Letters and comments for April 27, 2011

Under corporate rule

To the Editor:

I was at a recent US Uncut action that confronted Bank of America for its avoidance of income taxes. We presented a bill for $4.4 million, the amount that Union County schools will be shorted next year.

The word from “corporate” headquarters was that no one, not even a clerk, was to have any contact with us. So we sang out our complaints. The bill for unpaid taxes is still outstanding.

I wonder why “corporate” is so afraid of citizens? Isn’t the right of redress at the heart of democratic rule? Major decisions in the U.S. are made by huge corporations behind closed doors. We have been colonized. The political class and corporate media keep us sedated and entertained.

The history of colonialism is ghastly — brutal conditions leading to mass misery, constant war-making and self-glorifying propaganda. Look at Africa and the sad residue of colonial economic systems. This is our future under corporate rule.

Any real democracy ensures the rights of citizens to education, health care, housing, food and decent jobs. Colonialism is based on the right of 1 percent of the population to extract wealth from everyone else and not pay a dime in return.

Health care is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. To the insurance and pharmaceutical industries this is a financial triumph, not a disaster.

Two corporate parties agreed to $80 billion in tax cuts for powerful elites, then demanded $40 billion from children, teachers and the vulnerable. Don’t they think we can count?

Hatred is a corporate product. Learn to hate teachers and unions — then find your pockets emptied.

“Corporate” really is afraid of us. We outnumber them and can organize and fight, taking our money out of their banks, refusing to fight their endless wars. This will be a long, hard fight. The corporate masters are not stupid; they are simply indecent.

Ron Brand

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Elgin