2014 – A “Watershed” Year: elections have consequences!

  A “watershed year” is “a critical year that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point.” (A ‘watershed’ itself is “the ridge or crest line dividing two drainage areas; a divide.”) We must not allow Republican Radicals to determine the directions or the agenda for this nation, and yet, some pre-election polls indicate that such a possibility is about to be reality.  

The 2014 "off-year" election may be one that has consequences far beyond our wildest expectations. This off-year election could mark a turning-point in our approach to governing, taking us back to a time when our central government was so weak it could not even mount an effort to research and destroy bacteria that caused often fatal diseases We are already headed back to a time when workers were exploited by big (and small) companies to the point of low wages, few benefits, long hours and continuous exposure to a toxic environment.

The problem is, the average voter does not see the consequences inherent in a view of government that obsesses on the welfare and aggrandizement of the richest 1% of the population while attacking the "welfare" and opportunities 'handed out' to the other 99%. Nor do most voters believe that political parties, once in power, will carry-through on what they espouse before being elected. Too many voters somehow feel that politicians will inevitably move toward the middle ground once in office. In this case, a huge mistake! Here are a few of the themes to which the current Republican Party is viscerally connected. They are serious, and they are committed. So beware of voting for a Republican (even if billed as a "moderate"), or of not voting at all, because you will definitely feel the effects and the deleterious consequences of that vote or lack of vote.

If the radical Republican Party is allowed to grab more seats in Congress, it will mark the questionable ascendancy of a Party bent on using states to undermine or destroy federal and national programs and policies. Look carefully at what has happened already in states controlled by Republicans: varying forms of restrictive voter ID laws are now active in 34 states; following the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a core provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, 11 states passed voter ID laws, reduced time for early voting was passed in eight states, and some students are being prevented from voting where they reside for college. 10 states have made it more difficult to register to vote. This ability of states to thwart federal protection of voter rights is a danger, not only to our voting system, but to our entire federal system of governance. It is the beast of “nullification” dressed-up in sheep’s clothing!

There are other equally pernicious movements afoot in the states. Affirmative Action has been struck a major blow by the SCOTUS, and many state-run colleges will be free to ignore any reference to race as a factor in achieving ethnic balance within their student bodies; another attempt to nullify federal directives and protections. We must also mention the movement at the state level to pass laws that not only limit access to contraception and abortions, but actually deny funding to “abortion centers.” Moreover, states are beginning to pass laws that actually limit the point at which abortions can be implemented, by using questionable “science” related to a fetus feeling pain or when “life” begins. Such state laws are nothing short of defiance of the Roe vs. Wade decision. And, let us not fail to recall the movement abroad in this country to arm every man, woman and child with guns; to support “stand-your-ground” and unrestricted "carry" laws, and to make sure, thereby, that the “others”, the “outsiders” (read: "minorities and immigrants"), and even "guv'mint" agents can be threatened with loss of life if they venture into this nether-world of "nullification."

One of the most egregious examples of nullification is an attempt in certain states to sneak religion into the public sector. The South Dakota legislature is promoting “biblical instruction” in public schools, passing a nonbinding resolution that “encourages school districts to voluntarily provide instruction that makes students familiar with the content, character, and narratives of the Bible.” In Georgia, “A copy of the Ten Commandments could be posted in all Georgia government buildings and schools under a bill passed unanimously by House lawmakers.” (From PoliticusUSA.com).

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, it appears that too many voters in states like Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa, and perhaps New Hampshire and South Dakota have not been listening carefully to what the Radical Republican Senate candidates have been spouting for a long time. Apparently, their radical ideas have been hidden behind fabricated "moderate" language that is bamboozling the electorate. This lack of understanding of what is about to happen if a Republican-held Senate materializes is appalling. After all, elections do have consequences, and here are just some that our citizens will encounter if the Right-wing Republicans maintain the House and takeover the Senate.

