We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, July 2, 2010

Congress' Oil Industry "Reforms" = Election-Year Greenwashing

from Mother Jones. 

This article provides a very good illustration of how a liberal, self-styled "progressive" US magazine treats the subject of government regulations, giveaways, and legislative reforms. It's long on condemnation and moral hand-wringing, but short on dissecting the real causes of government gone awry except to cite some deceptions. Hence the author reaches the very convenient (for the ruling class) conclusion that 
In sum, the citizens of the United States have given over the greatest natural resource wealth of our nation to private business interests—who naturally run it for their own profit, rather than for the public good. In return, we have demanded virtually nothing. And the little we have demanded—the most basic of safety precautions, the most modest of demands for fair pricing—have been ignored and derided by companies that regularly top the Global 500 list for profitability.
Briefly put, the author blames the victim.
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