Evolution of Consciousness

These are troubled times. Few would argue with that. So the big question is, What’s wrong?

The answer is that we are living under the tyranny of the dollar. Power is solidly in the hands of corporations, or big money. Everywhere you look, you see the effects: money controls everything, and perverts everything. The concerns of real people are marginalized, so that big money can have its way. So the question then becomes: How can we, the people, fix this?

And the answer to that is actually quite simple: corporations are not persons. This goes right to the legal/political heart of the matter. We need to get the Supreme Court to acknowledge the obvious fact that corporations are not persons.

Once that is established, corporate lawyers will not be able to abuse the Bill of Rights, as they do now, on their clients’ behalf. The Amendments were obviously drafted with real people in mind, but corporations have found a way to bend our rights to their favor, by making the ridiculous claim that corporations are persons.

For instance, corporations are able to pump unlimited sums of money into lobbying by claiming their right to the First Amendment. It’s an obvious perversion of a citizen’s right to free speech, but that’s how special interests now justify their ability to essentially own our government.

So we need to get very clear on this distinction: corporations are not people (and people are not corporations). They are two distinctly different entities, and each needs its own set of rights and regulations. We have to stop the muddling, and once we do, we’ll have gone a long way toward clearing up the problem.

Fortunately, there is an excellent book on the subject: Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights (2002). The author goes into good detail about how this folly of “corporate personhood” came about, how it is currently being abused, and — most importantly — how we can go about fixing it. I recommend reading this book and acting upon the advice within.

History is important, as are the stories we tell ourselves. Lately, we’ve been failing on both fronts: remiss in understanding our own recent history, while swinish ideologues narrowly frame our stories in false and misleading ways. These are depressing times.

But I believe/hope/pray the darkest days of this cycle have passed, and it is now imperative that we educate ourselves, so that facts might inform our stories, about where we’ve been and where we’re going. Toward that end, I’d like to recommend some reading…

Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture
by Thom Hartmann, July 2009

I’m listing this book first for a couple reasons: it’s the most recent, and it does a fine job pulling together the many and disparate threads of this subject in a concise and accessible manner. It’s not a perfect work, but if you read only one book on this list, there is a good argument for this being the one.

Moyers on Democracy
by Bill Moyers, May 2008

Soaring and inspired collection of speeches given over the past 30 years, all around the topic of American democracy. Drawing upon his considerable experience in both politics and journalism, Moyers has much to offer.

The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Krugman, October 2007

A well-written history on the rise and fall of that great American phenomenon of the twentieth century, the middle class. Roughly spans FDR to GWB, thus providing a good grounding in the recent history of our collective economic fortunes (or lack thereof).

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by Naomi Klein, September 2007

A detailed look at how economic hegemony has been practiced by American financiers over the past few decades. At times long and ponderous, this work remains important for illuminating how economic concerns have trumped human concerns.

Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004
by Hendrik Hertzberg, July 2004

This collection of essays, from a brilliant and accomplished writer, is as much a pleasure to read as it is instructive. Hertzberg is often at his best explaining nuances of wonkery, such as how we could improve the American electoral process.

Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes
by Chuck Collins and William H. Gates Sr., January 2003

Excellent treatise from a couple of wealthy guys on why they — and their brethern — should be taxed, fairly and responsibly, for the benefit of all. Written in response to the selfish and greedy attack on the estate tax by those rich kids in the Bush/Cheney Administration.

So, there’s six of my favorite (fairly recent) books on politics. If you have any recommendations, I’d like to hear them.

Remember that holiday pounding Israel gave Gaza last winter, taking advantage of the last dark days of the Bush Administration?

Well, in April of this year the United Nations initiated an independent investigation into violations of humanitarian law, and by September that fact finding mission was reporting “strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity” and calling for an “end to impunity.” Sounds good, right? Wrong…

Last Tuesday, the House of Representatives took time out of their “busy” schedule to vote on a bill titled “Calling on the President and the Secretary of State to oppose unequivocally any endorsement or further consideration of the ‘Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’ in multilateral fora.” (Turns out “fora” is the latin plural of “forum.”) I think a better name would have been “Hear No Evil, See No Evil” (the accompanying graphic could be two of the three monkeys, since “Speak No Evil” remains on vacation).

The billed passed easily, 344 yeas (yeah, Mike Thompson voted “yea”) to 36 nays. “Impunity” has nothing to fear with this mob at the helm. Here’s what Congressman Kucinich had to say, just before the vote, “Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution.” Mission accomplished.