• Millions will lose their recently acquired status of being covered by affordable health care, but more personal perhaps is the fact that ALL of us will lose the reforms of health insurance and the added benefits provided by the Affordable Health Care Law. You will be paying more money for insurance and getting less. You will also find that all the abuses of coverage restriction will return and impose on you once again the burdens of pre-existing conditions, lack of free contraception, the threat of loss of coverage if you have an acute illness, plus the loss of free check-ups and annual physicals. Moreover, you will see the return of the dreaded "doughnut-hole" of drug coverage in Medicare Part D, and the loss of federal protection provided under the ACA for consumer fraud and abuse by the insurance providers. Your ability to appeal rulings against you and your coverage will be gone. Vote in the Radical Republicans and be ready to pay the piper for that huge mistake! You will have been bamboozled! 
• Next will come the increased coddling of the rich which means that YOU will pay more in taxes and receive less in your paycheck. Right-wing Republicans have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that their destiny is tied into their support of the elite 1% or less of the richest people and of international corporations in this country; nothing can dissuade them from that course (except, perhaps, a sound defeat at all levels in the 2014 elections). It is the middle class that is being squeezed mercilessly by the Republicans as they cut back on every program, tax break, COLA, minimum wage increase, and generally protect the ability to gouge the public by diminishing all acts of consumer protection. If you vote Republican, you will reap a whirlwind of debt and disadvantage.
• The Paul Ryan budgets tell the real story of what these Right-wing nuts have in store for you. Austerity is the goal for all but the rich who will gain even more in this climate, but the return to prosperity for everyone else will be thwarted and extended. You're going to pay and pay and pay for the tax cuts that will be put into effect for the richest 1% --further reductions in (their) income tax rates, corporate tax rates, the inheritance tax, and elimination of the tax on long-term gains. On top of that, there will be a continuation of the welfare for the rich extracted from our tax system (with no accountability for that extraction) through tax loopholes, subsidies, and special exemptions. The increased taxes you pay will go right into the pockets of the richest people in this country and you won't even notice it because there is no budget or document that enables you to see how this tax money is stolen from you. Get ready to turn over more of your money to those who already live on Easy Street. You have been bamboozled!
• Next come the greedy Wall Street financiers and the bankers to hand you more grief. Let's just say that it will become harder for you to manage your meager funds because the financiers are out to get as much as they can from YOU. Credit card interest will rise, fees on checking accounts and credit cards will slowly eat you up! Loans will be harder to obtain at a reasonable rate. Don't forget -- banks are losing money because the Fed has kept interest rates as low as possible. That will not last under a Republican administration. But that's not all -- the banks and the brokers want to get at the funds held by the central government. Social Security reform is coming and under the Right-wing that means getting social security income out of the SS Trust Fund and into personal bank accounts that can then be charged interest and fees that benefit the bankers.
• Medicare and Medicaid will go on the chopping block. The Medicare voucher system proposed in the Ryan budgets will, over time, save the Feds a good deal of money because those voucher amounts do not have automatic cost-of-living increases attached and will be worth less and less over time. That means that the money saved can be funneled into the operating budget and used for reducing taxes on the rich. Meanwhile your Medicare coverage that you have depended upon will shrink and shrink and shrink until it becomes a speck of dust to be finally wiped away. That's right -- Medicare is headed for the garbage dump and that process will begin as soon as a majority of Radical Right Republicans are elected to the Senate. You have been bamboozled!
• Are you on Medicaid for any reason? Well, it will be scrapped by giving it off to the states where it will languish and die because the states can't afford to staff the program, can't afford the costs of coverage as it now stands and can't afford to pick up the amount of money that will no longer come from the federal government for special waivers or even for administration. Say good-by to Medicaid and to long-term care, and provisions for home care plus the coverage for individuals with disabilities. Say hello to the new nursing homes and supported living arrangements to be built that will revive the long-term care nursing home industry. Meanwhile, you have been bamboozled again because your state taxes will be increased to pay for what Medicaid will not cover and for subsidizing the nursing home/respite care/supported living resurgence. You have been bamboozled and you get to pay again for your mistake!

The Republican agenda is harmful to children! Take a look:

• schools are run-down; resources limited, classes are too big; curriculum is skewed; public education is threatened by a charter school movement aimed toward for-profit privatization of education. College tuition is rising out-of-sight while college grants and scholarships decrease and government help is under attack. Pell grants are on the chopping block, and the interest rate on federal loans is on the rise (watch it move up when Radical Republicans get control). 
• universal pre-school education is under steady attack from the Right -- Head Start - a proven program - has already gotten the ax, is a target in Ryan budgets and the Right-wing aims to eliminate it! And this in spite of studies that show that such preparatory pre-school education is of lifelong benefit to children. It increases their readiness for school and gives them an 18-month advantage in terms of readiness, achievement and success. It is one of the best investments that can be made in education, but NOT from the perspective of the Right-wing nuts. You have been bamboozled again!
• children learn more effectively if they have adequate food, yet the Right-wingers have already cut out lunches and snacks for kids in school. In concert with such elimination of food in schools, they want to get rid of Food Stamps as well, thus attacking the needs of millions of children who have limited resources. Combined with the eventual elimination of the WIC program, these cuts will ensure that children of color, homeless children, and children of poor mothers will fall further and further behind in good health and good education influenced by adequate food in small bellies. That "falling behind" is costly in the long-run: it results in extra costs to each of us for malnutrition, ignorance, health care, lack of a college education, menial job wages, generational poverty, crime, and detention. YOU will pay the costs for child neglect by the Radical Republicans. Bamboozled again!

Two more areas that will affect your pocket-book and your children include the cuts in research for childhood diseases and the lack of concern about changes in our environment. Both are costly in the long-run; not only to pocket-books, but to the health of your children. You think Ebola is a major problem in this country? Your thinking is short-sighted. What is a major problem are medical conditions in children that cannot be treated or that result in permanent damage to health or education. Cuts to scientific research into childhood diseases are increasing the likelihood that you will be paying more for childhood diseases we thought were eliminated like measles, mumps, whooping cough and polio. Believing the Right-wing blather about vaccinations being harmful or causing autism is costly to all of society because of its dangerous consequences in the outbreaks of old diseases caused by this neglect. 

