[Peace-discuss] Fw: [UCIMC-print] Possible article

Mon Dec 15 23:10:58 CST 2008

A little long, but a very good analysis by Chris Evans of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.

David J.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Christopher Evans 
To: caevans2 at hotmail.com ; imc-print at lists.ucimc.org 
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:40 AM
Subject: [UCIMC-print] Possible article

The Destructive Class
for the IMC Newsroom

URBANA- A common reaction to our Governor's latest legislative maneuverings (our governor has promised that at trial, we will see there was clearly no wrongdoing on his part- if we would just quit closing in on him and give him some space.) has been sprinkled with a fairly consistent belief that the Governor's arrest comes as no surprise. Many expected the arrest of Rod Blagojevich to happen long ago. We take a certain satisfaction in having our intuition confirmed about the man who said he would "fight corruption".  
With almost pride, the ordinary citizen can always tell you, "Yeah, like politicians are all scum anyway, everybody knows that."

What is surprising is how the professional class of legislators have also chimed in about how they knew Rod Blagojevich had been running a "pay to play" operation out of his home in Chicago. (So that's why the Governor avoided the mansion in Springfield?) Illinois State Senator, Mike Frerichs, Illinois Representative Bill Black, and even the former Governor himself, Jim Edgar expressed no surprise over Blago's arrest. "I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier," Jim Edgar said on WDWS Newstalk Radio. 
It makes one wonder how Jim Edgar knew the current Governor was committing crimes and why didn't Edgar notify the authorities sooner. 

Big Business has learned to use our government to control and create its markets. Government tax dollars have become a great source for outright welfare to keep expansion costs down. Government is your needed friend for acquiring new business, land use, infrastructure, and tax breaks. Politicians have learned that the cost of buying big political campaigns can be offset if they peddle their votes and initiatives to the highest corporate bidder. Media outlets appease their corporate and political sponsors by reporting only what they are given to say. Political party bosses dangle campaign cash in front of junior reps and senators in exchange for their partisan votes and consistent allegiance. The politicians use pork barrell spending, member initiatives, and cash rebates to bribe us  with our own money for a vote. Everybody's payin' and everybody's playin'. The Governor's best defense may be, "Well, everybody else is doing it." 

Would the Governor be right? Everybody does it? Looking at the local level, we see similar patterns:    

  a.. In the 1860's, Illinois state legislators were wined and dined in a fancy hotel in downtown Springfield in exchange for the politicians voting to place the state university in Urbana. This town was literally founded on political hanky panky. 
  b.. The Champaign County Board accepted a kickback of $14,000 a month in exchange for their approval to allow a telecommunications company to price-gouge the families of arrested persons accepting a phone call from the county jail. 
  c.. Champaign City Council member Marci Dodds is allowed to vote on whether her husband's project, M-2, should recieve property tax exemption from the City of Champaign. 
  d.. Urbana Mayor Tod Satherwaitte fabricates a conflict-of-interest story in the News-Gazette about alderperson Danielle Chynoweth as punishment for Chynoweth's refusal to vote for the Mayor's new ward map that favored conservatives. 
  e.. Running for State Senator, Mike Frerichs accepts $50,000 dollars from Emil Jones and once elected, Frerichs votes for Emil Jones to serve as Senate President. 
  f.. When a star basketball player for the U of I is arrested for home invasion and burglary, then-state's attorney, John Piland files no criminal charges even though an attorney representing the player paid the victims $3000 restitution. 
  g.. Local Developer Howard Wakeland is given 20 impromptu minutes of public participation time (everybody else gets 5 minutes) at an Urbana City Council meeting to whine that he, as a larger-than-most taxpayer, was owed special treatment when it came to regulating his properties.   
  h.. When developer Steve Harrington is accused by Sonic Drive-In of stealing over $150,000, Harrington's defense attorney tenders a repayment letter of an unknown amount, while Special Prosecutor Michael Vujovich dismisses the felony case. 
  i.. While presiding as the Chairman of the Champaign County Board, Bud Barker slips a provision in a county ordinance that pays any retiring County government official who has served over 20 years a $60,000-a-year pension for life. The Chairman announces his retirement shortly after the ordinance passes.

The temptation is to focus our pointed finger at Rod Blagojevich's personal failings. This happened because the Governor is a bad man, or least a psychotic one. Under this paradigm, the remedy to political corruption is to merely elect a "good" person like Lisa Madigan who would never tolerate any nonsense under her administration. That sounds familiar. Where have we heard that before?

