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A Wholly Owned Subsidiary

June 6, 2011 – When should I have realized? Should it have been when Reagan wanted global warming studied more? If someone had said to me then, “No, it’s Reagan’s Friends (FOR?) – you know, his Fortune 500-business owning friends – who want it studied more” I was definitely naïve enough that I would have shaken my head in disbelief. I was convinced the man was simple-minded, as were the people who supported him. It never occurred to me that he was owned by American business, that he had handlers, that he was a mouthpiece. Looking back, I suppose I was halfway to having it figured out: he WAS simple-minded. That’s why he bought it when they told him, “You’re just the man for the job.” He’d never dreamt of playing a major role in history, until it was suggested to him. Say what you will of Reagan, I don’t think hubris was one of his faults. Their plan fell into place so beautifully; he was thrilled, they were thrilled.
Eight years went by, and he held the line. Global warming may have been elevated to the level of pesky nuisance, but certainly nothing beyond that. Meanwhile, having run against Jimmy Carter by giving voice to a sneeringly-feigned disgust at the deficit ($150 billion) Carter had run up, Reagan proceeded to triple the country’s indebtedness. Americans loved being told they could have it all and never have to pay, and that meant Bush was a shoo-in. If what I’m learning from Michael Ruppert’s book, Crossing the Rubicon, is true, Bush’s support for the CIA was what mattered (he was its former director). Well, that, plus his connections with the oil industry. The American Way of Life depended on oil, and the Gulf War assured its continued availability. Corporate America could create all the pollution it wanted to, unhampered.
By 1992, global warming was still on the back burner. What can I say? Al Gore was elected Vice President, and still, nothing got done. Congress didn’t even ratify the Kyoto Protocol! Yes, our government was farmed out to the private sector, and yes, the dot com bubble was good to Clinton. A new century loomed, it had been twenty years since Reagan was elected President, and nothing had changed, except that campaign funding now guaranteed lobbyists, on behalf of their corporate masters, a seat at the table. The legislation writing table, that is.
When I first heard that George W. Bush was considering a run for the presidency, my reaction was the same as it would have been if someone had told me Michael Jordan was going to run. You’re kidding, right? No way! The punch line, of course, was when reporters explained, in complete seriousness, that Bush was considered a viable candidate due to his high name recognition. That same consideration would have made Jordan the superior candidate (as he might well have been)! Time went by, and my horrified sense of unreality turned to mild cynicism (that’s probably the most I’m capable of; I’m just not a cynical person). Oh well, it didn’t matter. He’d never get elected.
That’s when it should have happened – when the Supreme Court handed GWB the presidency. When Greg Palast’s book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, explained how Jeb Bush delivered Florida to his brother. When Bush rescinded his promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions his first day in office. It could not have been clearer. Funny, though – if your brain just doesn’t work that way, if you’re just not accustomed to perceiving ulterior motives in everything your government does … truly, there are none so blind as those who will not see. Americans love and trust their government; I would go so far as to say Americans take immeasurable pride in their government. That’s why, when Bush II became Corporate America’s front man, I was only capable of understanding that the Republicans Are Bad. That much I was convinced of, that much I no longer questioned. The fact that the R’s couldn’t have done so much harm without a LOT of help still eluded me.
Now that I get it, now that I realize that Corporate America has offered Americans up on the altar of a level of greed unimaginable to most, I have to express it in words. Corporations know about global warming, friends. They don’t care. It will relieve the overpopulated planet of the sick, the poor, the elderly, and the incompetent. Just as they didn’t care when they shipped your jobs overseas, they don’t care if you have a place to live, or food to eat. They don’t care. They now run our government – have for awhile, actually – so it doesn’t care, either. They’re waiting for you to die, my friend. To do their bidding, without complaint, or die. What they envision beyond that point, I don’t know.
I guess they think they’ll survive what’s coming. They won’t, because good and right always triumph in the end. I believe that. I hope to be around, when justice prevails. In the meantime, expect your government to continue acting in unfathomable ways.

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