The Selling of American Leadership

Friday, October 05, 2007
I’ve been watching Ken Burn’s new documentary The War broadcast on PBS. Something I realized while watching it is just how different leadership is today compared to the days of WW2. The Greatest Generation was the greatest generation because they had some of the greatest leaders our country has ever seen.

In our country we have been lucky to have great leaders in times of crisis: George Washington during the Revolutionary War, Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, FDR during WW2, JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis. All four of those times were critical times when the country was in danger of annihilation. We have had our share of poor leadership too: LBJ and his administration during the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon (nuff said), Herbert Hoover was president during the Great Depression but did nothing to help the Country recover. Those are only a few but you get my point.

A couple of questions I have been asking lately are: Why are we still involved in a war in Iraq when the majority of the country is opposed to it? The last time I checked we were still a democracy, so why doesn’t our leadership listen and react to the majority? What are the differences between our country today and our country in WW2? The reason I ask this question is because we conquered most of Europe and Africa in three years but we have been in Iraq (a country the size of Texas) for over five years. Why?

I can answer all of those questions with one answer. The power of corporate America is now influencing our leadership and has more control over American policies than ever before. Look how much money is spent on the war in Iraq. Most of the money goes directly into the hands of the corporations that are involved with the war. It’s a gold mine and they don’t want the gravy train to end. Our leadership has been bought and paid for by corporate American so they pander to these mega-billionaire corporations like never before in American history.

In WW2 FDR turned every production facility into a manufacturer for war materials. He did not care what corporate American though about this idea because he was a true leader. He forced Americans at home to sacrifice and again did not care what Corporate America thought because he had the support of the majority.

Can you imagine how corporate America would respond if President Bush tried to force Americans to sacrifice for the war in Iraq or if he forced manufacturers (the few which are still a domestic operation) into manufacturing war materials? He doesn’t want Americans to sacrifice because he works for corporate America, who would suffer a hit in profits if the country would have to sacrifice. In fact, he told us we should shop more. Remember this was his recommendation of what Americans should do to contribute to the war against terrorism. Spending more money is not good for the average American citizen nor is it good to buy an enormous automobile. Spending more money on gas gives more money to the terrorists.

Leadership has been compromised by billionaire corporations; this is very evident by the way they are contributing to Hilary Clinton, the presidential front runner. I am actually hoping Obama gets the Presidential nomination because Hilary Clinton has the backing of corporate America so she will do nothing for middle class Americans. She is promising a national healthcare program in which we will be legally required to pay for it ourselves. So now we’ll be put in jail if we cannot afford healthcare? This sounds like a good plan for the insurance companies but not for middle class America.

I want to see a national healthcare plan funded by the richest corporations, which covers all Americans regardless of class. I also want to see the insurance companies and the “for profit” hospitals driven out. Corporate American should not earn a profit from the sick, it’s immoral.

I also want to see a plan to end our usage of oil. Not drill for more oil or manufacture oil using food which drives the price of food through the roof. I want to see a leader stand up to the oil companies and fund a program to end the internal combustion engine. We can do this, we do have the technology but we have no leadership capable to standing up to these corporations which have put their profits above both the security of our nation and the survival of our species.

It is just my opinion but if we could resurrect FDR or George Washington or Abraham Lincoln today and allow then to regain the Presidency without accepting millions of dollars in campaign money (which is how corporate America buys our leadership) then we would have resolutions which resolve these problems instead of creating more disasters.

Hilary Clinton will not be a good President because she has the backing of the majority of these corporations. They know she might win so they want to buy her now; it’s cheaper. But as bad of a president as she will be, she will still be much better than the idiot we have in there right now or the religious zealots from the Republicans. At least she knows the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, the Earth revolves around the Sun and knows humans never played with dinosaurs.

I will still cast my vote in favor of Obama. He has collected a lot of cash but it is mostly from rich individuals and NOT corporations. Of course there is still corporate money there but not as much as Hilary. He is a visionary and has the leadership qualities capable of turning the corner. But the only people which have a chance of getting elected President are the people corporate America funds. Let’s hope Obama can break this trend.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Louisiana said...

i just wanted to say hi..it's been awhile for me to be online..life you know..

hope you and yours have been well..

hugs.

4:43 PM  
Blogger Louisiana said...

coming by again to see if there was a new post. hoping you are well and just taking a breather from blogging because you are enjoying the presidential race oh so much, lol...

hugs to you.

1:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hope you had a good turkey day:)

I will likely vote for Obama too.

2:02 PM  

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