[Sosfbay-discuss] FW: Letter to the Editor

[Rob Means]

Letter to the Editor of the Milpitas Post published on August 6

After making a few observations about government problems in last week's
Post, the editor concluded: "No wonder a conscientious observer of
government at its various levels can only scratch his head in wonder."

I think he meant "in confusion" because most folks can't understand how
things got so crazy.  Like a youngster wondering around the forest
without map or compass, each of us can feel lost amid unfamiliar
surroundings.  However, a map of the territory helps us make much more
sense of forests, mountains and streams.

The map that has served me well in understanding what is going on in
politics today looks something like this.  We, the people, have been in
a class war for 30 years and, as the wealthy Warren Buffet has said, "My
class won."  The tool through which the rich rule (a.k.a. plutocracy) is
the corporation - a "person" under the law and granted more rights and
privileges than real people like you and me.  In their single-minded
pursuit of profit for their rich owners, Wall Street corporations do all
in their (enormous) power to externalize costs (pollution, health care,
wages, etc.) and internalize profits.  Toward that end, they select and
then fund candidates from both political parties.  (Remember that the
progressive candidate Bill Clinton became the destroyer of our
manufacturing base with his support of pro-corporate NAFTA and GATT.)
When elected, those candidates return the favor through legislation that
benefits their corporate sponsors - generally at a return-on-investment
of 100 fold or better (10000%).

The latest case in point is health care reform.  Seventy-two percent of
the American public (and over 50% of the Republicans) favor a public
option in pending health care legislation.  Instead of representing the
people, all Republicans and many Democrats are doing their best to
derail that option - to the exclusive benefit of the health insurance
industry and their own campaign coffers.  

Corporations will spend hundreds of millions of dollars in August trying
to convince us that a public option is bad for you.  Believe them at
your own risk.  Half of all bankruptcies in the U. S. are due to health
care costs - and 80% of them had (for-profit) medical insurance!
Corporate practices are killing people, breaking up families, and
driving our public health care system to the brink of collapse.  (A more
virulent form of swine flu this winter could break it.) 

With this map of corporations as predators on the body politic, I
challenge the editor's comment that "The culprit is ourselves."  That is
like blaming the rape victim.  If politics were not so corrupted by
corporate money, our representatives would represent us and our desire
for universal primary health care, a clean environment, energy
independence, quality education, and a strong social safety net.
Instead, 30 years of growing corporate control of our government has
created dysfunction in all these areas.  We, the people, are not left
with much power.  So, we vote for ineffective solutions that are offered
to us because we are rarely get a real choice.  (Example: we are offered
term limits, not publicly-owned campaigns.)  

Now, however, we must assert what little power we have.  It is truly a
case of "use it or lose it".  Contact your elected representatives
(Honda, Boxer and especially Feinstein) and urge them to give us a
health care system that works for all of us.  Let's get beyond the
pay-or-die system that the corporations have designed for us.

Rob Means
1421 Yellowstone Avenue
Milpitas, CA  95035-6913
408-262-0420    rob.means at electric-bikes.com
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