And how about neglect of our environment? asthma is on the increase in children; lung cancer and other cancers on the rise near certain kinds of power plants; damage to the ozone layer is causing damage to children's skin, eyes and organs, to say nothing about the lowering of the ages at which auto-immune diseases like MS are showing up. The cuts envisioned for research in the Ryan budgets are insane, but real. YOU are going to pay the projected long-term costs and again: You have been bamboozled!

Briefly, let us look at some other Right-wing actions that will hurt you, and harm your ability to cope from paycheck to paycheck:

Take our crumbling infrastructure, for example. Republicans point to deficit reduction as our major problem and fail to comprehend the major effects crumbling cities and towns will have on revenues and new industries and jobs. They don’t care. They want to solve the deficit problem because it is an excuse for diminishing the power of the federal government (and not because it is affecting our GNP); never mind investment of government funds; they call it wasteful. The 2014 elections could cement these attitudes into the forefront of our local, state and national governments. Is that what you want?

Republicans deny climate change is caused by humans and their industries, and don’t seem to care about their effects on people. Their mantra is “drill, baby, drill” – keep on depending on fossil fuels until the planet dies! 2014 is the watershed moment in more ways than one since access to clean water is becoming a priority issue. In 2014, YOU are voting on this life or death issue, because time is running out for our planet. Ask yourself, what have radical Republicans done to protect our planet, to assure our unfettered access to clean air, water and environment? They restricted the EPA, de-regulated certain industries, drilled for more oil. Delayed turnover to alternative fuel sources is going to cost each of us a pretty penny. How do you want your planet – crispy or grilled?

Republican hostility to women and their rights: No equal pay. No equal access to health care. Built-in glass ceilings. Denial of the Right to an abortion for certain accepted reasons. Women subjected to sonograms as a prerequisite to an abortion. Imposed Health care restrictions that men don’t have. Child care opportunities cut. As PoliticusUSA.com reminds us: “Despite an electorate that is overwhelmingly pro-choice, there is no doubt that the GOP’s first goal is to deprive women of their reproductive rights and to frame that argument not as one of health but religion. It is in fact so important an issue to the GOP that out of some 40,000 laws of all types enacted in 2011, “there were nearly 1,000 bills in state legislatures to restrict a woman’s right to legal abortion services” (up from 950 in 2010). 2014 is the point at which YOU have an opportunity to stop this madness. 

From PoliticusUSA we also hear many examples of Republican hostility to average working- and middle-class Americans; among them: raise taxes on things like Girl Scout Cookies, groceries and gasoline. A new craze is drug testing for welfare recipients with an aim to stop welfare recipients from using illegal drugs, but estimates show that the drug test program may not save a dime and could cost $84,500 per person. 2014 is the point at which such foolishness will be curtailed or multiplied. How come we don't drug-test the wealthy who extract billions in "welfare for the rich" from our tax system? Because we are being Bamboozled!

 Under Republicans, Pentagon costs are not only safe; they are sacrosanct. Republican Radicals want to increase that budget, especially for government contracts to private companies (their "bread and butter"). Contract overruns, inflated provisions, no oversight and special breaks for contractors -- like not having to hire union workers -- are all included in the Radical Republican approach to DoD. They even want to continue spending your money on outmoded and useless weapons and armaments. You are being bamboozled!

I know. Voters don't think these things will happen. Many think that Radical Right-wingers have moderated their agenda. Be Forewarned: Moderation is not part of their vocabulary or their ideology; neither is "compromise." We are being taken to the cleaners, and don't even recognize it. Too bad voters haven't paid attention and haven't done their homework.

"Politics" is not something separate from life; it determines much of our quality of life. We have been bamboozled into thinking that the election of representatives, the making of rules and laws, the control of our finances, the reform of our health care, the rates of our credit cards and loans, the rise in our wages; plus, the regulation of our environment, our food and even of our medicines, along with the prices we pay -- don't matter! Such basic denial, naiveté, ignorance and escape from reality is hurting our pocketbooks and will affect our children's future. The damage the Radical Republicans plan to do now will take an entire generation (30 years) or more to undo. 

Nov. 4th: Government by "the Bought?"

It amazes me how quickly the latest news cycle affects this nation's top concerns. The news streams in from West Africa about the Ebola virus and all of a sudden there is panic in this country about an outbreak here. Likewise, we learn about a new faux Islamic jihadist group whose purpose is the take-over of countries to build a new Caliphate and whose strategies include brutal actions toward women and the murder of innocent civilians. Their on-camera slaying of innocent Americans (and others), plus their well-publicized takeovers of towns in Iraq and Syria provoke in us the worst fears about them coming to this nation to perpetrate another 9/11.

