Seattle Press on Line - Bush's Corporate Government

Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

Bush's Corporate Government

By Jim Hightower

Apr 18, 2002 -- He's elusive and deceptive, working the back alleys of constitutional government, and slipping deeper into the dark shadows of authority than others have dared. He's--Super Agent Man!

What is it with George W. and his gang of super-secretive White House authoritarians? Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ridge--they're always trying to hide something from We the People, as though they don't quite get the concepts of democratic sovereignty, the People's right to know, and an accountable executive. Is he George W. ... or King George the W?

First is the silliness of Bush and Dick Cheney trying to hide the list of people the administration huddled with to write its energy policy. Their policy absolutely reeks of Big Oil and other corporate energy barons, so who do they think they're fooling by acting like its a state secret that they let energy executives from the likes of Enron and Exxon write their legislation? In a democracy, the names of those who write public policy clearly has to be a matter of public information, yet, like a two-year old clutching his list and shrieking "mine," George W has turned this into a Constitutional confrontation with Congress and the public.

Similarly, the White House won't allow our Homeland Security Czar, Tom Ridge, to testify publicly about what he's doing to us in the name of security. "None of your business," George shouts out of a White House window.

The worst is Pentagon honcho, Don Rumsfeld, who's not only conducting an unlimited war on terrorism, but also is at war with the public's right to know. He goes all out to prevent any independent media assessment of his conduct of the war, imposing unprecedented secrecy and haughtily asserting that he'll tell us what he wants us to know. Instead of information, he feeds us propaganda that, again and again, we later find out to be lies.

This is Jim Hightower saying ... That's the problem of having a government run by former corporate executives--they think they're above questioning, and they can't be bothered by democracy.

Jim Hightower's weekly column appears courtesy of Alternet.

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Chris Barker	Jul 10, 2002	Auburn WA	System Engineer
We won World Wars I and II while employing the slogan ìloose lips sink ships.î Protesters wanting to skip classes and the draft got rid of that strategy, and we lost the Vietnam War. The Gulf War was a spectacular victory, without a lot of publicity. Now we have a new type of war, executed against us by visitors from foreign lands who take advantage of our openness and freedom. So, this would be a good time to provide our enemies with a daily strategy update in USA Today? * * * * This is not a democratic sovereignty, (Clinton is no longer president) it is a republic. If you donít find that a persuasive argument, go look up ìrepublic.î * * * * Where does the ìPeopleís right to knowî come from? What is it? We canít continually grab new rights out of top hats. * * * * Democrats have accused the administration of hiding all sorts of things. Remember the shadow government that was kept secret from Congress? The admission that it was a lie, that, yes, Congress actually was in on every stage of the project didnít make nearly the headlines. Similarly, the energy policy meetings were examined daily on the cable news channels and newspapers. Democrats and Republicans assembled over a dozen committees to study possible wrongdoing by the administration in reference to Enron and every other big business debacle. They came up with nothing. N O T H I N G ! ! ! * * * * * Don Rumsfeld is conducting a war on terrorism, and we want a daily agenda published for all the terrorists to see? This is serious business, folks. Itís real life. And real death. Iíll try not to lose my cool here. Military strategy has never come close to even considering the possibility of employing ìindependent media assessmentî in defeating an enemy. It is, by far, the silliest concept I have heard in a very long time. ***** Secrecy is STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE. The level of secrecy Rumsfeld has been able to maintain is actually well below standard, and therefore hazardous to our safety. Jimís sarcastic, name-calling, inflammatory rhetoric may be funny, cute, and entertaining to people who agree with him. But it tends to render his thoughts useless as education and ammunition for fellow liberals wanting to win over conservatives. Most conservative readers wonít make it past the first ìwitticism,î and therefore will not be won over by his wisdom and logic.


Barbara	Nov 27, 2002	Louisville Ky	none
I don,t usually give into conspiracy theories although they are interesting.We all know that George W Bush did not win the election fairly he threw out votes of the American citizens because he wanted to win.He is not the only won without guilt his brother helped him and so did The Supreme court. All i have to say is give someone enough rope and they will hang himself


Chris Barker	Jan 16, 2003	Auburn WA	System Engineer
Gore started the legal proceedings after he lost the election. The Florida Supreme Court performed a legislative action, not a judicial one, in changing election laws AFTER the election was over. The U.S. Supreme Court, acting because this was a national election, struck down the lower court's decision because it was illegal. The pathetic hanging, dented, breathed-on chad business was an embarassing fraud by Democrat-run polling stations. Meantime, massive voter fraud was being perpetrated on Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, and several other states by Democrats.


Sheila	Feb 15, 2003	Los Angeles, CA	corporate officer
We WON WWI and WWII because we had DEMOCRATS as presidents. Not some two-bit thug calling heads of state spineless feeding Americans nothing but B.S. PROPOGANDA and rhetoric.