In America,if a suicide bomber set off their explosives in a crowd and killed 29 of our neighbors, how would we respond? How would the security apparatus of the United States respond?
If, within a month, a second suicide bomber acted killing 11 of our brothers and sisters, what would the collective reaction be?
If,days later, a third bomber acted creating an environmental disaster covering 2000 square miles, what action would be demanded?
If a weapon were unleashed that brought the worlds economy to it knees how would we respond?
In April 2010, in two highly publicized incidents, 40 workers were killed while making a living in this country. Dangerous jobs without a doubt, but was the danger increased by managers cutting corners on safety?
An environmental disaster was unleashed on the Gulf Coast. Oil drilling poses risks, but were those risks increased by managers cutting corners to save a few bucks?
We are rising from the depths of the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression. Was the economic misery amplified by corporate managers looking to maximize profit no matter the consequences to society as a whole?
In the wake of 9/11,a tougher mentality was ramped up within Congress and the national security agencies-- protect us at all costs, even if it means going beyond legal and moral boundaries previously held to. The terrorists struck hard at the core of our psyche.
Yet,everyday, Americans are attacked asa result of corporate conduct. Soft attacks. Around the edges. Not intended to kill, but likely to have the same outcome.
Take a shortcut on safety--Uncle Jimmy loses a limb-- that's the cost of business. Ignore rules on pollution,poison our drinking water, Aunt Sue gets cancer--that's the cost of business. Target Aunt Sue, drop her off the healthcare plan so her breast cancer can't be treated timely--you get a promotion. Throw Sue out of her home because she can't afford to pay her medical bills, you get a bonus!
Thousands of Americans are killed and injured on the job every year, many the result of safety being short changed in favor of a few dollars extra profit. There is no investigative zeal in the Congress and regulatory agencies to protect us from corporate excesses. In fact, one entire political party is devoted to less, self, or no regulation of American industry. One and a half parties if you include recent decades of Democratic subservience to corporate campaign cash.
The first duty of our elected officials is to protect us. Federal officials take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Are corporations potential enemies of the people we need be defended against? A corporation's primary function is to make money. That is what they are chartered to do. But who protects us from the excesses this drive for profit has inevitably led to?
The explosions that killed the miners and oil rig workers were just as violent as the plane crashes that killed the victims of 9/11, but the intentions of the 9/11 terrorists were to kill. The intentions of the managers of the mine and oil rig were to make the most money with least cost. The end result was the same. Lives lost,families grieving, unknown human potential unfulfilled. The deaths of workers are a cost to be factored in to the profit equation.
Now Congress is set to debate financial regulatory reform. The financial melt down and resulting damage to American families through increased financial stress,domestic violence,substance abuse,divorce, suicides, will never be totally known. Will Wall Street be held accountable for the human debris left in its wake of greed? What will reform look like?
Democrats will take a progressive idea--holding Wall Street accountable-- move it right of center and then begin compromising. No doubt the result will be hailed as the most significant reform since the 1930's.
FDR said to Wall Street that, "I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master."
In 2010 America, who's master now?