There is little doubt that we should prepare ourselves to deal with such outside threats. However, I seem to remember a quote that goes something like this: "The greatest danger to our nation is not the enemy without, but the enemy within." Perhaps I am way off on this, but I think our number one concern right now should be to save our democratic and representative form of government from destruction by a minority faction that has coerced an entire Party to its beck and call.

Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence, contributor to the constitution of the State of Virginia, Governor of Virginia, President Washington's Secretary of State, Minister to France as well as our 3rd President, had much to say, some of it very fundamental, in relation to our nascent democracy. At times he spoke eloquently of human rights and freedom and responsibility. At other times, he acted in violation of the ideas he expressed. Nonetheless, it may be good for us to review some of his quotes in light of our pending election on November 4, 2014, especially since many on the Right love to quote his words as back-up for some of their most outrageous beliefs and actions.

Contrary to that on which too many cast their focus, this election is not about foreign threats, or even about domestic deficits and over-spending. It is about the rule of law and law-making; it is about equality of opportunity and about equal justice and human welfare. This election is about preserving those fundamental elements of our system of laws and our fundamental rights as citizens. Certain of Thomas Jefferson's most famous quotes are perhaps most apropos at this juncture in our national life:

1) “The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”
The SCOTUS has interpreted the concept behind this quote as an excuse to open the floodgates of money-power for the richest among us to be able to control elections and politicians. The SCOTUS has legitimized "bribery" and allowed anonymity so that no one must account for their actions or their purposes. As a result, the control of elections and office-holders has begun to shift dramatically to an elite group, whose wealth has already corrupted our electoral system, making a mockery of our "one person one vote" standard.
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In concert with that brazen and distorted view of "protecting free expression," the Congress has decided that the will of the people doesn't really matter; that the will of the people voicing overwhelming support for certain broad issues is simply to be ignored. Examples include protection from gun violence by requiring extension of background checks to most sales of guns; opposition to a government shut-down; favoring a Jobs bill of some kind, as in connection to infrastructure repair. In all these matters, strong majorities of the people were in favor; Congress opposed in every case. And here are a few more examples you might remember based on an article by Nate Silver:
impose a "bank Tax"
increase taxes on the rich (over $250,000/year)
greater regulation of Wall Street
election reform; over-turn SCOTUS decision re: Citizens United

Do not forget Republican-dominated states and their opposition to the will of the people. They have attacked labor and bargaining rights, supported voter suppression and refused to allow ordinary citizens the right to re-draw congressional district lines when a census shows they must be altered. The so-called "closer to the people" branch of government has, at least in a large plurality of states, taken on the role of opposing the will of the people on issues of the day, including the right to same-sex marriage.

And just in case you may have forgotten, the use by Republicans of the 60-vote rule to end filibusters in the Senate has done great damage to legislation desired by the people, making it almost impossible to enact.

We are teetering on the edge of a government of the 'bought' where the will of the people is ignored, denigrated, and simply opposed because a small elite want it that way.
Under these circumstances, electing officials who openly tout this form of governing is pure suicide in terms of killing off a government based on the will of the people. We have to guard against a Tyranny of the Elite! In fact, Jefferson expressed that very thought: "The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite."

2) "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government"
It is past time to re-invent not just government, but good government. It is time to say that the Republicans, having gone over to a far Right-wing philosophy, have abandoned the very concept of good government and replaced it with ineffectual government; with government that rewards an elite and not the broad middle class; with a government that is less concerned with the care of human life and happiness, and more with the care and feeding of the rich and their political cronies who represent, not the people, but the very special interests of their only constituents: the richest 1% of our citizenry. Ours has become the government of the few as opposed to the many.

What is more, this is a government that favors non-governing. It is opposed to a strong central government that is able to protect and enhance the lives of the vast array of the people. The radical Republicans in Congress would rather see a weak central government that does not advocate for anyone but the rich and their corporate world. They are well on their way to achieving that goal. If they can gain control in both houses of the Congress (plus maintain the control they already exercise in SCOTUS and throughout the judicial system) they will be able to dismantle all of the social programs that have been enacted to further the care and happiness of the majority of our people. They will first repeal the Affordable Care Act and return us to a disastrous healthcare system that rewards insurance companies, drug companies, and healthcare industry investors.

With the favorable 5-4 majority in SCOTUS, they will dismantle Head Start, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, all affirmative action and equal opportunity programs, all programs designed to help the poor and the disabled, like community development agencies, legal aid, and Planned Parenthood. They will restrict public radio and TV, plus equal access to the Internet. The latter will have different channels for different purposes, and most of those available to the general public will be poor in performance to give another leg-up to the wealthy. They will privatize as many government institutions and departments as they possibly can by devolving them to the private sector's control and supervision. There will be for-profit private schools, private prisons, private mercenaries and suppliers of goods to the armed forces. We will be returned to a place in time when privately-run social service agencies could not keep up with the demands of vulnerable citizens in the absence of government interventions.

