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Unfurling the Flag of the United States of Greed
We pledge allegiance to the logo of Exxon Mobil Corp. And to the shareholders for whom it stands, one corporation, unregulated, with exploitation and disregard for all.
We might as well begin reciting this pledge from now on: It's preposterous to insist that our nation is about anything but unrestrained profiteering anymore.
Liberty and justice, what humbug!
Horrified by my irreverent rewrite of the Pledge of Allegiance? That's OK. Everyone is horrified when someone tells an ugly truth. But after Exxon Mobil's recent quarterly profit announcement, you must know that it's not our government any more.
We live in a country with skyrocketing unemployment figures, skyrocketing foreclosure rates, skyrocketing debt to foreign governments, and skyrocketing numbers of people who are homeless, hungry and sick.
We've been so afraid that a government doing the work of the people might do it wrong that we ended up giving the government to corporate bosses who aren't afraid of anything.
We were so afraid of paying taxes and giving ourselves the power to administer the nation's necessities -- what some call "inalienable rights" -- that we placed the government in the hands of the pitilessly greedy.
Wegave it to them, because while Congress and the president made deals in our White House and on the floor of our Capitol, we didn't stop them. The United States has become one big pawn shop, and our leaders have -- for decades -- put our natural resources, stewardship responsibilities and now our civil liberties up for sale.
Once the multinational corporate propaganda machine made us afraid of a compassionate, involved government, it was pretty easy to do the rest.
First they called social services socialism and now they call respect for personal privacy terrorism. TV commentators and their talk radio accomplices are paid multimillions of dollars to spew the hokum that if we allowed government to tax us and invest our money in education, research and development, health care and infrastructure we'd be abandoning capitalism and our American way of life.
For the past 28 years our leadership has privatized our self-governing mainframe.
We effectively eliminated corporate regulation. Consequently, our commerce, our small businesses and our workers' wages suffer while multinational corporations assume control of our wealth.
Once the Federal Communications Commission lost effective jurisdiction over our airwaves, mergers and acquisitions by faceless, bottom line-driven multinational companies created a system of subjective media ownership that now controls the information we receive. And the little guy, the local broadcast owner and the hometown newspaper, gets crushed under the weight of these huge conglomerates.
Private companies are fighting our wars. And though mercenary contractors make up half our occupying force, they don't suffer the same casualties. In July 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that about 1,000 private contractors had died while serving in Iraq. Our enlisted men and women -- working for a fraction of what the mercenaries get paid -- do the lion's share of the dying.
And because our media are biased, we see no images of their sacrifice.
A state funeral and public viewing of the casket were deemed necessary and respectful when Ronald Reagan died, and yet the media won't show us the coffins of our dead soldiers or debate openly the reality of all these dead mercenaries.
If elected officials were held accountable by the people and did not instead answer to their corporate contributors, some courageous newspaper or TV crew would fight to get these pictures and this story to the American people.
Pledging allegiance to our flag has become so 1776, so 1865, so 1941.
Men invented flags to ascertain the direction the wind was blowing so that the archers could adjust their aim in battle and still hit their targets. Placing the clan or ruling colors on them came later. Now, with modern weaponry, the flag is passé and only the logo matters.
Exxon Mobil's greed goes completely unchecked by our government even though we have the power to control it. Instead people go hungry, will be unable to heat their homes, and continue to die in the war that makes this company abhorrently rich.
Why even have a flag? We already know which way the wind is blowing.
88 Comments so far
Show AllGreat posts: STEPHEN V. RILEY (and well said), NATIVE SON & STARK RAVING.
FRANK 1569: Good points about addiction. In some ways we should pity those who never recognize when they are satiated, already have all they need. That is the common denominator of all addictions, be they directed at stuff, food, alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex etc.
You used to be able to find the Corporate States of America flag at Adbusters.org.
You should go see if it's still there...
Excellent. This says it all. Thanks for the article.
This was the version I came up with a few months ago:
"I pledge allegiance to the United Corporate States of America, and to the market, for which it stands, one corporation, under God and the almighty dollar, with enslavement and insecurity for all."
I guess the only word that would remain is God.
The #1 illness to deal with in this country is: GREED.
