Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit
From Infonomics
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Highlights of the Book
A Superpower Struggles 
Some American leaders have been reckless with America's power; oblivious to the reality that all actions come with international consequences. America is the world’s richest country, but also the largest debtor nation with the largest trade deficits. America is the world’s third largest oil producer, but also the largest oil importer. While our economy’s GDP is impressive, it is being vigorously challenged by the European Union and China. American workers are the most productive in the world, but the average worker earns less than a worker in Britain and Japan. A Government For Sale The average cost of winning a House seat is $1.2 million, a Senate is $10 million. More than $2 billion will be spent on Campaign 2008. The 2006 election was a hint of things to come with a mass voting out of politicians who supported the mismanagement of the war in Iraq while ignoring important issues like the economy, the effects of free trade, and border control. Although 2006 was a great turnout, it still only represented 40% of registered voters. And when we do vote, we vote erratically and carelessly. Defecting to an Independent Party Status Despite vote registration, most Americans gravitate to the moderate realm of the political spectrum. The number of Americans who identify themselves as Independent voters is rising and those who claim no party affiliation is now almost 32%. When the citizens of New Hampshire re-elected Independent Joe Lieberman for the Senate in 2006, they showed us that we don’t have to stand for the unacceptable candidates that the two-party system imposes on us. We should proceed with a populist mind, not its opposite--elitism. Populism puts the interests of the people first and is the only political philosophy whose every principle is embodied in the Constitution. Despite opponents’ attempts to dismiss it as irrelevant, the populist movement was the origin of the direct election of U.S. senators and our modern progressive income tax system. In this time when group and identity politics, corporatism, and globalism dominate our political systems and processes, populism is our best hope of creating a sufficiently powerful countervailing force. Americans should eschew the two-party political system and use their power as Independents to demand a government more responsive to needs of the people. Inflection Points America has always done best when it provides opportunity and supports the endeavors of the individual citizen. But now, institutions and special interests take priority and work for the sake of their own self-perpetuation at the expense of the individual. Their disregard for us is clearly seen through their values. We are constantly bombarded with a barrage of business and political scandals and disasters. This arrogance comes from a country that has been able to get away with an unreasonable exertion of power and control – even where there was no American interest, in some cases – since the post-WWII era. The effects of these events have multiplied to the extent that, in the last decade, they’ve snowballed out of control. Sex scandals, fear mongering, weapons of mass destruction, overly-aggressive military action, and blatant deceit all helped to set the foundation for the rise of misplaced power and the disregard for the common good of the people. Two Parties, No Choice When our forefathers put the Constitution together, they never imagined Americans going to the polls like sheep and pulling levers for partisan brands rather than candidates of character who reflect their values and interests. And they never imagined the awesome power that business and special interests hold over the process and results. Even when one party claims to take back Congress for the good of the people, as was done in 2006, we end up with more of the same. This country’s two-party political system is broken and no longer represents the will of the people, which was evident in the recent Gallup poll where Congress only received a 14% approval rating. While the parties bicker back and forth over their differences, the reality is that they are more alike than ever because of their dual dependence on the financial largesse of corporate America. The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and President Clinton made the Democrats as friendly to business as the Bush administration is. The Bush administration, with the help of its Republican Congress, has expanded the federal government with more entitlements than ever. And they both support free trade at the expense of working Americans. Today’s politician speaks to three groups; those in his/her state/district, the media, and lobbyists/special interests. But the lobbyists and special interests group is the only one with which they do more listening than speaking. They are the equivalent of middle-men between corporations and the law-making process and basking in the media spotlight is much more important to them than dealing with the issues of, or even spending time in, their state/district. They go back and forth on issues like gay marriage, flag burning, evolution, and gun control while ignoring the plummeting value of the dollar, jobs going overseas, or the degrading quality of our public schools. In 2008, they expect voters to acquiesce to the big money campaigns once again. The Imperious Presidency While everyone is eagerly anticipating a new President in 2008, we need to be mindful that a change of President isn’t an assurance of betterment. A lot will be determined by whether or not the person elected continues on the current path of unheard of presidential power. The power of the White House has grown to a point where our system of