Attacks upon the rights of women, minorities, seniors and the poor will continue unabated, for the dismantlers believe there is nothing sacred except the armed forces, the militarized police and first responders, and the unfettered ability of business to sell itself in whatever way benefits that particular segment of society. What they will support with the co-opted central government will be those programs most able to benefit their own off-shore bank accounts.

It is a shame that there are so many voters who have no idea what is coming if this one election gives Republicans control of both Houses of Congress. It would be a tragedy of major proportions, and there are still millions of people who have no idea what this means for their lives. Every day someone is going to have to pay extra for either their absence from, or their miscalculation in, this election.
 
Every day the banks are going to exact higher interest rates, heavier penalties, charges for personal accounts, higher and higher interest on student loans. In addition, they are going to pay out less interest on private savings and retirement accounts, particularly on what may be newly-instituted private social security accounts. They will keep interest paid on other instruments as low as possible. Debit and credit cards will carry enhanced fees, and the ability to get a loan in the first place will be surrounded with all kinds of restrictions and penalties. If you have to deal with a bank, your life is going to change.

There are not enough words to describe the attacks upon public education. No rehabilitation of old buildings; no new equipment except from corporate donors who use their gifts to sell their products. But mainly, when our very smart middle-class sons or daughters want to get into an elite private school like Harvard or Princeton, Duke or Stanford, there will be a sudden shift in their ability to do so (which has already begun, by the way). Scholarships and grants are drying up; interest on loans is becoming so expensive that it threaten a student's future; few slots left open because the progeny from the wealthiest families are already filling them, no matter what their grades or qualifications. In some cases, the elite Right-wingers have even been able to influence whole school districts and universities to adapt their curricula or their societal activities to conservative interpretation and ideology.

The welfare and happiness of the people and good government are not the issues the radical Right-wingers care about. Their goal is control of people and institutions so that they can dictate the kind of society they desire: one in which all programs policies and laws are aimed at success, elitism, and the total aggrandizement of the richest, most prosperous, most powerful people in our population.

Let us remind ourselves constantly that Jefferson expressed the fears of many of the Founders when he exclaimed: "I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."

3) “We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
“No people can be both ignorant and free.”
"Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government"
Voters sometimes like to grumble when they see the results of an election that didn't go as they had expected. But, it is the grumbling of non-voters - non-participants - that is the major factor in the takeover of government by the monied few.

The point needs to be made and made forcefully: it is non-participation and lack of education that will lead us down the road to destruction of our form of governance. The elitists, the oligarchs, the plutocrats are simply taking advantage of our ignorance and of our non-involvement and lack of commitment.

For instance: the attack upon voting rights in many of our states is not attributable to "voter fraud." The Right would never attempt to disenfranchise anyone on that flimsy basis; they use the phrase simply as a rhetorical tool to bamboozle the uninformed voter. They know they can enact restrictive voting laws because of the ignorance and non-participation that runs rampant in the electorate. The radicals know that this is their ticket to the Promised Land - control, Control, CONTROL! What they are doing seems intolerable and yet there are millions of people in this democracy who don't even understand the implications of voter ID laws, or laws that restrict early voting. They don't understand how closing registration offices in certain areas can influence the outcome of an election. They do not know anything about why congressional districts must be re-drawn in conformance with each ten-year census, and they understand less about who draws the districts and how they are "gerrymandered" to favor one party in so many cases.

We cannot survive as a democracy if the people have not been educated as to their civic duties and responsibilities, and also fail to participate in those duties. We have failed, are failing and will fail if this unacceptable situation continues. It is reported that in any given presidential election, one can expect to see fluctuation in turn-out between 50-55%. In off-year elections, anywhere from 40-50% could be the turn-out depending on the issues. The California Voting Foundation found in one of their studies that 40 percent of non-voters were under the age of 30 and 76 percent of non-voters had less than a college education. Another study makes clear that the higher the education level of the voter, the higher the turn-out of that cohort: around 84% for those with education beyond a college degree.

It is clear that voting turn-out has been on the decline in leading democracies over the last 40 years, which is just one huge example of failure that we are ignoring. How come we have competency tests for reading, history, math and science, even for foreign language in many school districts, but we do not test for competency in political science or civic responsibility anywhere in our public school system? Do we believe that the responsibility of citizenship is such that we should treat it cavalierly? We require immigrants who want to be citizens to pass a test on citizenship, but we have eliminated any such responsibility on the part of our natural born citizens. We even require basic knowledge of laws having to do with driving a car, and test all applicants for a license both by written test and driving test but no such thing is required in terms of registering to vote for the first time. Is that how we protect democracy -- by promoting ignorance of the sacred privilege of citizenship?

Because we are failing in the most fundamental ways to educate the electorate as to government and politics, and are also failing to teach the responsibilities of citizenship involvement, we are putting our democracy on the chopping block, and a Right-wing fringe movement is about to take it over, re-make it, and shove their ideological distortions down our throats.

