The GOP fights to increase profits for Exxon while Iowa drowns

[Bjorn Against]

It has only been three short years since our nation witnessed the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. It was just three years ago that our nation’s collective conscience was shocked by the sight of the dead bodies floating down the rivers which were once streets, just three years since we saw thousands of people herded into a stadium only to be left without assistance for days, just three years since we saw our supposed leaders feasting on birthday cake while they watched a major American city drown.

I thought that the memories of three years ago would never leave us. I thought that the grief our nation felt upon witnessing the horrific events following the time in which Katrina made landfall, and our collective screams of outrage at the politicians who chose to ignore those horrific events would have impacted the way in which we handled future national disasters.

I was wrong. Today the Midwest is drowning, and how are our politicians responding? By debating whether or not they should ensure even bigger profits for the oil industry by opening up offshore oil drilling.

Yes, instead of actually talking about what they are going to do to help flood victims they are talking about what they are going to do to help Exxon.

Of course they will get to Iowa eventually. Once those flood waters recede I am sure their campaign contributors will see some opportunities for really big government contracts. Instead of offering a public works program to help the Midwest recover in a way which helps the people they will be offering a recovery plan which helps out the CEOs of those private contractors.

Yes, we will probably see a few politicians visit Iowa for a photo-op. We will see them hugging the mother of the family that just lost their home. We will hear them say all kinds of nice words about how they are going to help these people getting back on their feet again. We will see the politicians publicly grieve for these families, and we may even see our media finally acknowledge that Tim Russert’s family was not the only family which suffered a great loss over the past week.

But while we see them shed their crocodile tears we will all know that when the cameras are turned away they will be talking about how they can direct the money for recovery in a way which benefits their friends in big business. The ConAgra factory farm which has lobbyists to represent them in Congress will be helped out tremendously, while the family farmer will have to figure out how to get back on his own two feet with minimal assistance.

This is what happens after every disaster, and yet since each individual disaster effects a relatively small percentage of the population few of us actually notice. The media does not usually report on disaster recovery efforts for more than a few days after the disaster strikes, and they certainly don’t get into who benefits most from those recovery efforts. We don’t always see the corruption and the greed because we are not right there to witness it and the corporate media is certainly not there to report on it, but even if we don’t see the corruption it is most certainly there.

All of us are in danger of being the victims of a natural disaster at some point in our lives. While some areas of the country are safer from nature’s fury than other places, every place has risks. Some people have to worry about floods; others have to worry about hurricanes, tornados, droughts, earthquakes, or forest fires. Any one of us could one day end up in a very similar situation to the one that the people of Iowa are facing right now, and we would not tolerate our government brushing us off the same way that it is brushing off the people of Iowa .

It is time for the people to demand that our politicians stop trying to focus on new ways to ensure that Exxon continues to rake in huge profits, and start focusing on ways to help the common citizen whose lives are being turned upside down by a disaster that they could have done nothing to prevent. Our government is supposed to represent “we the people” and we will not be silent when it decides that the corporate interests are more important than we the people.

[Bjorn Against]

1. One thing I just noticed....

You have to search hard to find even a mention of the floods on McCain's homepage and there are no efforts to tell people how they can help, Obama's site has a link right near the top of the page for people to donate to the relief efforts.

[Stuart G]

2. Thank you for mentioning this.

Glad to see this.