it is Bush and his cronies were so brazen, so blatant, and remain so willing to disregard democratic rule of law, and the American people, as they manage the country as if it were their own private trillion-dollar, for-profit corporation (and considering how badly Bush ran his own business into the ground, is it any wonder why our nation is experiencing record debt?).
When one stops to think about how major corporations and business decisions are made, and how the Bush White House has been managing our country becomes so obvious that it is a wonder more of us didn’t see it sooner, but we had “real” problems to worry about, or did we? If a multi-million dollar corporation can convince people to buy cheap crap at outrageous prices, just how much influence do you think a multi-TRILLION dollar government, which is being run like a corporation, might have? Think about that, long and hard. Handing American ports over to a questionable Arabian country may not make good sense from a government perspective, but it makes terrific “business sense.” It makes one wonder just how many “deals” have been made at the expense of the American People, in favor of profitability.
Should we be surprised when more and more American jobs move overseas and Bush doesn’t do a thing to stop it? Why should he? From the “corporate” perspective, this is a profitable move. Unfortunately for the Bush Administration, the corporate world and world governments are not the same thing, nor is the President of the United States afforded the luxury of treating citizens like “customers,” while he treats his “fat cat” cronies like major shareholders. Tax cuts for the wealthy? No, no, that’s “dividends” to the major shareholders (campaign contributors). Rather than worry about “the people,” corporations rely on clever marketing and public relations to “sell” their message (in politics it’s called propaganda). Their message is the only one that matters to them, and they have the resources to see to it that their message is louder, gets more play, and is more “catchy” than all the rest.
The “Corporate Culture” has another advantage over government, it doesn’t have to put up with dissent, “…The Boss says so” is law, therefore no need to concern one’s self with such trivial matters as the Constitution, that’s between the government and the people, not private business. The corporate world has its own set of rules, where ethics, morals, compassion, are not virtues, they are “excess baggage.” The first, and only, rule in the corporate world is “…Show me the money.” People in the corporate world don’t care too much about others as they climb their way up, or protect their “niches.” It is far easier to be silent and do nothing than it is to “…buck the system,” especially when the “corporate sharks” are sniffing for blood. The Left has been effectively silenced because it doesn’t want to lose what little power it has left, it’s either “tow the company line, or get marginalized.” Protesters are at best, ignored and corralled away from “the seat of power,” at worst, they’re arrested and manhandled on trumped up charges. Corporations aren’t democracies; the only votes that count in a corporation are the ones cast by the board of directors, the major contributors and shareholders, not the “working stiffs.”
And so the Bush Administration has turned our government into Major Corporation, busy at work, selling all democracy money can buy. They’re even “opening up new markets” overseas, albeit at the point of a gun. I’m sure it is wonderful what the corporate mindset can accomplish when it has its own private “all-volunteer” military force at its disposal (it gives whole new meaning to the term “hostile takeover”)? Who has to care about “foreign competition” when the Bush Administration is managing the biggest superpower in the world? Imagine just how much regard this “mindset” has for the rest of us? At best, most Americans qualify as “worker bees” to these people. They may need us, but they don’t want us to know too much about that. Far better to keep us busy, fighting amongst ourselves, while they “conduct their business” from the boardrooms of the Senate, and White House.
But wait one minute…this is America, “…Land of the free, home of the Brave…” we’re smarter than this, how did we let this happen? How did they do this to us? Who brought us television advertising, popular entertainment, “Reality TV,” tabloid journalism, and got us “hooked” on sensationalism? Who constantly bombards us with messages to buy, buy, buy, and takes our money with a smile? Who has peppered us with repeated messages of just how inadequate we are: too fat, too skinny, too ugly, to pretty, too bald, too short, too tall, sexually impotent, physically ill, mentally ill, too self-indulgent, uneducated, unskilled, too ignorant, too smart for our own good? Who makes us doubt ourselves so effectively that we’ll believe whatever we’re told, spend any amount of money, and take all the right pills, if it will “fix” us and make us feel better? That’s right, corporations do. Business as usual, except now it’s firmly wrapped its slithery coils around the very arteries of our nation and it’s beginning to squeeze tighter. Before too long, we’ll no longer be able to tell the difference.
Government doesn’t operate on a profit motive, and democracy isn’t supposed to be for sale, yet this is exactly the sort of “corporate culture” which has been cultivated by the Bush White House, and despite ever mounting evidence of widespread corruption, and scandal, after scandal, after scandal, after scandal, yet it has been far too easy to keep us from actually knowing the facts: “cover-ups” are a normal part of the corporate culture, “business as usual,” is the name of the game. Control what information gets play and what does not, and there wasn’t really a scandal at all, it was all just a big misunderstanding that is easily explained, justified, and just as easily forgotten, at least until the next time.
Well, I’ve got news for you Mr.Bush. My government isn’t your “business.” You aren’t the CEO of a world superpower, you are a public servant, and all your cronies are too. You can’t sell me what I’m not buying, and you’re just about out of “capital.” Governments cannot be “managed” like big businesses, and you and your cronies will only get away with it for so long before everyone realizes the truth, the days of taking “corporate gambles” with the American people, Our government, and Our nation are over. That’s right, Mr. Bush, finally the REAL stockholders of this nation are wising up to you and yours, and we’re not about to let you run this great nation into the ground so your corporate friends can keep profiting at our expense. You have lied to us again and again. Your lack of concern for the American people permitted the worst attack ever on American soil to occur. You used crooked intelligence to justify the invasion of a country with the second largest oil reserves in the world, you have debased the Presidency by using the tremendous power and influence that office carries with it, around the world, not to make it safer, not to “…Protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic,” but to “conduct business.” How many people have died so you and yours could make money? How many more lives will you “throw away” so you and your buddies can brag about your “record profits?”
I am reminded of a scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” when Jimmy Stewart lets Mr. Potter know why he can’t quite “figure out” what life is about, why Mr. Potter can have all the money in the world, but he can never have everything, and he can’t take it with him.
Just a minute, just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was.....Why, in the twenty-five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that? Why...here, you're all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make them better customers? You, you said, what'd you say just a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to think of a decent home. Wait! Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken-down that they....do you know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about...they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be!
I’m reminded of an even more appropriate Jimmy Stewart movie: “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” where a man who is willing to live an die by his word trumps the corrupt machinations of a political machine gone awry: “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for,” and this is one cause that is far from lost. It is time for this country to remember the people who died for it, the people who willingly gave their lives so we could be free. It is time to end the sham once and for all and it is time for our government to return to the cherished ideals spoken so eloquently by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg:
...It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The American people don't want, or need any more of your “corporate management style” Mr. Bush. We don’t want or need any more of your empty promises, your lies, your willful disregard for the law, nor do we care for your blatant disrespect for the American people. You want to manage our government, you're going to do it the way the Constitution says, or you and all your corrupt pals are going to find themselves out of a job. I don't suspect your corporate world will welcome you back with open arms if the words "IMPEACHED" were to appear on your resume.
TANSTAAFL!
©J.S.Brown Date & Time as listed above
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