As we approach November 4, 2014, we are standing on a precipice, with one foot already sliding toward the abyss. If Republicans of any stripe - moderate, socially conservative, classic conservative, or right wing radical -- achieve a victory in this election by taking control of both Houses of the Congress, it will be practically impossible to rescue our system of representative democracy once they put their agenda into effect.
I leave you today with some quotes from Thomas Jefferson that are at once disturbing and prophetic:

"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. The liberty of speaking and writing guards our other liberties."

"The best principles of our republic secure to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights."

"To preserve the freedom of the human mind then and freedom of the press, every spirit should be ready to devote itself to martyrdom"

"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government..."

　


　

　
　

　


　

　

　

　

　




　

　

　

The Tentacles of 'Kochtopus'

If you heard that someone in your home community was accused of the following, would you tolerate them getting away with such alleged offenses or would you want them fined or prosecuted? Consider then:

1) Following the 2011 death of the chairman of a public policy research group, there was a reported effort to procure the shares of that corporate entity held by the chairman's widow, arguing that "they were not hers to hold". A business agreement was reached by which the organization's President, who opposed the takeover, resigned and was replaced by a President more attuned to the philosophy of the original perpetrators; the latter dropped pending lawsuits as a result of the change. Happens all the time; business is business. But is harassment of a widow, and attack upon her inheritance, acceptable or injurious? 

2) Again in 2011, a grant of $1.5 million was made to a Deep South university in "exchange for allowing a foundation, via an advisory committee, to approve hiring decisions in the university's economics department for a program that promotes 'political economy and free enterprise'." The foundation also sought to have the university create a class called Market Ethics: The Vices, Virtues, and Values of Capitalism. Required reading for the class included books by a certain controversial economics writer. The student senate introduced a resolution protesting "undue influence on academics as established by the current agreement with the University's Economics department. Sure, it happens all the time: "donations" or "contributions" influencing a particular course of action. But what about your children? Is it all right with you that your children are being influenced by certain courses offered at a college or university in accordance with the political philosophy of donors?  Is such 'bribery' in the academic sphere acceptable to you?

3) Then consider this: the attempted takeover of an entire public school system in another southern state, in order to ensure that a certain social, ethical and political philosophy is taught and promulgated. The alleged occurrences were documented on film in 2012. It was portrayed as a blatant attempt to remake a school district's policy on diversity and to thereby re-segregate that particular school district. Grassroots protests and objections were raised effectively by the district's citizens. But is this attempt not akin to the breaking of current law? If nothing else, it is certainly a scoffing at current policy as legally promulgated. Do you want to allow men with money to determine the legal status of anything, just because they want it that way (think: Hobby-Lobby decision by SCOTUS)? In other words, is our democracy founded upon the Rule of Law or the rule of Men? You decide.

4) In legal parlance, "conspiracy" is defined as:
An agreement between two or more persons to engage jointly in an unlawful or criminal act, or an act that is innocent in itself but becomes unlawful when done by the combination of actors.
Federal statutes, and many state statutes, now require not only agreement and intent but also the commission of an overt act in furtherance of the agreement.
Let's take that just a bit further: "Conspiracy is a consultation or agreement between two or more persons, either falsely to accuse another of a crime punishable by law; or wrongfully to injure or prejudice a third person, or any body of men, in any manner; or to commit any offense punishable by law; or to do any act with intent to prevent the course of justice; or to effect a legal purpose with a corrupt intent, or by improper means." (Black's Law Dictionary (online at thelawdictionary.org).

In recent years, certain very rich men have organized semi-annual seminars to promote their political views. In June 2010, one such event was held in Aspen, Colorado, called "Understanding and Addressing Threats to American Free Enterprise and Prosperity" (a more recent one in Las Vegas). The invitation stated that "[our] prosperity is under attack by the current Administration and many of our elected officials" and "we cannot rely on politicians to [defend our free society], so it is up to us to combat what is now the greatest assault on American freedom and prosperity in our lifetimes".

It has been reported more than once that these meetings are conspiratorial in nature, in that they are used to plan strategies (with Republican officials who are also in attendance) for the Right-wing of the GOP that end up falsely accusing the President and his administration of criminal wrong-doing; and have been used to prejudice a particular entity - the Congress of the United States - with the intent to prevent a just course, and even to effect a legal purpose with a corrupt intent. How do they do such dastardly acts? With the influence of money, of course. How else would the all-out campaign against Obamacare have been funded except that these multi-millionaires and billionaires provided the funds to mount a nation-wide assault on this piece of legislation?

But here's the rub: the conservative Justices of the Supreme Court have enabled these Right-wing conspirators to give enormous amounts of money to PACs and other third party groups who are not required to reveal either the donors or the purpose for the use of such monies. Having decided to make bribery or influence-peddling a non-crime in this instance, the radical Right Justices have become part of the conspiracy. By means of their decisions, bribery has become a first amendment right (protected by free speech given to individuals and corporations as individuals), the intention being to enable an anonymous prevention of justice for poor folk, and to effect a legal purpose with an improper means of activity.

