British Petroleum Oil and Beyond Belief
June 3, 2010 in Opinions
In a way, I can’t entirely blame BP for the disaster their exploding Gulf of Mexico oil drill caused, and is causing, and will continue to be felt for a very long time. I’m placing a huge share of that blame on Americans.
For some time now, Americans have conceded their birthrights to America the Beautiful, and ignored the sacrifices of our ancestors for the sake of business (capitalism). The change in our tunes seemed to start with the Reagan philosophy of a “trickle-down” economy. So many bought into that philosophy hook, line and sinker, and to this day think that he was a “wonderful” president because he communicated well – he was a trained actor, you know.
There’s been a lot of discussion of late about the evil ways of Obama, with absolutely no proof to substantiate any of the accusations. There’s been almost no mention of the tragedy occurring right now in the Gulf of Mexico, which is painfully substantiated and documented. Why is this? Is it because these same people who viciously criticize Obama are the ones who have a rallying cry of “drill, baby, drill,” and don’t want to talk about the consequences….or do some people just not care about our environment at all.
Instead of focusing on current events though, I’d like to dig a little into history and point out that this country has a history of worshiping at the feet of big business…we’ve had the slave owners, and the power brokers. Government has had to step in to stop big business from taking even more from the underlings who cannot afford to have mansions located on beautiful European, Middle East, and Asian coastlines. They certainly don’t have their mansions located on the plebian coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, or even Florida. They have no vested interest in protecting the United States’ beautiful seas to shining to sea or anything else in this country. America has been reduced to a mere marketing hub in which money flows into the pockets of the already very rich. Nothing has changed since the days of the power brokers – it’s even gotten worse.
When are we as Americans going to finally understand that capitalism is not democracy but if allowed to replace democracy becomes a evil and sinister force. Of course, businesses should thrive here, but there needs to be a corporate conscience which doesn’t exist as I write this. We, the U.S citizens have, by our silence, allowed big business to take over our country. For those who say they want their country back, they should be looking to again balance corporate profit with the good of the community at large instead of trying to edit the Constitution to pigeonhole with personal wants.
