by Richard L. Franklin
6/12/08
The issues evaded by the three presidential candidates are huge in number, so I'm presenting one single issue I see as urgently pressing. None of the three candidates has bothered to even mention the endless, ongoing poisoning of America.
I live no more than fifty yards from the beautiful Fox River. Unfortunately, paper mills dot its shoreline for many miles. And these factories have been dumping a deadly poison into that beleaguered river for over a century. That poison is dioxin. It is so deadly one dare not swim in the river or eat any fish from that river, but where American eagles unwittingly eat the poisoned dead fish that litter the shores.
The poison thusly enters a food chain. Small animals eat the dead fish, and larger animals eat those animals. Waterfowl feed on aquatic vegetation tainted by dioxin and then are eaten by animals and humans alike. And so forth.
The river bottoms for miles and miles are covered with megatons of poisoned mud. Desultory cleaning up of the river bottoms has been going on feebly for years, but it has been mostly symbolic. EPA's relatively small fines have simply not made serious cleanups economically necessary for the paper plants. It is cheaper to endlessly fight court battles that stretch out for decades. The cost management departments of large mill corporations long ago doubtlessly concluded that long legal battles and appeals will always be cheaper than cleaning out tons of poisoned mud from the river bottoms.
This kind of story is repeated over and over again across America. The types of pollution and manners of spreading them vary greatly, but the lack of cooperation by large corporations in doing cleanups is the same.
Reagan, Big Bush, Clinton, and Little Bush all managed the environment exactly the same. They and their kind have taken their orders from huge corporations such as Monsanto and Dow, and cleanups have been deferred over and over again as one trial after another winds its way through the courts with legal battles that can last for years. As for enforcement of environmental laws, it is almost nonexistent.
This endless desecration of 'America the beautiful' seems to have no powerful foes. Sure, there are sundry green groups, but they can't contribute the millions the poisoning corporations are capable of gifting to the campaign chests of lawmakers and presidents and elected judges.
So why is it that this issue has not been a plank in the programs of even one member of the current triad of candidates for the presidency? Why are they afraid to talk about deadly dioxin being poured into our rivers on a massive scale? Why do they not promise to back judges who see the desecration of our forests, mountains, plains, deserts, lakes, and rivers as an ugly form of treachery by greedily destructive corporations?
I say 'treachery' advisedly. Our lawmakers, judges, and presidents are supposed to be guardians of the magnificent natural heritage left to us following a fanatical slaughter of the American aborigines, peoples who revered all these natural treasures and never abused them.
First we genocidally eliminated millions of natives who revered a magnificent natural treasure, and then immediately began destroying that vast treasure. Only about two or three percent of the original fabulous forests of America now remain. Numerous species of life are now on the edge of extinction. Water tables have been poisoned. Wetlands have been filled in by greedy developers, thusly leading to huge flooding and the removal of vast natural habitats for the former wildlife residents thereof.
I wonder if any of the three candidates has ever hiked through the Rockies or high deserts during the spring blooming of this land's most magnificent, almost ethereal, flowers. I wonder if any of them have even looked at Ansel Adams' wonderful photos of the American landscapes that they have never even bothered to visit.
I have fond memories of coming across mountain lions, wildcats, deer, and mountain goats during my hikes in the Rockies. Those encounters were among the most magical moments of my life. Would any of the three candidates understand what I'm talking about? Is it not ironic that we elect people to care for such great treasures when they have never even visited them and seemingly have no feeling at all for their beauty and their precious value for us and our children and their children?
After a half day of hiking, I once fell asleep on a blanket after eating a bag lunch. When I awoke, there was a deer fawn standing next to me, looking directly down at my face. My feelings at that moment were indescribable. Imagine trying to communicate those kinds of feelings to any of the three candidates.
Why are the three pols deathly afraid of even talking about these shrinking treasures? The answer is ugly and simple. They are afraid of angering their corporate masters.
So what's the answer? I have a childishly simple answer. Make corporations illegal. There. I've said it. And I refuse to take it back.
As a final thought, consider the words spoken by Theodore Roosevelt exactly one century ago:
'The citizens of the United States must control the mighty commercial forces which they themselves called into being.'
This nation has not only ignored those sage words of advice, it has mindlessly entrusted more and more power to those same 'commercial forces' Teddy Roosevelt warned us about.
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