Most years, my New Year's resolutions are the usual mundane fantasy
items -- lose weight, spend less money, improve my love life, yada yada.
The other day, however, I received a lovely little notepad that says, "I
am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the
World." Of course the author probably should have mentioned having a
magic wand, but nonetheless, I was inspired to think that after the
last ten abominable years, a decade-size resolution might be in order,
so here it is:
TAKE BACK THE COUNTRY AND SAVE THE WORLD
Cut to the chase, the last ten years
have been a horror. From the stealing of two Presidential elections to
the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the wars first in Afghanistan and then
based on outright lies, Iraq. The fleecing of investors and
non-investors alike by companies like Enron and Goldman Sachs.
Katrina, the economy, foreclosures, the healthcare debacle and the
failure of substantive progress in addressing climate change.
Add to that a global perspective, and of course things are much
worse -- horrendous weather along the Pacific Rim, the ongoing hell of
places like Gaza and Darfur, people starving and dying of disease
unnecessarily, half a million maternal mortality deaths every year,
melting glaciers, it was, let's face it, a decathlon of disaster.
In a must-read piece about what is needed, Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association refers to those who run the government as "indentured politicians," a thought echoed by Carl Bernstein who knows a thing or two about crooked politicians.
Meanwhile in Beltwayistan...
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been telling
Democrats a win on the health issue will reverse the slide in public
opinion, just as passage of another controversial proposal, the North
American Free Trade Agreement, lifted President Bill Clinton in the
polls.
And after all, it is all about public opinion...not.
Health insurers get some big presents in the Senate's
health overhaul bill -- about 20 million new customers and no
competition from a new government plan.Taking advantage of those boons
might take some time, though.
The bill imposes hefty new taxes and coverage rules that will pinch
insurers by forcing them to cover more sick people without gaining
enough healthy, lower-cost customers, industry insiders say. The
industry is also worried the bill doesn't do enough to control health
care costs.
It's a matter of figuring out how to make those new customers profitable, analysts say.
However, the most damaging thing about the health care debate is not
the legislation itself, flawed as that is, but rather that those who
have opposed meaningful reform have been allowed to hijack the
discourse with tactics such as using the issue of abortion rights not
only to weaken the legislation but to create such a lengthy ruckus that
things such as the economy, military spending and most importantly the
environment have been relegated to afterthoughts.
"We need to deal with the phenomena of global warming,
but I think it's very difficult in the kind of economic circumstances
we have right now," said Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, who called
passage of any economy-wide cap and trade "unlikely."
At a meeting about health care last month, moderates pushed to table
climate legislation in favor of a jobs bill that would be an easier
sell during the 2010 elections, according to Senate Democratic aides.
"I'd just as soon see that set aside until we work through the economy," said Sen.
Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), "What we don't want to do is have anything get in
the way of working to resolve the problems with the economy."
Leaving aside the absurdity of cap and trade, so nice to hear from
you again Sen. Nelson after your sellout of women's human rights in
exchange for the health of the insurance companies, and now you would
have us believe that the economy is going to get better while the
environment falters? Can I interest you in some oceanside property in
Florida?
Translation of all this thanks to my handy B.S.-to-English
translator: We need to see past our noses when it comes to the word
from Washington according to self-serving politicians such as Nelson,
Bayh and Emanuel. We may have voted these folks into power, but the
reality is, their loyalties are to themselves and their corporate
owners.
Which leads me back to that super-sized resolution. Enough
already. Why in tarnation are we allowing corporations to pull the
strings? Why is corporate welfare being valued over human rights? Why
are we allowing the continued trashing and degradation of our planet?
Where is the culpability?
I've written several times recently about the need to stand up for what you believe (here and here).
It is time to do some serious introspection and to think about what we
truly believe in and what is important, and quite frankly, whether we
plan to be able to look back upon the next decade 10 years from now
because that is just how serious the issue of climate change is. And
then it is time to get off the couch.
We don't have the luxury of waxing poetic while we watch the ball
drop in Times Square. We've already dropped the ball enough. We need
to be in the street, we need to go to Washington, and yes all that
might mean going to jail, but no way around it, we need to reclaim the
body politic and we need to do it now.