It's Tough to Separate the Truth from the Horse Manure

It’s a tough life. Just think of it. Imagine having to convince yourself that what is best for the country is to continue compromising the long-term well-being of the planet. That’s what congress folks who support continued coal mining and oil drilling as the best means of solving our energy needs and for bringing about the recovery of our economy seem to have convinced themselves in spite of all the actual evidence to the contrary. They will stick their heads in the oil sands before they recognize the overwhelming evidence of global warming and the pending global disasters associated with it. It’s amazing how powerful faith in the status quo actually is for some coal-tunnel-vision folks who still manage to get elected in this 21st Century.
Of course the reason they keep faith in coal and oil is money and influence. Some of the most powerful lobbies in congress are coal and oil. What else would explain their indifference to or even denial of the actual scientific truth? They hold on to the myth that a shift to renewable energy or even natural gas as part of the transition to renewable energy would bring economic disaster.
I would like to think it is simply a matter of a lack of imagination or vision. Unfortunately, it isn’t. It’s about who funds their campaigns or whom they will fear if they switch allegiance to more sensible and beneficial energy sources. They are simply owned by the existing, powerful corporations that want to maintain their power and influence. There is no other credible explanation.
The same is true for health care reform. Most of the same obstructionists to combating global warming are the same folks who oppose real health care reform. They want to make certain that the existing insurance companies and health care providers remain as the primary players in and beneficiaries of any so-called reform. The preservation of the corporation comes first ahead of the public welfare. Somehow, in their belief, if the corporation is profitable, the benefits will trickle down to the public at large. That’s the theory that has had a long time to prove itself but has never fulfilled its promise. And yet the “true believers” hold on to those beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Health care and health insurance companies have had their very lengthy chance to prove their worthiness to the American people and they have failed miserably. Without government intervention in some major ways, they will continue to seek profits at the expense of the public good.
America is a country of believers. We like to believe that all people have access to the American Dream, to their choice of religious beliefs, to the notion that “all men are created equal.” However, when our faith is put in the corporation rather than in the original concept of free enterprise or the market economy, we have lost our way. The purpose of the corporation is to reduce competition in order to maximize profit. It is not to compete for the benefit of the consumer. From the time the corporation was deemed a “person” legally, we started down the slippery slope toward the destruction of the American Dream for actual everyday people. Once the corporation became a person, “all men are created equal” lost all validity. As long as the current crop of obstructionists in the House and the Senate continue to pretend to believe that the large corporation is the answer to America’s needs and a sizeable portion of the American populace sees government as the enemy and the corporation as the symbol of free enterprise, then we are stuck in swamp of overweening corporate power and influence, and the American Dream will continue to sink into the bog.
No matter what Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh tries to tell you, question authority: theirs, your elected officials’, and the corporation’s. Question the authenticity of the ads you see on television. Question whether or not the truth you perceive actually holds up in the face of real evidence. Don’t let your theories get in the way of the truth. Belief is a powerful tool that can be used against you more easily than it can rise to your benefit.
Finally, imagine those folks who were nay-saying the petroleum advocates at the turn of the 20th Century. Those naysayers were “haysayers” or hay-burning advocates. Imagine how life would be today if they had continued to rule their day. Imagine the piles of horse manure. If you feel you have to watch your step now, just imagine if “haysayers” had won. Yes, there have been unintended consequences of our oil-burning, but we now can see our way clear to make changes that can reverse the damage in the long run. Don’t let the 21st Century equivalent of the “haysayers” stop what needs to happen now. Change may be unnerving, but failure to change will be disastrous. That’s a certainty you can count on.