Its symptoms have manifested themselves in every nook of our society:
HEALTH CARE (greedy insurance, obscenely greedy Big Pharma)
HOME OWNERSHIP (greedy mortgage companies)
FOOD (the agri-industrial complex, the cheap-at-all-costs tainted food from China)
PETROL (the greedy war-mongering oil companies who gladly trade american blood for oil)
WAR MACHINE (the military industrial complex in constant need of being fed tax dollars)
CORRUPT GOVERNMENT (the greedy K street lobbyists)
CORRUPT MEDIA (the greedy propanganda of monopolies)
IMMISERATION OF HARD WORKING CITIZENS (the Walmarts, etc)
ETC...well, you get the idea.
The first medicine towards healing is to recognize and honor the commons of a society; otherwise it remains every man for himself in a hobbesian dog-eat-dog culture.
Whoa . . . Welcome to the real world.
Red pill, blue pill time...
Thank you for this article.
The "adjusted" pledge is much more truthful than the one we've been taught to believe is appropriate.
In my humble opinion, there is only one real flag left to honor, the Earth Flag, and no, I'm not an old gray-haired, geezer-goo'd Hippie or communist! I fly it proudly every day because it more precisely expresses my feelings and ideals!
It is the only flag for which I am now willing to fight for, to die for. I cannot in all good conscience be faithful or announce my allegiance to a flag representing any one single country or nation on the planet.
As a species we must mature and grow from the irrational and ugly Earth Eaters that we have become to a species that regards Earth first in all things and thoughts, deeds and decisions! And we must do so rapidly, or we are extinct!
As a defender of dark skies (a lifelong astronomer), I wrote and present for your consideration, my Dark Sky Pledge, with no disrespect intended:
"I pledge devotion to the stars
of the majestic Milky Way Galaxy
and to a dark night sky in which
they shine; one cosmos, overhead,
clearly visible, with liberty from
light and dark skies for all."
I hope you will pass it on to others.
Thank you for your time.
http://www.darkskyinitiative.org
Just saw Werner Herzog's "Encounters at the End of the World" and apparently it's all over for us, greed or no greed. We are like the lone penguin wandering off into the empty vastness, heading toward certain death.
pavroviandog 12:32:
I agree with your diagnosis, (greed), but would like to add that greed may only be a symptom of a more frightening disease that seems to have infected almost all Americans, perhaps humans, of late:
I call it apathy!
Nothing will change until We the People rise up in numbers far more than are rising up nowadays and demand change.
http://www.darkskyinitiative.org
Individuals are greedy.
Capitalism follows objective laws. Make maximum profits or go out of business.
If you want capitalist to stop making maximum profits then it will not be capitalism. It would have to be another economic system.
How about if *I* be the arbiter of what is greed and what is reasonable self interest for each of you? Why is greed always something that someone else has and not ourselves?
"If they take control of the Gold, they get to make the rules. It really is that simple."
I agree, but if anyone here does it, are they "greedy"?
Why do our government officials have socialized medicine and their constituents don't?
Capitalism = diarrhea
Socialism = normal bm
Fascism = constipated with no relief in sight...
The Author, as well as several of the respondents here sound to me like the kid, who when it finally dawns on him/her that Santa Clause was a fictional character that his/her parents had been promoting for his/her "whole life"---usually 8-9 years.
They resent the fact that they had been lied to, and at the same time resent the fact that they had not "seen" the truth before.
Then when the kid grows up to become a parent themselves, they most often promote the same lie that had been sold to them.
The "truth" about the "Americans" has been there all along, for everyone to see, they just chose to stay blind, and not change things.
This country has never been anything but a very large "feeding trough" for business.
The fact is this actually started before the USA was the USA.
So-----------?
Change it. When enough American people begin to see the "Santa Clause" myth about their own Nation they will either change it -----or "sell out" and join it. Or be born to be a social parasite like the current occupant of the White House, who is a fourth generation "social parasite"-----and he's very proud of it also. If left to his own devices, he would be the "poster child for genetic diversity"------and an inmate in a Texas prison as a repeat offender. Only in America could a fool like him become the most powerful "fool" on the planet. He is there not because of merit, but because "big business" wanted him there. That so many Americans thought that he was (and some still do) a "wonderful leader"; is no surprise.
The American "people" can make the difference, it may take courage, or rethinking the problems and the solutions, or a total rearrangement of the "Golden Rule" here in the USA that is:
If you have the Gold, you get to make the Rules.
Take the control out of the hands of business, and make them pay their share.
As it is now, Exxon has posted the highest profit margins of any company in the History of the USA----and they still get billions in tax breaks.......
