Letters to the People #3
To my fellow Americans,
The win-win theory seems to be a lost idea these days here in the American culture. We the common citizens have followed our leaders down this path of kill or be killed politics. Media seems to be fanning the flames of this political battle in Washington. Yet, over the past few months something has started to change among the citizens. Many of us are tired of being the puppet and moods are starting to change. We are starting to see both sides of the extreme as be a big part of the problem…and the bickering needs to stop and agreements must be made. From the stands at this circus show, the world watches no doubt in stock…as the two powers in Washington fight for control…Like puppets pulling at each other’s strings while trampling the American citizen underfoot. Media isn’t helping, but rather creating more mayhem. Everybody wants to be the puppet master and nobody wants to be the puppet. Being either does not create a sense of accomplishment or gratification unless there are psychological issues. So, do we have a bunch of crazy people leading our country? It almost appears as if some may indeed have some issues or you would think they could see some simple truths. We all seek some sense of fulfillment or accomplishment wherein we feel some purpose to life. When ego gets in the way such as we are seeing in Washington the purpose is self-serving and NOT in the best interest of our country. The fulfillment of winning seems to be more important than saving our country from disaster. There is a third choice outside of the kill or be killed choice. Perhaps, our leaders don’t have a full understand of the word “Interdependency” or they truly do have ego issues. “UNITED” States of America isn’t that who we are?
So, now let us take a look at the players in this game of puppetry and then in future letters we will explore options available to end this silly game. The reason the players are important is because we must identify the sources of our demise. The players are many...there is corporate America, media, special interest groups, politicians, political parties, federal government, foreign interests and the American citizen consumer. Who is the American citizen consumer? Most like you fall into that group. Simply put they are American citizens and consumers of goods and services of corporate America and media. Let us go through the list one at a time starting with corporate America. Corporate America is the employers of America and for the most part we as citizens rely on them for our income. For the purpose here I want to focus mostly on the big boys that employ ten of thousand directly or indirectly. For example automotive manufacturing not only employs directly, but through many subcontractors many others are employed as a direct result of their existence. If the automotive industry is slow it affects a huge portion of households across our nation. The importance of this industry doing well is such that our federal government will go to their aid in order to save the industry. We have witnessed this recently and it is not the first time it has happened although, it should be the last. So, in the case of big industry like the automotive and banking industry are they the puppet or the puppet master? It would appear that they are the masters because their failure puts the whole of the economy at risk of disaster. They seemed to have the government over a barrel just a few years ago leaving the federal government with no choice but to bail them out. That all sounds like the right thing to do if you think about the disaster of banks failing, people not able to get their money, pay bills, buy food…etc….or if the auto industry went belly-up there would be hundreds of thousands of people unemployed in addition to what we have now. But, was it the right thing to do? The answer is there was no choice…not after the fact…but could it been prevented? Absolutely! Fact being there was a lot of things that has happen to leading up to these most recent events. Much of which was or should have been controlled by our federal government. Corporate greed is a domestic enemy that must be regulated and in the case of the automotive industry the lack of control on lease residuals was a big and avoidable problem. Also the huge hikes in gasoline prices was a big factor as it resulted in a huge drop in the resale value of sports utility vehicles which caused big losses on lease returns of SUVs. A little government protect there would have been nice but the government seems too reactive, instead of proactive or preventive. In the case banks and mortgage companies where was the government when the rules of government insured loans were being broken. Why was there not a regulation against balloon mortgages and interest only for common home buyers? These type loans should only be used for builders, corporate real estate and investment real estate and never should they have been legal for home mortgages. But in the end the government bailed out the banks and mortgage companies being their puppet because the failure of the banking and mortgage industry was not an option….right? This story we have not nearly heard the end of. Both the government and the citizen consumer seem to be the puppets of corporate America in this case. But the American consumer was a willing puppet in that we willing signed these crazy mortgage agreements. Yes, there were problems with proper disclosure….but if it sounds too good to be true we need to do our homework. We must take responsibility for our mistakes citizen consumers. Okay, I got a little in depth on the first only so that you will widen your thoughts as you read the remainder which will be a bit more brief and direct. Now let us move on to the next which is media. Media is the superior puppet master and has been the biggest influence on culture and society above anything known to man. News, movies, television, radio, music, print, internet media even commercials influence us to a degree that transcends all other moral, cultural and social influences even our family unit. Media has more control over public opinion, politics, economy, social issues than any other group on our list. They have an amazing responsibility to our country and the success of the people as a whole. Yet, they are also controlled……by the public, because ratings determine their success. Next we have special interest groups which pull the strings of the public and politicians. Moving on we have politicians which are those seeking an office or reelection to an office. Politicians are mastered over by many groups on our list to include the American citizen consumer, special interest groups, political parties, corporate America, media, and foreign interest. Political parties get their strings pulled by all on the list also. Federal government I will expand on just a bit to explain the difference between politicians and federal government. When referring to federal government I am referring to the collective body of government which includes politicians. The major difference is that when a politician takes office with the federal government the draw strings change drastically until such time as they must start campaigning again to secure their position for another term. The federal government has all groups pulling at their string, but to no avail. It seems that only those in campaign mode or the freshman that are trying to make a public showing so as to better secure future terms are the only ones that truly care about public opinion or the American citizen consumer. It seems that they only they take any heed to those outside the operations of government and political parties when it is their furture term on the line. The truth is that those in government seem to be caught up in a war of string pulling among themselves…a partisan puppet competition. Public opinion doesn’t seem to matter much unless it’s an election year. Foreign interests have not yet come to full fruition as I believe it will as our economy lags and as the world’s economy suffers. Foreign interests are multiple and the current economic state of our country puts us…all of us…at risk of falling into the control of foreign nations, investors, and corporations. I fear that the average American citizen consumer is not fully aware of the dangers that are looming ahead of us if our recovery is too slow or the world economy gets worse. Last but not least is the American citizen consumer which is the largest group and should be the most powerful group but yet seems to have very little control.
We the American citizen consumer are puppets…they take our money they, spend how they like, they give themselves pay increases, nice retirements for just a few years of service and the list goes on. The sad thing about that fact is it is only because we allow ourselves to be to be puppets that we are puppets. For some reason we have felt we could only do so much….but the truth is we have done very little to change the path. At this point I would like to make it VERY clear that I include myself in that statement, but I am tired of being the puppet…and I will no longer sit and do nothing. Okay, so how do we take back control and stop being the puppet? We must first change our point of view and see things as they truly are and how they truly should be. Our country was founded and the constitution so written to give the citizens as a collective control over their lives and future. That control is through the power of the vote, self-government and yet that power in current times gives little to no control to the citizens of this great country. The two party system does not work and has never really worked well and if you want true change there must be a strong third party. The party cannot be to the left or to the right nor can it be a moderate party. What? Continue to read my letters and I will explain.
John Commoner
25JUL2011