checks and balances has almost disappeared. In the same way that Bush squandered the support of the world after 9/11, he also squandered the political capital achieved through the 2004 re-election by politicizing every department of our federal government and reducing cabinet members to political functionaries. This administration has manipulated data, people, and even legislation to achieve their goals at home and abroad. Signing papers are what a president uses to raise objections to particular elements of bills and define those elements that he will not recognize as lawful and binding on the executive branch. Bush has more than 800 signing statements. This is more than the total number of signing statements made by all the previous presidents in the entire history of our country combined. A Dangerous Path Our national debt has risen to $9 trillion, a new record high. Rising even faster than the national debt, our trade deficit stands at $6 trillion. Meanwhile, the quality of life for the vast majority of Americans is being assailed by ruinous free-trade policies, costly wars, and unchecked expansion of federal entitlement programs. More Americans are living in poverty while personal bankruptcies and mortgage foreclosures are at record levels. While corporate CEOs are making more money than ever, stock prices are declining, interest rates have risen, and the American dollar is weakening. Our government only enables this trend by supporting disastrous free trade policies, passing bills giving billions of tax dollars to oil and gas companies, and shoveling more into entitlement programs. At the same time, our national infrastructure is falling into decay and will cost an estimated $1.67 trillion to just meet “acceptable” levels. These are all signs of a Superpower on the edge. The Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of a government that exceeded all bounds of reason in its budget excesses. America is on its way down that path as our government grows accustomed to deferring responsibility and action in favor of immediate consumption and instant gratification. Debtor Nation Our own behavior mirrors our government. Despite our wages getting smaller and smaller, we live on installment plans with little thought to the consequences of a buy now, pay later culture. Big business – especially credit companies – has asserted its influence on the White House and Congress and has acquired a “hands off” approach to its practices. Mortgages, credit cards, unrestrained spending, and auto loans are burying the average American household in debt. Total household debt in 2007 stood at $2.4 trillion. We can’t demand more responsibility and self control from our leaders if we don’t practice it ourselves. Ronald Reagan was the last President to demand reciprocity in terms of trade when he required that Japan restrict its automotive exports to America in 1981 to protect American jobs and wages. Today, one example of Bush’s support of free trade has America importing 700,000 Korean-made autos while exporting 3,990 American-made autos to Korea. We must elect officials who are willing to cut spending and entitlements, stand up to big business, enact legislation that promotes personal financial responsibility, protects American wages, and creates a fair international trade agreement that puts an end to the huge discrepancy in our trade deficit. Shadow Government One of the results of a presidency assuming imperial powers is the creation of a shadow government consisting of social, political, and commercial elements that perform roles and services that were previously the sole responsibility of local, state, and federal governments. They are not elected, but their roles impinge on government at all levels and operate beyond the influence of the will of the people. It’s commonly referred to as the privatization of government. Led by companies such as Halliburton, Blackwater, and DynCorp, there are now more private contractors in Iraq than American soldiers. They act beyond the oversight of the U.S. government and some have no accountability for their actions under U.S. Law. Right here in America, our Army has private contractors running security at 57 installations, the Air Force has contractors at 18 installations, and the Navy has contractors at five bases. The administration, with the help of the Supreme Court, is allowing faith-based organizations to receive government funds and perform government social services. Major American airports, expressways and ports are owned and operated by foreign corporations and governments or quasi-governmental port authorities unaccountable to voters. More than 600 publicly-owned drinking water systems, plants, and waste facilities, serving more than 14 million people, are operated by foreign companies. In its assessment of this privatization process, the Government Accountability Office has found it to be insufficient, more expensive, and, in many cases, explicitly dangerous. The actual wording of its 2006 report is astounding in its compilation of failures. Most Americans are unaware of the extent of this privatization, but when they are aware, they act to protect American interests and get results. In 2006, we saw the American backlash against the Dubai Ports World deal our government was eager to allow. The government of Dubai, a country that has been used as a base for terrorist operations and financing and recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government, would have owned several American ports. American pressure forced Congress to act to block the deal. We must continue to put this pressure on our government and elect officials who recognize the danger of this process and are willing to stand up to the powerful lobbying firms that represent these foreign nations and big businesses. God & Politics While we