They have the Gold, they get to make the Rules.
If they paid a fair share of the Taxes, they would be less likely to stay out of the game, but they would loose much of the control they have to "make the rules"; they would not have so much to spend on the "Muppets" like Mr. Bush, Cheney, and so many others past and present.
Take the money out of the politics for the politicians, make the tax system reflect a fair distribution of the responsibility; and with an apportioned federal income tax, their would not be the "wiggle room" they love to talk about in "Washington"....
The American People have the power to make their government work for them the only requirement is to stop the Santa Clause imagery they have of their Nation and clean house..........
If they take control of the Gold, they get to make the rules. It really is that simple.
No wonder the right accuses the left of being anti-American nutjobs :P
"Why do our government officials have socialized medicine "
They don't, they have it provided as an employment benifit, like many employers do.
Great article by Pat LaMarche, but beneath American culture is a war between the material and the spiritual.
The U.S. is all about a materialistic civilization of infinite growth that has lost its' spiritual and ethical consciousness.
Removing ethics from economic development "conveniently" removes social responsibility and the need for critical awareness. It robs humankind of its' true spiritual nature and allows for even greater oppression by corporate capitalism.
The world is beginning to see that this form of corporate capitalism reduces humankind to one dimensional people whose sole purpose is to work and consume on the never ending treadmill of capitalism. By the addiction to consumerism, the corporate servants then become mere fodder and energy for corporate capitalism that only enriches the ruling corporate elite and conspiring national leaders througout the world.
The only effective force to check the material forces of consumerism is a heightened spiritual sense of fairness and compassion that flows from genuine democracy and our common humanity.
Thus we see spirituality and healthy democracies as the only competing force to the domination of global capitalism. We see that materialism only advances where spirituality has declined. That is why unregulated capitalism eventually becomes the enemy of spirituality, the enemy of democracy and the enemy of a just society.
How can such radical social change be made possible?
No longer can we resort to revolution to radically transform the system. To move from the present destructive form of corporate capitalism, we must work for a distinct shift in values. It will require a whole new way of thinking. It is more about evolution than revolution.
We will need an honest introspection of the American way of life and how it affects other people and other nations. It will require massive education and a revolutionary consciousness that can empower the people differently. It will require the transformational power of a spiritual movement for a more just, sustainable and compassionate world.
Humankind faces a choice between two worlds: collapse or transformation. It will be a final battle between two scenarios, a great transition into a culture of sustainability and equity … or…..utter collapse of civilized life and policed by a world corporate fascism never imagined before.
American citizens need to awaken from the delusions of American "destiny" and the lies contained within the Official State Religion of America, the idolatry of capitalism, worshiping individual material success over all human rights and obliterating all human values.
Final battle? Everyone has always said that. How about this, how about everything you say needs to win out already has and is fully in practice? Who are you to judge everyone as lacking conscious ethical choice-making? Who are you to say everyone has lost their spiritual mooring? Maybe that is not the way it is at all and people were always already making ethical choices and grounding their experience more in their spiritual ideas, and maybe you should understand and articulate those things already going on.
ignorance, greed....there's an even deeper malady causing the tears in our social fabric: fear. it may be in direct proportion to the degree of affluence, possibly combined with the means by which that affluence was obtained, but the level of "security" required to protect wealth speaks volumes about where priorities have evolved - both individually and as a society.
our task, and that of our children, will be to discover ways for more equitable distribution of resources throughout the world. by giving more, this nation will accomplish both the eradication of the worst effects of impoverishment that our own greed and covetousness has helped create, while simultaneously reducing the burden of fear we live with so constantly we don't even realize it's there.
To j50:
You say everything I said is already happening and IS FULLY in practice. Have you had your eyes gouged out?
Whom am I to judge? Then why in hell are you posting on Commondreams?
Yes, I am fully aware of a higher global consciousness emerging in the world, and based upon the values I speak of.
I resent your impulsive reaction from your thinned skin nature, and you think you are so smart!
I don't think I'm that smart compared to the totality of the universe, and even one society is pretty complex enough that I'm going to be skeptical of saying everything should be re-ordered. As for why I am here - well, is it commondreams or commonjudgments :P
In my time on the Earth, I have noticed one universal constant. There are only 2 tyoes of people when it comes to resources.
Type I :
Sees a resource as being a benefit and starts to think about how that resource could be used for the benefit of everyone.
