Financial coup d’etat in U.S. – Part 5 – Hens in the fox house
By Peter Ewart
Monday, October 06, 2008 03:45 AM
By Peter Ewart
(Previous articles in this series include: “Part 1 – Hello feudalism”; “Part 2 – Pay, pay and pay again”; “Part 3 – Who else has been at the trough?”; “Part 4 – Morning fog”)
After two weeks of acute crisis and political turmoil, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, by wide margins, voted in the Bush government’s proposal to bailout the big banks and financial institutions with $700 billion of taxpayer’s money.
Seldom has such a broad range of American people been so vehemently opposed to a decision of Congress. And seldom have the iron fingers of a small number of Wall Street billionaires around the windpipe of the democratic process been so apparent.
Some Congressional representatives got as many as 90,000 phone calls, almost all opposing the bailout. Angry voters organized huge Internet campaigns. Others organized spontaneous rallies and pickets. Despite the cheerleading of the Democratic and Republican Party leadership and big media, the people adamantly refused to accept this handover of public treasure. But to no avail. The corruption of Congress was too deep. The grip of Wall Street, too strong.
For years, the big banks have been openly shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers of both parties. What was secretly stuffed into the pockets of individual members of Congress will never be known. But it has had its effect.
Yes, the billionaire bankers threw their thirty pieces of silver on the ground, and the American people watched in horror as their elected representatives, the “defenders of the Republic,” dropped to their hands and knees before the glare of the cameras and scurried around chasing after the shiny bits of metal.
So the big banks and the corrupt politicians prevailed. But the people of America and of the world learned two important lessons.
First of all, to win such a struggle, a strong, organized and effective people’s movement is crucial. This is lacking in America, as it is in Canada and other countries. If such a movement had in been in place during the bailout crisis, it is entirely possible that Wall Street and its foot soldiers in Congress could have been defeated.
Secondly, what is apparent from this crisis is that the system of representative democracy as presently constituted is broken. How can it be that 90% of the people can be adamantly opposed to bailing out some billionaires who screwed up, yet their political representatives vote it through? How can it be that these few billionaires are able to so thoroughly corrupt an entire political process?
The problem is not one of a few “foxes” that have somehow gotten into the “hen house” of Congress. Far from it. The entire electoral process that is supposed to serve the interests of the hens is, in fact, a “fox house.” It does not work for the hens, but rather is “of the foxes, by the foxes and for the foxes.” The hens don’t stand a chance in such an environment.
To lay eggs, to participate in governance, to be productive and prosper, hens need their own “hen house.”
They need an electoral process that empowers voters, rather than a handful of Wall Street bankers and corrupt cartels that call themselves political parties. They need an electoral process that expresses their will, not thwarts it. They need control over government and those they vote into office, with clearly established mechanisms to make sure that this happens.
Call it democracy. Call it socialism. Call it free enterprise. Call it left wing. Call it right wing. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the people, not foxes, have power. And they live in a hen house, not a fox house.
Peter Ewart is a writer, community activist and college instructor based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
(This article is the last in the series of five titled “Financial coup d’etat in U.S.”.)
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Posted by: Eagleone on October 6 2008 1:32 PM
- Kris Kristofferson, "Me and Bobby McGee"