must maintain the preservation of religion in our society and culture, we must also support the doctrine of separation of church and state and our constitutional right to freedom of religion. This means we must be concerned about the powerful influence of religion in partisan politics. Religious organizations are exerting an incredible amount of time and resources to national political issues and taking partisan stands. Whether the issues are illegal immigration, our relationship with Israel, anti-gay rights legislation, or voting efforts, many of these organizations are becoming political advocacy groups, taking time and resources away from their own congregations, allowing countervailing forces to take advantage of this divide and thus, leaving drug use, violence, divorce, an increasing belief in atheism, and single-parent homes unattended to. The government needs to be more explicit of the boundaries and limitations of tax-exempt organizations and members of religious groups need to make it known to their leadership what they should be focusing on. The Greatest Divide The area where Americans see the greatest disconnect between their interests and the government’s is in the lack of enforcement of immigration laws. After six years of a global war on terror, our borders are still not secure because corporate America, special interests, and lobbying firms have been very successful at asserting their anti-American agenda. They want cheap labor through outsourcing or illegal immigration. They want the international issues that help their profits to supersede national interests. Socio-ethnocentric special interest groups demand multiculturalism rather than assimilation. These groups even wish to render impotent the idea of America’s national sovereignty. If not for the pressure of Americans and a small group of senators from both parties to vote down amnesty legislation in the summer of 2007, that disconnect would have been disastrous to American jobs, wages, and security. But it can’t stop there. Americans have to continue to make their voices heard in the corridors of the Senate and White House. Crossing the Line There are some 12-20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. right now. Every year, we admit more than two million foreign citizens to immigrate to the U.S. legally; more than any other country. We also allow one million to enter illegally and anyone who dares to bring out the abuses of our immigration system by illegals is labeled as racist or xenophobic. Supporters of illegal immigration don’t want to acknowledge the negative affects of illegal immigrant use of free services such as schooling not balanced out by taxes, which most don’t pay. Most illegal immigrants come here for jobs and although it is illegal to employ them, companies continue to do so with hardly any consequences. In its first four years, the Bush administration brought 318 fines against employers of illegal workers. During the previous administration, immigration enforcement brought an average of 700 fines during each of Clinton’s eight years in office. From 1995 to 1998, there were approximately 15,000 worksite arrests for illegal hiring. During all of 2004, there were 159. We need to require that all 2008 candidates be clear on their plans for immigration reform and deny our support to any candidates whose priority is not fully securing our borders. We need to enforce existing laws and demand a true economic, social, and fiscal analysis of illegal immigration as it pertains to the well-being of American workers and their families. Media Madness Throughout every day we are bombarded with the media’s influence from every direction. Thanks to the greater concentration of media ownership allowed by the FCC in 1996, today’s media works in tandem with the corporations that own them instead of the communities they were supposed to serve. We are inundated with the images and messages of what those corporations deem to be important in this country. Before news stations were owned by corporations, citizens knew that a percentage of what they saw and heard was relevant to their families, neighbors, and towns. Today, most news is focused on furthering the values of the corporations that own the radio and television stations. Media has become as homogenous as a McDonald’s franchise, saturating us with what corporations want to sell and what politicians want us to believe. Journalists, editors, and their managers need to bring back a sense of proportion and balance. Journalism is about advocacy and informing people of the issues that matter to their day to day lives. The partisanship in Washington also exists in the media, which is why very few stations truly enlarge the body of public knowledge on critically important issues and examine facts that are inconvenient to elitist ideology and partisan perspective. The American Spirit The establishment elites are determined to turn citizens into nothing more than consumers and units of labor. They reject opposing views, ignore reality that disturbs their business or geopolitical ideology, and attack independent thinkers. They need to be replaced and 2008 will be the next chance to do this. Americans must end the marginalization of working families by our government and return them to primacy in public policy. By 2050, the world will be populated by 9.5 billion people, roughly 50% more than today. This will lead to an intensification of global competition for dwindling natural resources. In order to survive and prosper in this inevitable global reality, Americans must insist on a change in domestic and foreign policy that prepares and protects its citizens. If we are ready to be honest with ourselves and take action, we can prevail over every challenge we face.
Author, David Talbot
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