We, the people
Not the corporations
By Behrouz Vafa
November 2, 2000
The Iranian
I am an Iranian-American who has never seen Iran since 1978. For me,
being an American is about advancing democratic principles. When I was
reading Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" (published
in 1835), I came across a couple of paragraphs in Chapter Three "Social
Condition of the Anglo-Americans." These were written 170 years ago
when America's democracy was all glowing, bright, proud but nevertheless
humble. These hopeful, promising and encouraging messages of the past are
now gradually evaporating:
"In America the aristocratic element has always been feeble from
its birth; and if at the present day it is not actually destroyed, it is
at any rate so completely disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any
degree of influence on the course of affairs. The democratic principle,
on the contrary, has gained so much strength by time, by events, and by
legislation, as to have become not only predominant, but all-powerful.
No family or corporate authority can be perceived; very often one cannot
even discover in it any very lasting individual influence."
In the past two hundred years, Americans didn't shed blood in battlefields
for the sake of big corporations' strong influence on people's choices
and decisions. They fought with pride and sacrificed their worthy lives
for preserving the sovereignty of the people, by the people and for the
people.
Now, in the 21st century, we are the people, the future people for those
who resolutely sacrificed for us. If we don't cherish and advance the democratic
principles that have been passed on to us, we not only ungratefully abandon
their worthy cause, but also the coming generation would never acquire
any sense of democracy. As Ralph Nader said, "There can be no daily
democracy without daily citizenship."
While there is a general lack of people's participation in the democratic
processes, there is a record high amount of money that corporations are
pumping and flowing lavishly to the political candidates. In return, these
companies receive lax environmental restrictions, tax breaks, free trade,
a continued build up of the weapons industry and exporting weapons to other
countries. The more cash that goes into candidates' pockets, the more they
are expected to bow to the donors, and less to the people!
Of course, what makes all of this possible is the complicity of the
mass media. To a large extent, big corporations control the mass media
in a variety of ways: they not only hire journalists, analysts, economists
and commentators, but also sponsor programs, advertise and even own the
mass media. The media themselves are big corporations that have the ultimate
influence on people's minds.
Neither de Tocquville nor the freedom fighters had envisioned that 'we
the people' has been transformed into 'we the consumers.' We consume the
messages from the mass media. Even the Presidential debates consist of
two participants who willingly receive big money from big corporations;
and the sponsors are again the big corporations. And the consumers have
a profound and subtle choice between licking chocolate ice cream or vanilla
ice cream!
In this sad sarcastic backdrop, de Tocqueville refers us to his last
paragrapgh of Chapter Three: "The Anglo-Americans are the first nation
who, having been exposed to this formidable alternative, have been happy
enough to escape the dominion of absolute power. They have been allowed
by their circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and especially
by their morals to establish and maintain the sovereignty of the people."
Democracy calls for more than ever not just Anglo-Americans but Native-Americans,
Afro-Americans, Latino-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Oriental-Americans,
Indian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Iranian-Americans ... to use their creativity,
intelligence and moral advocacy to revive, establish and maintain the sovereignty
of the people. This requires you the people to abandon your ongoing habit
of being complacent or detached from politics or feeling insignificant
or powerless; instead, you need to embrace the democratic processes such
as spreading the word of worthy materials through the internet.
Let me echo from Lincoln's last paragraph in the Gettysburg address
that says: "...It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us- that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that
we here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain-that
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth."
November song,
Sing along,
Seize the moment - It'll soon be gone.
They think their money's gonna buy your freedom,
Rock the ballot box and show them they're wrong!
(By Mark and Matthew Henshaw)
Author
Behrouz Vafa is the Upper Westside volunteer for Ralph Nader's Presidential
Campaign.
We, the people
