Worst of both worlds

The US on paper, is a republic. According to the dictionary, that means:

"a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of

citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives

chosen directly or indirectly by them."

Of course, as we know through historical trials, what things are on paper isn't always what they are in real life - take communism, for example. On paper, it sounds really nice - all working for the common good, no one is treated more special than their neighbour. However, in practice that can never work. Leaders will rise to the top, and in the appropriate conditions, fashion a dictatorial regime through the cruel and abrasive use of power.

As I've said before, we have dictators. The fact that we choose to ignore their existence doesn't make them any less real. Corporations have been dancing around the law and hoarding power since the late 1890s, and 20 years later had already grown to a point where Woodrow Wilson painted the bleak picture of "a very different America from the old...no longer a scene of individual enterprise...where comparatively small groups of men...wield a power and control over the wealth and business operations of the country...rivals of the government itself."

How prophetic of you Woodrow. But my, how times have changed.

Our government no longer rivals the corporate stronghold, but embraces it, getting paid finely for their allegiance. Now, that's progressive.

And as we marked the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirt Factory fire a few days ago, I feel it's an opportune time to mention unions.

While I tend to have a rosier outlook on unions than I do corporations, due to their reason for being (protecting the worker as opposed to protecting their bottom line), I do not find them to be without fault.

For example, as Stephen Goldsmith writes in The Wall Street Journal, "In New York City, seniority rules force us to base any layoff on when a public worker was hired, not on whether he or she does a good job." The same holds true for bad teachers that contribute to the dumbing down of our cities and so our country.

Then again, look at who else walks the streets of the Big Apple - the big businessmen on Wall Street who robbed the people of money, homes, jobs and rights.

So, here we stand in the middle of two extremes. On the one hand, you have unions, whose existence is important to the well-being of workers, but can stand in the way of its own aims at bettering public life, through ill planned bureaucracy and unwavering ideological stubbornness.

On the other, you have corporate America, whose existence is a travesty, and does fuck all to better society, using violence and governmental back door dealings to secure ever more blood money and rape ever more freedom and rights from all people.

End result: where we are today. While polls show that Americans are by-in-large moderate, the policies that blanket this country with debt, blood and shame, would suggest otherwise.

The extremes are the loudest. Neither extreme is acceptable.

The red tape that protects unworthy employees should trot over to corporate America and tie it down. There needs to be accountability on both sides. There has to be regulation, for both sides. While I do not advocate a dictatorial government telling people when to do what, I do advocate a government that regulates business and organizations that directly affect the rights and freedoms of the people of this country. That's why we have a government. Of the people, for the people and by the people - to protect our interests and to make decisions based on our needs, not on the needs of organizations and corporations.

If unions are out of control - the people must speak up.

If corporations are out of control - the people must speak up.

Cricket, cricket...

...

Do Something.