And you thought legal meant according to the Law! No, legal now means according to the conservative justices' interpretation of the Constitution and the Code of Laws emanating from it. In case you've forgotten, let me remind you that a central tenet in this conspiracy is that the federal government is corrupt and unnecessary except in some overriding national interest such as war. If you believe as I do that there is no basis in the Constitution or our Laws for shutting down the central government or for the federal government to default on its debt, then it might be interesting to call to mind in this context, the definitions given for conspiracy. Have these Right-wing conspirators actually pushed the Congress "to effect a legal purpose with a corrupt intent or by improper means"? I believe they have.

5) A key factor in the Democratic coalition of forces needed to win a national election has always been Labor unions. The Right-wing conspiracy has been quite aware of it for some years now, but only began to do much about it while Clinton was in office and more visibly during the Obama Presidency. For most of us, the conspiracy to quell union power was focused in Wisconsin where Governor Scott Walker of Tea Party fame was elected with right-wing millions poured into his campaign. Once elected, he joined hands with Republican representatives in the Wisconsin House to enact legislation that put great restrictions on collective bargaining, a major key to union strength. Remember the protests that ensued in 2011, and the recall election that failed to unseat Gov. Walker? 

In February 2011, the NY Times reported that a particular PAC for millionaires - Americans for Prosperity - most influenced both the squashing of collective bargaining and the defeat of recall. (According to a Wikipedia article) the PAC actively supported Walker's proposed bill on bargaining to the tune perhaps of $700,000 for ads supporting Walker's changes. Support for Walker in his first run for Governor was estimated at $3 million from Americans for Prosperity. After Walker took office, he and the Republican representatives in the Wisconsin House enacted legislation that placed limitations on collective bargaining by public employees. Widespread protests ensued. When the New York Times reported that Americans for Prosperity had actively supported Walker's proposed bill, those contributions became a symbolic target for the protests. 

Here again, it seems to me that the legal definition of conspiracy fits quite well in the circumstances. How do you feel about millionaires and billionaires being able to destroy part of the foundation upon which the Labor Movement was built, and the basis on which voting is founded: one person, one vote?

6) Finally, let us point to the huge conspiracy that exists because this same gaggle of multi-millionaires and billionaires decree that it shall. I'm speaking, of course, of that area of life that will one day - sooner than later - affect us all negatively-- the failing environmental health of this planet.

This is where the conspiracy becomes more than political maneuvering or fighting against liberal causes, because here is where the millionaires prosper: it is their businesses that are at stake, and so political conspiracy becomes intertwined with self-aggrandizement and personal protection and business promotion. According to the environmentalist group Greenpeace, organizations that the rich Right-wingers help fund such as Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and the Manhattan Institute have all been active in questioning global warming. Through Americans for Prosperity, the conspirators have influenced more than 400 members of Congress to sign a pledge to vote against climate change legislation that does not include equivalent tax cuts (Richard Hanna was one of those 400!).

But that's just the tip of the iceberg (so to speak!). And here is where we must pause to reveal the fact that the hosts and the provocateurs and the catalysts for the Right-wing planning and actions that manifest as conspiratorial are, of course, the Koch brothers, David and Charles. I'm sure you had already guessed that fact. So let's look briefly at some of their machinations having to do with their opposition to regulations and restrictions on the oil and gas industries. Koch Industries is, by the way, the second largest and most powerful company in America.

Utilizing a myriad of sources (including Huffington Post, Bill Moyers, Minute News Press, Buzz Feed and the Guardian.com), let us tell part of their horrific story. (Should you want more of the story, use this link to go to a hard-hitting story in Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924?page=5)

Fred Koch, a wealthy industrial engineer, created a new method of oil refinement leading to the creation of Koch Industries. Fred, father of four, left the powerful company to his wife and four children. In the 1980’s, after the children took more active roles in the every day management of the company, a massive litigation process led by David and Charles, the two middle children, fought to gain full control of the multi-billion dollar corporation and in the end Charles and David gained full control, pushing out the other two. Soon after they took over Koch Industries the criminal accusations began. Koch Industries illegally took oil from Federal and Indian reserves. Not long after the illegal activities came to light the brothers began delving into financing legislation benefiting Koch Industries and their subsidiaries. In the end the company received fines for just a pittance of $25 million compared to the annual revenue of $115 billion to settle the allegations of theft from the Federal government and Indian land owners.

David and Charles learned early on that financially supporting legislation would lead to less restriction on the side of business. In the 1990’s they quietly began financing individual candidates that would legislate in a manner benefiting Koch Industries. The beginnings of their financial control began with the regulatory side; however they have become masters of American propaganda. When scientists introduced the world to the damages of industry on the environment; David & Charles Koch poured millions of dollars into the climate denial machine. Specifically the Koch brothers paid for individuals to vilify the world’s most prominent scientists who have dedicated their lives to studying the earth and atmosphere. The propaganda never gave actual evidence; it simply reiterated the Koch theory that science is an opinion-based activity that has improperly demonized industry. When the Koch brothers funded research studies discrediting global warming, the scientists indeed confirmed that the globe is heating up, so the brothers changed the game plan and pushed propaganda that global warming is actually good for the environment.

