The Government We Deserve

I wonder how well mainstream media covered what went on in our congress last Friday. Talking about the House of Representatives--you know--that body of folks we send to Washington, D.C. to represent OUR interests?

Try to imagine the football "big game rivalry" that's played all across the nation on weekends this time of year. The Michigan State vs. Michigan game. Texas vs. Oklahoma. UCLA vs. USC. Now, imagine at the end of regulation play, one of those teams is down by two points. Game over? No, not necessarily. Not if the losing team proclaims, "Wait, Wait! We need another 40 minutes added to the clock."

Well, that's what happened last Friday in Congress when it came time to vote on a bill to make it easier for big oil companies to build new refineries. Now, imagine the winners were you and I--or so we thought. But the losers 'extended the game'.

So while the House waited for the extended vote to end, Mr. Corruption himself, Tom DeLay, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and majority whip Roy Blunt all pressured other Republicans to change their votes! Obviously, there's a lot owed the Big Oil interests and our representatives saw to it they delivered to their constitutents.

So, what will we all get as a result? The legislation will streamline government permits for refineries, open federal lands for future refinery construction, weaken environmental protections, and offer subsidies to build refineries even though oil companies are drowning in obscene profits!

Oh, but the really neat part of the bill? Well, if Oil wants to build a refinery behind your house and you and a group of neighbors or some environmentalists want to challenge it in the courts? You'll have to pay the legal fees of the oil companies!

Okay, let me get this straight? "We the people", through our government, are going to subsidize the building of new oil refineries and, if "we the people" don't like where they choose to stick 'em, and want to challenge that, "we the people" are going to pay Oil's court costs--win or lose. And you can bet, with a deal like that, "we the people" will get Oil the best damn attorneys money can buy.

Democrat Henry Waxman asked, ''Doesn't this make the House a banana republic?'' Dada would contend it makes the whole damn country a banana republic. But that's what happens when we turn the keys to the store over to fuckin' business interests. We all get screwed.

Ah, the government we deserve!