Bill Moyers: A Little Patriotic Sacrifice

[Q]

Published on Friday, October 15, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

A Little Patriotic Sacrifice

by Bill Moyers


There are moments when you see suddenly crystallized in a particular event, a threat to democracy as ominous as the smoke rising from Mt. St. Helens.

This week it was that enormous payoff to big corporations by their subjects in Congress. I say payoffs advisedly. Business elites provide politicians with the money they need to run for office. The politicians pay them back with a return on their investment so generous it boggles the mind. That legislation enacted this week is worth $137 billion in tax cuts for corporations. One company alone -- General Electric -- will receive over $8 billion, despite earnings last year of over $15 billion. Many companies -- Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Eli Lilly, among others -- have been parking profits overseas rather than bring them back to America where they are taxed. So Congress has now blessed them with a one-time "tax holiday" during which they can bring home the bacon at about one-seventh of the normal tax rates.

These plums are usually couched in such language they would defy a Delphic oracle to interpret them -- all the more to hoodwink us. What's behind those hieroglyphics in Section 713, Subsection A and B, Page 385? Why, a multimillion dollar windfall to Home Depot for importing ceiling fans made by serfs in China. And that little clause written in Sanskrit so tiny it would take a Mount Palomar telescope to read? Nothing less than a $27 million tax present to foreigners who bet at American horse and dog tracks. On and on it goes, the pillaging and plundering by suits with Guccis.

In a time of war, terror, and soaring deficits, you would think the governing class would be asking these corporate aristocrats to make a little patriotic sacrifice like that asked of single mothers or our men and women in Iraq. Instead they're allowed to pass their share of the burden to workers and children not yet born. At the least they ought to be required to remove the flag from their lapels and replace it with the icon they most revere -- the dollar sign.

Bill Moyers is the host of NOW with Bill Moyers, airing Friday nights at 9 on PBS (check local listings at www.pbs.org/now/sched.html)

[Lorien]

1. That was his monologue at the end of the show

tonight. And what a show it was! It repeats in many markets; click on the link above to find yours.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. all the politicians is belong to them

It is their ball, their bat, their yard.

http://www.theyrule.net/

[MatrixEscape]

4. I think that is becoming more clear to larger

numbers of people. The question is, how do we get it back? That is, if we ever had it in the first place.

Point One: Mass media is the propaganda machine and distraction tool for the corporate control process:

The concept of "democratizing the media" has no real meaning within the terms of political discourse in the United States. In fact, the phrase has a paradoxical or even vaguely subversive ring to it. Citizen participation would be considered an infringement on freedom of the press, a blow struck against the independence of the media that would distort the mission they have undertaken to inform the public without fear or favor. The reaction merits some thought. Underlying it are beliefs about how the media do function and how they should function within our democratic systems, and also certain implicit conceptions of the nature of democracy. - Democracy and the Media, Noam Chomsky

Point Two: Corporations are becoming synonymous with Government. They wield progressivly greater control as they concentrate power and increarse their influence political processes. The Democracy becomes a facade for control:

Interestingly, progressive intellectuals who favored the process of corporatization agreed more or less with this description. Woodrow Wilson, for example, wrote that "most men are servants of corporations," which now account for the "greater part of the business of the country" in a "very different America from the old, .. . no longer a scene of individual enterprise, ... individual opportunity, and individual achievement," but a new America, in which "small groups of men in control of great corporations wield a power and control over the wealth and business opportunities of the country," becoming "rivals of the government itself," and undermining popular sovereignty, exercised through the democratic political system. Notice this was written in support of the process. He described the process as maybe unfortunate, but necessary, agreeing with the business world, particularly after the destructive market failures of the preceding years had convinced the business world and progressive intellectuals that markets simply had to be administered and that financial transactions had to be regulated. - Socioeconomic Sovereignty, Noam Chomsky

Without a Matrix-like awakening experience, people can tend to imagine that this is merely a looming threat to Democracy and that, unchecked, it will eventually usurp our freedoms and system -- potentially forever. Someday, Big Brother?

On the other hand, it is not too radical to posit that the process of the Corporate Takeover and the covert rule Elite Political Oligarchy has always been extant and is merely maturing progressively towards greater degrees of control. Hence, its behavior makes its machinations more prominent to more people. Also, as technology improves, the means of manipulation become more diverse, precise, and less resistable.

Rather than simply point out the problems and attest to the above as we recognize or acknowledge them, it is a good idea to consider practical solutions to the problems we perceive. Clearly, the activism, alternatives, and raised voices are reaching you. Perhaps it all begins to coalesce and make more sense then.

[crispini]

6. How do we take it back?

Here's what I'm going to do after the elections:

Local support of clean elections. Google "arizona clean elections" to see what I'm interested in.

Grassroots reform of the electoral process... ground up.

[MatrixEscape]

7. It is a big subject but ....

Yeah, that's the spirit! I do think a lot of effort will be needed in making adjustments to the entire process in a progressive way.

There is a such a wide spectrum of issues. There are many fronts on which to perform this necessary transformation. At least we know that a consensus is builing and people are forming networks.

Don't forget your circle of influence and word of mouth.

I find that Chomsky, as well as other authors, helps one to get a grasp on the bigger picture and the process behind the control mechanisms. That helps one develop interesting talking points to share. The process can be fun and exciting if you present it as such.

Informing people and encouraging some healthy skepticism about the media is appropriate. Encouraging inquiry into its intents and purposes goes a long way. Direct them to various resources. Following the money is always enlightening.

Get them to take the red pill! Good luck!

[klook]

3. Absolutely brilliant

His show was great tonight, and this closing commentary was one of the best things he's ever done. Moyers is a true national hero.

[Cleita]

5. Damn I miss Bill. I got cut off my PBS two weeks ago.

I won't be getting it back until the end of October. I will catch up on the transcript online though. Thanks for reminding me.