Type II:
Sees a resource as being a benefit and starts to think about how they can profit off of or keep the resource themselves while depriving some or ALL others of a fair share.
The resource can be anything, food, money, labor, knowledge, etc.
If you think that having more for yourself at the expense of others is morally justified then YOU are greedy.
If however, you feel that resources should be divided and shared equally then you are NOT considered greedy.
Politician Type I Would normally be considered a ____________.
Come on trolls, I'll give you a hint the first letter is "L".
Politiciam Type II would normally be considered a _______________.
So Mr Arbiter of Greed Jake Newton, which type are you? No qualafications.
I am soundly in the type II catagory. If you want to help mankind and you aren't there, GET THERE! Otherwise, you are just part of the problem and need to be swept away with the rest of your corrupt and malignant ideologies.
Great article!
While the author avoids the current political debate, it is obvious that McCain and Obama both are married to the status quo system he negatively critiques. Yet the 'true believers ' among us just refuse to look at the facts.
"If however, you feel that resources should be divided and shared equally then you are NOT considered greedy."
How about if I come over and take some resources that I think I need from you then? Since you aren't greedy you won't mind.
Well, your categorizations are crap. Also, way to basically affirm the totalitarian genocidal relationship you want to have to all those that need to be swept away. What you say is simplistic and vicious and I am glad you won't be sweeping away anybody any time soon.
"How about if I come over and take some resources that I think I need from you then? Since you aren't greedy you won't mind."
The operative word here Jake is "TAKE"... I'd be glad to sell you resources, perhaps even share them... but if you come to take them then you're an evil exploiter. Shades of gray Jake.
jakenewton ignorantly said: "They don't, they have it provided as an employment benifit, like many employers do."
That's not true Jake... it's completely 'socialized' as they don't pay any sort of premium at all. It is FREE healthcare for members of the government. As well, it isn't through a private HMO or anything... straight up, single-payer government healthcare, like most of the western countries have for their population.
" it's completely 'socialized' "
I think you are making up your own definition of "socialized medicine" then. Not paying any out of pocket premium is not a criteria of socialized medicine, that's not unique to government employees. I had that with an employer once.
"Shades of gray Jake."
Agreed. That was my original point. "Greed" is completely subjective by definition. If I think I am more in need of those resources than you are, or that your price is too high, than I may say you are greedy.
g50
You say my categorizations are crap. Well, as you first commented to me, "who are you to judge?"
Bullshit jakenewton, government officials have socialized medicine.
Amazing how many trolls are posting today to defend greed.
"Bullshit jakenewton, government officials have socialized medicine."
Source, please.
"Amazing how many trolls are posting today to defend greed."
Amazing how no one understands that greed is subjective, and would only designate the trait to someone besides themselves.
I judge your categorizations, not your moral credits or debits.
Also ladybug, a troll isn't anyone who disagrees with you.
the basic motor of their behaviors is not greed but rather capitalism's need to constantly increase its rate of profit, i.e., the behaviors are the result of a fundamental flaw in the capitalist system.
I concede the socialized medicine question, as it likely fits the most broad of definitians.
I am much more interested in the greed issue.
"capitalism's need to constantly increase its rate of profit,"
I don't think the above is essential to capitalism as a whole.
"I don't think the above is essential to capitalism as a whole."
What aspects of capitalism do not operate on the profit motive?
On the issue of 'greed,' perhaps your subjective definition of the term more closely resembles what others would determine as 'self-interest.'
I have not read the above posts, but put me down for giving up my half-million dollars in net worth in return for world wide full stomachs, comfortable homes, and universal health care.
I neither want nor have a right to more than the mean world standard of living, and being near the mean myself, I have the right to be an advocate for total wealth redistribution.
Of course the dinosaurs will cling to private property, munitions, fossil fuels, and all the other trappings of their already dead system. But the sooner we let go of it, the more resources we will have to begin again.
To ask "begin what?" simply betrays an unwillingness to let go. Everybody knows what is good and true, right and fair, but those with money would rather raise questions, discuss endlessly, and otherwise engage in sophistry.
Sartre calls this bad faith. We can no longer afford bad faith. Future generations (if any) will look back on our present system, wag their heads, and wonder how such insanity prevailed for so long.
Progressive taxes don't redistribute wealth/power because them with the gold makes the rules.
A yearly direct democratically established cap on personal net worth would redistribute excess wealth and power.
