When truth starts catching with the far-fetched political satire in my recent novel, one can't help but take notice. I am speaking of the continued and truly remarkable environmental catastrophe in
West Virginia. The chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water for more than 300,000 has proven to be test case in what happens when a state happily turns over its governing responsibility to corporations such as the charmingly-named Freedom Industries (as in we have the freedom to fuck you over). Even better from accountability perspective, Freedom Industries proved its bona fides as a stand up corporate citizen and declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy -- with the hilarious punch line being the newly created company designed to guide Freedom Industries forward through bankruptcy (and strip it of all its assets) is run by the same guy who owns Freedom. Amazing. In other words, we have the freedom not only to fuck you over but you can't do a thing about it.
Chris Hayes of All In on MSNBC explains the shenanigans quite well here.
What happened in West Virginia was a variation on a wicked theme from my futuristic satire The Execution Channel: A Political Fable in which the Ayn Rand/Tea Party crowd take control and create Real America (imagine Ted Cruz's political wet dream). One of the main heroes is Gov. Lawrence C. Bowie of the (renamed) Real American Republic of Texas who sells what remains of the state's governing assets to corporate interests, takes pride in a 30 percent unemployment rate and considers it a triumph of the human spirit that Texas has eliminated all environmental regulations to better promote a positive business climate. Consider this passage from an early chapter.
When 78 men, women, and children died over a three-day period from a water contamination outbreak in Houston after the explosion of a chemical plant, Bowie didn't issue a statement through a spokesman. He stood up at a press conference of carefully vetted repbloggers and took credit for a job well done. Bowie declared "double martial law" to keep order in Houston and showed his pride in a state that was leading the way in environmentally related deaths.
"It can only be the mysterious will of God that explains why the environment continues to act funny but that should not stop us from maximum exploitation of natural resources," Bowie had said. "Come on folks, let's stop being chicken little types and whining pussies around here. People die all the time but we can't forget there's money to be made and opportunities gained by showing good horse sense in not worrying about what we can't control. We shouldn't coddle future generations from the consequences of our excesses because full-scale environmental degradation is a wonderful economic development platform. We have made progress in removing all barriers to prosperity by ridding ourselves of hateful regulations that defy common sense and wreck countless good money-making schemes."
Bowie was hailed throughout Real America for the searing honesty of what came next. "These deaths in Houston were sacrifices made in the cause of prosperity for all. We can't blame shrewd industrialists if small mishaps like this lead to collateral damage and untimely deaths of people who, let us be frank about this, should live in better neighborhoods."
Freedom Industries deserves a principled salesman like Gov. Bowie. He is a perfect fit for the Ayn Randian dream of omnipresent corporate governance that, wouldn't you know, is already being practiced in states West Virginia, North Dakota, and to a great degree, in Texas.
Michael McCord is an award-winning journalist and the former political editor and columnist for the Portsmouth (NH) Herald. He is the author of the recently-published political satire The Execution Channel: A Political Fable. The sequel, End Times: Further Adventures in Real America, will be published later this year.