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Outraged? Resister? You Decide
by Paul A. Moore
Big business and the super rich, like Jeb Bush and his nest of right-wing ideologues, call the shots in Florida. State government is now essentially a tool for their exclusive use. The courts, the legislature, county and city commissions, school boards and superintendants serve as little more than window dressing for their domination. Even Gov. Charlie Crist has been reduced to a well groomed spectator in the arena. He can look good but not touch the levers of real power.
The corporate cabal is omnipotent in our lives. In last January's property tax amendment debate Gov. Crist was reduced to a cheerleader for the Florida Association of Realtors, Florida Power & Light, the Florida Medical Association, Wal-Mart, and private prison builders The GEO Group. These corporate giants drove the campaign with millions in contributions to advance their own interests. Just recently the Urban Development Boundary in Miami-Dade was moved further into environmentally sensitive land against strong public opposition because the hardware chain Lowe's and builders associations wanted it moved. Everglades restoration moves forward only when US Sugar is good and ready and their $1.75 billion ransom demands are met by the taxpayers. When ExxonMobil needs a political diversion for record gas prices and profits, they say drill. The "green governor" suddenly says how deep. Florida Power & Light will hike its rates 16%, State Farm theirs 70% against only show opposition from government regulators they control.
From seats in the Florida Legislature to local dog catchers, through their control of campaign cash, they decide who is elected to public office with its requisite perks, prestige, influence and access to the trough of public monies. Fealty to the corporate agenda is the price that must be paid. When a Marco Rubio drools in slavish devotion to them he becomes a rising star, Speaker of the House, the next governor of Florida. He is rewarded quite handsomely-from golden swords to sweetheart home loans. In contrast, when an Alex Villalobos dares step out of line he becomes a falling star, exiled to a broom closet in the Capitol, taken out of line to be President of the Senate, marked for political destruction and elimination. It ranks as a minor political miracle and a testament to the man that Villalobos survived the $6 million dollar effort to unseat him in 2006.
The corporate agenda, like all attempts to grab dictatorial power, is undemocratic and subversive. Deviousness is a signature of their work. Their strategic plan is best captured in the phrase starve the beast. It reflects their determination that anything which does not turn a profit, anything that does not advance their economic interests or even hinders them in the pursuit of greater profit must be pushed aside. Social programs like the public schools, the Florida Retirement System, the Department of Children and Families, and Florida KidCare must go. In the end, for the threat of regulation or popular resistance it poses, government itself must be disabled.
While they pursue their agenda and issue their orders through the corporate media, they are preparing to dismantle and will ultimately neuter The McClatchy Company's Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, Cox Enterprise's Palm Beach Post, Media General Inc.'s Tampa Tribune, Morris Communications Corp's Florida Times-Union, the Tribune Company's South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel. Loyal mouthpieces of big business that they are, newspapers like The Miami Herald still pose a danger to the ruling group. They are the only media with the capacity to marshal the resources necessary uncover their devious grabs for the people's money. No Miami Herald, no House of Lies and we hear not the evil of the abuse of public housing programs. No Miami Herald, no Poverty Peddlers and we see not the evil of the abuse of anti-poverty programs. No Miami Herald, no Borrowers Betrayed and we speak not of the evil of state-sanctioned mortgage fraud. Soon when it's gone former readers of The Miami Herald will find only a USA Today-type newspaper in print on the streets with a page or two insert of local news.
Paul A. Moore is a 25-year teaching veteran of the Miami-Dade Public Schools.
— Paul A. Moore
2008-07-25
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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