It has recently come to light that the British government met with the heads of BP and Royal Dutch Shell in late 2002 to secretly discuss Britain's policy toward Iraqi oil reserves. At the same time Tony Blair was brushing off any notion of Britain's interest in Iraq's oil as "One of the most absurd conspiracy theories you can imagine" a secret document in the Foreign office stated "Britain has an absolutely vital interest in Iraq's oil." Is anyone shocked to learn that we invaded Iraq for oil and not to spread democracy as we were told? Is anyone surprised to learn that BP has that much power in both the UK and the US? I mean it was basically BP that got us in the business of staging coups when Britain asked for our help to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran in 1953. Since that first fabulously successful coup our CIA has helped out hundreds of companies by subverting democracy around the globe.
Is it possible that our governments at the highest levels are actually serving the will of the rich and powerful corporations, and especially the energy goliaths in the coal, gas, oil, and nuclear industries? It is possible, and probable, and with all of the evidence it's beyond improbable that our governments were ever intended to serve anyone but the most powerful people and companies. So why should a company as tightly connected in the nexus of government and industry take all necessary precautions when pursuing greater and greater profits? If you feel I'm being cynical, ask yourself this: What price has BP paid for it's deep water disaster one year ago? Now ask yourself what price the people of that region have paid and continue to pay? We as tax payers will pay and pay for the endless ripple effects of such a disaster. And sadly, ultimately, What price does the environment pay? Our governments, supposedly designed to keep powers in check, are so completely corrupted that the will of the people is the only thing in check.
If it seems like corporations are acting as though they own the world, well they kind of do own the world, or at least they lease it for pennies on the dollar. And as long as we live in a world of property rights over human rights we might as well just hand them everything and beg for their mercy on our pathetic souls. The two main tactics the Republicans (and too often Democrats) employ are deregulation and privatization, essentially handing over everything to the ones who are supposed to be regulated. How long can we watch this go on before we realize that this is the opposite of what we are told our government does. "Regulate" and "Govern" are synonyms, deregulation is ungovernment. Privatization of the commons gives away the apparatus of the state so that there is nothing left to govern, to regulate. If there ever was a true regulatory body in government it has been completely replaced by conspirators in a corporate coup d'etat.
Democrats in office are at best co-conspirators in this epic crime and they're only criticism of privatization is that it should be instead called "Public/private partnerships" so that we the people will have a harder time catching on to the fire sale they have made of government. The two party system has co-opted democracy and the energy industry has co-opted the government, even Mr. Hope and Change was quickly brought into the fold of this criminal syndicate. There may be some "Heroes" in the Democratic party but they are bound and gagged as are we the people, good guys simply aren't allowed to do good things. It's only when one aligns oneself to the agendas of "Big oil" that they are truly allowed to function in government. We have a secret opaque center to our supposedly transparent government that makes the real decisions about exactly how to steer the ship of state. Generally speaking, when a republican is president he is "The most powerful man in the world" and when it's a Democrat, especially a do-gooder Democrat, the president is the biggest prisoner in the world, and every effort ends in fruitless failure.
So take a look at what's happening now in a small town called Benton Harbor, Michigan where the governor recently pushed through a bill allowing corporations to completely take over local townships if they are determined to be in "Fiscal crisis." Maybe you haven't noticed but the majority of local governments are in fiscal crisis and by no fault of their own. Local governments are not unlike we the people, they can't do anything to stop Wall street from robbing them blind or to get BP to adequately compensate the people of the Gulf coast region. So it's the criminal behavior of Wall street that put us all in this mess, and now the corporations are rewarded with the wholesale acquisition of entire towns. Benton Harbor is the first victim, the governor Rick Snyder appointed an "emergency financial manager" to usurp all political power and dismiss all elected officials. This has always been the plan, the corporate coup d'etat, to destroy the economy and then declare a fiscal crisis so great that we all just sit and watch our democracy be dismantled piece by piece. It's time we realize that our democracy is a false democracy, "representatives" will sell us down the river every time.
Direct Democracy Now!