What can we do about all this nonsense? Let’s start by prying Barnacle Mike out of our congressional seat (California’s First District). Until we start sending representatives to Washington to represent our interests, nothing will get better.

I’d like to elaborate on something I wrote last week: for years, polls have reported that a majority of Americans want National Health Insurance in this country (like Medicare for All). 2009 was supposed to be the year that Washington finally addressed the issue. So what happened? The influence of big money in Washington completely perverted and derailed the effort. We the People are just not being represented in Washington anymore, only money is.

There are some minor exceptions. In the Senate, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed a single-payer bill (S.703). Thus far, no other senator has bothered to cosponsor this bill. On the House side, John Conyers (D-MI) put up H.R.676, which has a total of 86 cosponsors (see thomas.loc.gov for the list). So that’s a total of 87 representatives and one senator on our side, and 99 senators and 348 representatives against us.

What to do? Vote accordingly. Elections are coming up next year. If your congresspeople aren’t behind either of these bills, tell them they will lose your vote. For example, those of us along California’s northern coast will be asked to re-elect Representative Mike Thompson and Senator Barbara Boxer in November of 2010. Both have chosen to represent the insurance industry in this fight. Tell them if they don’t switch sides, pronto, they will lose your vote. 

Then, keep your promise. Don’t be a no show, that doesn’t help. Instead, vote Independent: not republican, not democrat, but for some third party candidate. The time has come to abandon the two major political parties in this country, as they abandoned us a long time ago. It’s time for the people to rise up and take this country back. Vote Independent.

A couple little victories in Washington last week…

On July 21, the Senate voted 58-40 to amend the $680 billion ($680,000,000,000) military bill to remove $1.75 billion ($1,750,000,000) for seven more F-22 fighter jets (the Pentagon already has 187 of these Cold War relics, isn’t using them, and didn’t want any more — Congress initially ignored this advice and insisted on paying for and making more).

Credit for this glimmer of sanity goes to Defense Secretary Gates, who urged the repeal, and Obama, who threatened veto (goes to show what good leadership can do). Jeers go to local senators Boxer and Feinstein, who porkishly voted against the cut (in fact, the amendment would not have passed without the support of 15 Republican senators).

This is, hopefully, a first baby step away from the unbridled military spending that we’ve undertaken in this country for far too long. We’ve got more weaponry than is good for us, or any other living thing on this planet. It’s time to tack left.

On July 17, the House Education and Labor Committee voted 27-19 to approve a Kucinich amendment allowing states to create their own single-payer healthcare plans (again, without 13 Republican ayes, this amendment would have perished).

If our federal government isn’t going to muster the integrity and courage to do what is sensible and right on healthcare this time around, this amendment will make it easier for states to lead the way to single-payer in this country.

The California legislature has twice passed a single-payer bill (SB 840) the past few years, only to watch the Governeggar veto it down both times (goes to show what bad leadership can do). Meanwhile, other states — Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington among them — have active single-payer efforts before their legislatures.

Single-payer began in Canada at the provincial level. Saskatchewan is where it started. Other provinces saw how successful it was and joined in. By 1971, Canada decided to make it federal. Contrary to all the blatant disinformation streaming from FOX News, Canadians (and all the other single-payer nation citizens) like their National Healthcare. Why shouldn’t they? They pay less for superior results (Americans pay the most, by far, yet rank near the bottom).

Remember, folks, Rupert Murdoch is not your friend, he’s just another tax-dodging zillionaire, taking advantage of what America has become (a shooting range for avaricious free-marketeers). Don’t believe everything he and his minions tell you. Read, investigate, circulate, and draw your own conclusions. Until a majority of Americans learn to think for themselves, we will remain, collectively, fish in a barrel.

This brings to mind the letter in last week’s AVA urging Ukiahans to relax and let the “big boys” (in this case, the developers DDR) do whatever they want, so that we might save pennies on our next widget purchase. That is exactly the sort of narrow, short-term, non-thinking that leads straight to the long-term disaster we’re presently caught in (and it is exactly what Rupert and friends want you to think, which is why they purchased most of the media in this country). We’ve got to think a little deeper than that, people, we need to be more aware of the bigger picture. There is a lot of cause-and-effect going on out there. It’s called connecting the dots. Those “pennies off” come at a huge social cost, and many of us don’t want to pay that price.

Survey the landscape before you nibble the cheese.