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Commentary: Elections & Legislation |
Who Gets Paid?
by Imani Malaika
Email: imani_malaika04 (at) yahoo.com (verified) |
Current rating: 0
17 Jan 2004 |
Does party affiliation really matter?
Is it the President or the ongoing policies? |
Bush is now saying that he is only following the foriegn policy set by Clinton in going after terrorists. There may be some truth in that . . .
If the coporations like oil, energy, defense, media and utilities use lobbyists to influence and in some cases help write legislation, does it really matter which party or who sits in the White House? If the USA policy is to support these industries, govt policy is going to reflect that. The Repubs may just be more overt about it. What was once covert, like toppling dictators that did not give the USA access to markets and natural resources, is now quite out in the open. I always remind people that GATT and NAFTA came in under the Clinton administration.
Present oil reserves are predicted to run out in the year 2025. This was published in 1993, before the explosion of SUV's in the consumer market. So if present oil reserves are threatened, does it really matter who is President? Somebody is going to have to go out there and get us some more oil to drive to the protest rally! I don't doubt for one minite that Lieberman would have any different foreign policy than Bush does.
If someone like Nader or Kucinich were to become president, would they stand a chance of getting anything through Congress? Most agency appointees are industry insiders. I also think that Dick Grasso stepping down as head of the SEC had very little to do with his salary and much more to do with throwing the public a bone so that we would not question who was on the SEC board -- Martha Stewart was an SEC board member!
You have to ask "Who Gets Paid?" whenever you see a policy announced. Three-year work permits for immigrants? You are usually eligible for vested benefits until 3 - 5 years in some companies. So the big business owners profit. Its not about getting the Latino vote. Sanctity of marriage? A married couple with children are bigger consumers. Put a man on Mars? Is it true that space exploration is to look for minerals on other planets and that Haliburton looks to get the drilling rights? Its never about voters, but they want YOU to think so. Its about WHO GETS PAID!
I am trying real hard not to believe that voting is merely an exercise in civic entertainment just to make people think that they have some say in the process. Once you vote someone into office, they set about pushing policies that favor their campaign contributors: the people who actually own things. B/c if they don't get what they want, well then . . . everybody will be out of a job! |