The fundamental rules that govern the system is what attracts the weak to do what they do. Instead of asking, "How could you, Rod?" Perhaps we should be asking, "Why are political campaigns financed this way? Why are politicians allowed to pick who gets taxed and who does not? What kind of competitive bidding process is there when the government solicits for goods and services from the private sector? Why is election advertising allowed to be sold? Why are government departments run by political appointees? Why is one man allowed to appoint unexpected vacancies in the U.S. Senate seats?" 

Ironic that the opportunity to look at those rules, a Constitutional Convention, was sold to the voters as an $80 million dollar waste of time, shamelessly printed on the voting ballot even. Who wants to have an $80 million dollar convention for the big wigs and lobbyists in a state that's $13 billion in debt? The convention was voted down last November without a second thought that we could have effected campaign finance reform and bust up this 3-man tyranny that strangles Illinois state government. Ironic too, that the electorate's mood for government to start living like we are supposed to, within your means with a balanced checkbook, was exploited to defeat the very chance we could require such standards. 

One of the most successful pieces of legislation in recent times was the part of Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" that required the Federal Government to only pass balanced budgets each fiscal year. Within what seemed to be seconds, the government found itself with an unexpected peace-time surplus. Since then, the most prestigious and priviledged families of the nation have found gold in them thar hills of Capital Hill. The lobbyists swarm like flying monkeys, deregulating and tax breaking themselves rich while becoming the Government's selected vendor of choice.  

An elite nepotism is the dark cloud that hangs over our leaders and employers in recent years. (To Blagojevich, it felt like sunshine.) Believing themselves to be better than the rest, they are pigs to be pitied as they arrive to senate hearings in private jets, shamelessly panhandling us to cover for their own failure. The energy crisis began in 1973. What have you been designing all these years? You're in debt because you loan and invest in things that don't pay you back. Now you want more money to keep making loans. And what's this we read the day before our Governor's arrest? Newt Gingrich prostitutes himself to write a glowing article praising the Fannie Mae company so as to sway Congressional Neo-Cons from regulating Fannie Mae. Mr. Gingrich was quietly paid by Fannie Mae a six figure salary for his "professional services". 

It's becoming tiresome that as each crisis in our county, state and country grow more dire; the people with money and power are either in their office getting a blow job from an intern, trading votes for large amounts of money from a lobbyist or political party, or fabricating wars to enrich their business friends. The same political cycles and events keep re-occurring: Vietnam and Iraq, S & L Scandal and Fannie Mae, Iran-Contra and Haliburton, Watergate and Blagogate, each numbing us a little more as we grow accustomed to our political and corporate leaders behaving like selfish brats. 

Who are these "everybodies" anyway? Who are these overachievers who are above the law, in fact oversee the law; but are instead, irresponsible hypocrite pleasure-seekers who will send our kids to war for personal image-sake? And how are they allowed to secretly design systems in small print and legal gobblygook that horde wealth and power for themselves?  

Blagojevich's bizarre refusal to resign from his position is probably rooted in the governor's knowledge, that in the end, the culture he knows best will not punish him like a common street hoodlum. The same associates who reckon Good 'Ol Grandpa George has done enough prison time, will be the same cronies who will likely pay Blago a handsome salary for his expert consultations; after he does his little time at Club Fed, of course. The Destructive Class takes care of its own. 

Look at the re-rise of Martha Stewart. Look at Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald cautioning us that none of the others participating in the converstations with the Governor are considered under investigation. Excuse me- I mean, them? How can Deputy Governor A facilitating the Governor's crooked transactions not be considered an accomplice to a crime? And who is this Bob Greenlee resigning as Deputy Governor? Did we ever vote for him?

I know we are busy with tight schedules, but our rulers' misbehaviors no longer afford us the luxury of 30% of us showing up to vote. We can no longer tolerate a monarchy of capitalists using democracy's tax collections for their personal gain. We cannot expect good legislation for the common good, if legislation can be bought with campaign donation money. Changing the rules, running for office, organizing solutions requires the work of the common man. Will our own personal affluence keep us too tired and distracted to care if this work gets done? Are we content to have the professional class of the self-absorbed govern our land like it's always their birthday party and they deserve extra cake? I would think not. These people are killing us.    

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