Along with funding the verbal propaganda, they bought legislation that removed barriers meant to counteract the damage the industry had done to the environment. Koch Industries has repeatedly filed lawsuits against activists that have found proof that their corporation has purposely tainted drinking water, polluted land and waterways, and killed off protected wildlife. Koch Industries, fined over $400 million dollars in penalties, has paid little of those charges. In most cases Koch Industries, released from responsibility by the courts, walked away simply because the individuals or non-profit organization did not have the same financial power to continue fighting. Corporate affiliates in other countries actively violate bribery laws that are swept under the rug. Many international legal suits against Koch or their subsidiaries have also been dismissed with little fan fare.

Such examples are just the tip for the Koch brother’s "un-American activities." The reward for financing policy has paid off ten fold in added revenue to the expanded Koch Industries. Acquiring Georgia-Pacific and partnering with Goldman Sachs, Koch Industries own just about every aspect of American business. Every home in the United States has the Koch brothers in it. From every day goods to the carpets and processed furnishings in American homes, the American people are financing the political activities from which they are not benefiting.

Recently the Koch brothers have created a list, distributed in election cycles, of Koch-approved candidates at every level of politics. Every approved candidate had been previously linked to the Koch lobbying activities over the last three decades. Each had worked for companies or firms that pursue lenient legislation benefiting industrial activities.

The Koch brothers have prospered so heavily through their political funding activities that they have been pursuing opportunities to completely control the election process. The brothers have gone beyond politics and policies that benefit them to taking on roles to reign over all political realms.

The summary article concludes: "In the last decade tens of millions of dollars have gone towards effecting policy and elections that could benefit them or their companies. But now they are pursuing policies that give them universal government control. Taking the helm in creating policy on education in states like Texas and North Carolina allows the Koch brothers to have control over public education nationwide. For two men who never had a child in a public educational institution, creating educational policy for other’s children is unsettling. It is as if they are choosing how their future workforces should be informed. Such activities have been the standards for communist cultures for hundreds of years. Decades of undermined democracy has only set back the election process 50 years. Working from the Stalin playbook, the Koch brothers un-American activities have only grown stronger and harder to combat. Luckily the decades of hidden activity is finally coming to light for the American electorate."

A few more provocative quotes will serve to conclude our thoughts today on the conspiratorial Koch brothers and their millionaire partners in crime.

>In 2011, the EPA reported that Koch Industries "emitted over twenty-four million tons of carbon dioxide", as much as is typically emitted by five million cars

>A study from the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University reported that "In 2011 and 2012, Koch Industries Public Sector LLC, the lobbying arm of Koch Industries, advocated for the Energy Tax Prevention Act, which would have rolled back the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could regulate greenhouse gases."

>The Koch Foundation is a major funder of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, an effort to address the criticism of records of the earth's surface temperatures. At least two of the project's seven scientists are seen as climate change skeptics by many in the climate science world.

>In addition:

• Spending more than $28 million, the Koch's have funded hundreds of reports, commentaries and books which popularized the fiction that Social Security is on the brink of collapse.
• Koch money has supported voter ID laws in 38 states. These laws are billed as a way to avoid voter fraud, but they are actually intended to make it more difficult for Democrats to vote.
• The Koch's use their influence to sway legislation regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. Koch Industries has a significant financial interest in this oil and gas project.
• A Koch paper plant pollutes the air and water of a community in Arkansas. The film about the 'Koch Brothers Exposed'' explores a link with a cancer cluster in the small African-American community of Crosset.
• As we reported above, the Koch's give millions of dollars to universities, with the stipulation that the schools must hire Koch-sympathetic professors.
• In this election cycle alone, Koch-backed entities have bought 44,000 political ads to boost Republican efforts to take back the Senate.

In an article in the August 30, 2010 issue of the New Yorker, writer Jane Mayer wrote,
"The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry – especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers' corporate interests. ... Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a 'kingpin of climate science denial.' The report purported to show that, from 2005 to 2008, the Koch's vastly outspent ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies – from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program – that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the "Kochtopus."

A fitting name for this many-tentacled conspiracy. Watch-out friends -- there is no limit to the resources they are able and allowed to use to achieve whatever ends they desire! When you vote on November 4, 2014, please focus your mind on the fact that voting for any Republican running for national office increases the power and the audacity of the Koch brothers and their co-conspirators. Behind every Republican name on that ballot is an invisible empire controlled by the Koch Brothers and fellow-conspirators intent on controlling every aspect of your lives -- and they are well on their way to gaining that control by totally corrupting the political system for their own purposes.