Freedom reform

If you've been able to sift through the ever growing pile of pre-election horse shit as of late, you will have heard of the uproar in France regarding the projected raising of the pension age. Among other pension reforms, the French government intends to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67.
If you have had a chance to take a look at that uproar, it includes: blockading fuel depots, shutting down 12 of France's 58 nuclear reactors, all 12 oil refineries are on strike, students (yes, young, engaged people) marching in cities around the country including Paris, Marseilles, Toulouse and Bordeaux, tons of garbage piling up in the streets of Marseilles due to the collectors having been on strike since October 12th, and thousands of other marches, protests and upheaval.
So, why bring this up when we have witch ads, a new Bush youtube video, the first lady picking pumpkins and a White House science fair?! Well, because this actually fucking matters. France may be the "old world" but compared to our "new world" antics, they show a helluva lot more gusto when it comes to upholding the rights of a republic. And I'm not talking about the government. With all due respect to the French, raising the pension and retirement age is not the end of the world. Grapes will still grow and become wine, berets are still cool, and smoking while having a latte under the Eiffel Tower will always be chic. All joking aside though, major props to you Frenchies.
Do we even have a set retirement age? Isn't it just, work until your body physically won't allow it or your mind can't remember how to get there? At which point your social security will do less than dick to see you through the dusk of your days, in pain because medication's too expensive and cast aside because you serve no purpose to the big corporations who once sucked you dry? Ah, don't you just love the smell of freedom?
Actually, I'd prefer the stench of rotting garbage if it meant that the people were engaged and standing up for their rights. If it meant people were out there, fighting for their standpoints, as opposed to quietly muttering them over a beer and some wings at a redneck biker bar. Granted, I might not agree 100% with what's going on in France but any exercise of your birth right will get a "Vive!" from me.
Students are out in the streets, actual young people that are educated and interested in their country. Holy shit! That can't be possible! That's gotta be another one of those Frenchy propaganda things like freedom fries and frog legs.
Unfortunately for us, it's not.
While we reel from Christina Aguileras breakup, ooh and ahh over the first lady picking pumpkins with annoying children, there is a world happening, and most of it is our fault. Sorry to throw a wrench in the festivities, but of all the countries to be sitting back and enjoying the show, we should be last on that list. We're lighting fires all over the fucking place and not only are we not tending them, we're walking away and throwing an oil barrel behind us...well no, we'd take the oil with us...maybe some bud light or cheap American vodka.
As our government tail spins into utter chaos with each ill conceived election ad, each broken promise and back door deal, the American people sit and grow fatter, less educated and less engaged.
As Benjamin Franklin (also famous for his French diplomacy) once said to a woman who asked what the members of the Constitutional Convention were creating, replied: "A republic madam, if you can keep it." Well, clearly, we can't. Ben would be thoroughly disappointed if he could see us all now. As an avid inventor, enlightenment groupie, voracious reader and student, and obviously engaged politician and citizen, he would be utterly disgusted with the state of our union today. Not to put words in the old guys mouth, but he'd probably say, as I did: "Vive la resistance!"

Big business drills

Let me start with the mostly good news first: The House approved a bill this past Friday heightening safety standards for offshore drilling, imposing new fees on oil and gas production and removing the federal $75 million cap on economic damages to be paid by oil companies after major spills, increasing it to $300 million. It would also create new "conservation" fees on oil and natural gas extracted from land or water controlled by the federal government. Another quasi-plus: companies with significant workplace safety or environmental violations over the past 7 years would be banned from new offshore drilling permits. As usual, there was the left/right banter about killing jobs, big government, save the whales, no drilling, yada yada yada. The bill now moves on to the Senate where they'll probably sit on it till it's nice and thinned out and ready to do jack squat...pardon my cynicism. The bill is a move in the right direction, although I wonder how many more catastrophes it will take before we say to ourselves, "you know what, maybe we should just leave that the fuck alone?" History repeats itself - especially if you do the dumb shit over and over again.

On to the other news: The Senate (previously mentioned as 1/3 of our government that does fuck all for us) has blocked the Disclose Act, an act that would require corporate political advertisers to reveal their funding sources. Now, some on the right suggest that it's not just about that - it's a ploy to gain votes in November by putting more restrictions on corporate activity than on unions. Ummmm...ok.
A corporation is by definition an entity whose sole responsibility is to make money - the bottom line. Unions are by definition there to protect the rights of the worker. Now, I admit there is a gray area where unions can be assholes and corporations can be menches but overall, let's be honest here. I'd rather kick a corporation in the nuts than hang a union out to dry. But that's just me.
Furthermore, this bill wouldn't even bar corporations from making contributions, it would only require that they own up to it. Only the naive will say that our government isn't for sale, but at least we could take a first step and know who the hell is buying. But, of course, since we're not naive, we also realize that the who's who in the guilded chairs aren't gonna let any "first steps" be taken that might put their bottom line in jeopardy. I mean, what are they supposed to do, govern? Please...