Just Words

Yesterday Rachel Maddow cogently explained how Reagan redirected the political trajectory towards the right where it has headed ever since. Her argument was meant to elucidate the strategy driving President Obama's new "Centrism" as presented in his SOTU address. Unlike President Clinton who continued the rightward trend by means of his now infamous "Triangulation" she sees Obama as determined to realign the middle ground leftwards. This as if the fallout from Citizens United vs the FEC and 30,000 K Street lobbyists were about to magically disappear.

The end of U.S. democracy is not a simple consequence of rhetoric or political corruption. It is the inevitable result of imperialist capitalism. Laud him or not, Marx's analysis has stood up to the test of time: "big business, having achieved a monopoly or cartel position in the markets of importance, fuses with the government apparatus. A kind of financial oligarchy or conglomerate therefore results, whereby government officials aim to provide the social and legal framework within which giant corporations can operate most effectively."

This was not the result of any Reaganeque vision but simply the recoupment of the Big Capitalist's briefly weakened post-WWII position.

Money talks and B.S. walks

Ignore Wall St.'s grotesque privileges and perquisites. Just take for example this sudden capitulation on the part of Whole Foods. Merely last October the company announced that its retailers across the country would celebrate Non-GMO Day to raise consumer awareness about the [threatening] presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food supply. A Non-GMO Project, the Sunday’s events were meant as a wake-up call to consumers across the country.

And why not? If you're going to charge a premium for your product it behooves you to explain why you're offering a "healthier" alternative. At least until one of the government's pet giants puts you in its cross-hairs. Our fine organic growers find they are now unwillingly 'induced' to sing a drastically different tune.

"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

Organic Consumers know manure and they smell betrayal

"In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack."

Whether it's BP, GM or Monsanto, in our current economic phase in late-stage capitalism government is run for and by our corporate captains of industry. They are ones who've been shoving the country ever rightwards and no president, no matter how eloquent or well-meaning, has the means to war against, much less resist, that system.