The cap should be high enough to preserve the profit motive, but low enough to prevent extreme power concentration.
If made inversely proportional to population growth, it would control overpopulation.
Wealth Cap excesses should be given away to individuals only, not to organizations of any kind.
The net worth of any organization should be put in the hands of it's members and counted in their individual cap.
For those moving overseas to escape the Wealth Cap, it would be goodbye and good riddance.
The process can begin by incorporating We the People.
I would say that's a good beginning. I'm sure there will be no shortage of those eager to engage in endless debate until everyone gets tired and leaves.
Just remember, if you do, that ezeflyer and I gave you some answers that you chose to ignore.
Greed is not "subjective." It is a mental disorder.
Addiction is defined as "a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences to the individual's health, mental state or social life."
In other words, there's nothing wrong with working hard and earning a profit. It's when earning more profit than one could ever possibly spend despite the pain and suffering it may cause that it becomes Greed.
The non-Greed afflicted can be satisfied; the Greed-afflicted, just like the food addict or gambling addict - are never satisfied. As a result, "chasing the high" that can never be reached trumps all other concerns.
It's very difficult to understand why a gambler doesn't stop even after losing his car and house and wife and kids and job, or why the over-eater doesn't stop as they get bigger and bigger... or why the Greedy continue to do "whatever it takes" for more even after they've accumulated enough money to last 100 lifetimes.
That's not "subjective," that is the very definition of addict.
Jake Newton..
Glad you asked. No you cannot determine for yourself what you need and take it from me. You can however, come to my home, share a meal, a beverage, use my bathroom, shower or whatever it is I can provide you that you are lacking. Now, I know in your right addled mind you are already conflating this and want me to give you money, my car, or some other ridiculous item because you feel you NEED it. I won't, you don't need money and baubels! You need food, water, shelter, clothing. I am even willing to share more than that if I have it. But greed is it's own reward isn't it Mr. Newton? Anytime you want to visit, let me know. I'll have beer and steaks!
G50.. I am trying to read your comments and see where you are coming from but seriously dude, you are not making any sort of sense.
A picture is worth 400,000,000 words, if it happens to be a picture of former Exxon CEO Lee R. Raymond, who presided over such corporate milestones as a gigantic oil-spill by the Exxon Valdez before he retired with a gigantic bonus of $400,000,000.
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii97/JacobFreeze/LeeRRaymond.jpg
Also Jake,
If the gorvernment is paying 100% of the health premuims for our representatives, and it isn't socialized medicine, then I want the government to pay all my premiums under your non-socialized completely paid for health plan.
This way of seeing the US should not be new. The purple mountains and amber waves of grain are stolen property. That isn't new. Americans as FAVORITES OF God (shed his light on thee) is what justified the genocide of indians. There is no good to crown, the US has never been good to anyone except the rich and sometimes Americans themselves. The sea to shining sea is an expression of rapacious imperialism. America as a goon should not be seen as a new phenomenon because it isn't. Americans have profited from robbing and exterminating native americans, enslaving Africans and exploiting the poor who had no choice but to come to the US. The US used its size and wealth to rob others and make americans better off. Now, the pillaging isn't working so well anymore and americans are beginning to suffer. Only that is new.
Bring back the Jubilee system (debt cancelation every 50 years).
Medic wrote:
medic6869 August 6th, 2008 1:09 pm
Individuals are greedy. Capitalism follows objective laws. Make maximum profits or go out of business.
If you want capitalist to stop making maximum profits then it will not be capitalism. It would have to be another economic system. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And that's correct--but capitalism isn't the end all be all options of economic systems. Riane Eisler, in her book, Real Wealth of Nations--offers a new possibiity--"Partnerism". Partnerism goes beyond the limited view of the capitalistic/consumer economy and expands it into a full spectrum economy that adds new sectors to be included in our measurement of the economy--essentially to measure/value the economic activities that we now ignore/exclude within the household, unpaid volunteer and natural sectors. This would enable us to shift out of consumption (which makes up 70% of the economy right now) and shift into a full spectrum economy including these other sectors (valued at over $11 trillion dollars a year!)
It is time for a new economic system--we know that socialism, communism and fascism didn't work. Then we hoodwinked ourselves into thinking capitalism 'won the day'...only now we are faced with our own extinction so its obvious this isn't working either. Time to widen the lens and see it from this new perspective.