The following article will appear in the April, 1998, edition of the Ashland, Ore., Lithiagraph:
(c) 1998 by Fred Flaxman
(used by permission of the author)
I just finished a book called "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos" by someone who ought to know -- Texan Jim Hightower. I agree 100% with another Texan, Molly Ivins, who said: "If you don't read another book about what's wrong with this country for the rest of your life, read this one. I think it's the best and most important book about our public life I've read in years."
Hightower served two terms as Texas's elected agriculture commissioner. He has a weekday nationally syndicated radio program called "Hightower Radio: Live from the Chat & Chew" which, unfortunately, I've never heard since it isn't broadcast in my area. He also gives many speeches which have frequently been televised by C-SPAN, which I've never seen, unfortunately, because I don't have cable or satellite TV. And he publishes a biweekly political newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown" which I've never read, unfortunately, because I spent my entire budget for reading materials to buy his $23 hardcover book.
One of the amazing things about Hightower's book, considering its deadly serious subject matter, is how outright funny it can be. It is an easy read, as well as an important one. Hightower has a folksy, breezy style. He knows how to be as entertaining as he is informative.
For example, Hightower discusses how the megacorporations have been taking over every aspect of our lives in the last few decades, from the media to the food supply, education, the politicians and the government. By comparison, one of the least critical areas is that of college and professional sports. It is certainly least critical to me. I'm so uninterested in the Superbowl and baseball and every other kind of bowl and ball, that I'll be a prime suspect for investigation by the House Committee on Un-American Americans, whenever the far right completes its take-over. Yet Hightower kept me riveted to the text and laughing my head off, even in the section on sports, with paragraphs like this:
"A group of pro-football executives have had discussions with various corporations and CBS Television about creating a new football league that would have twelve teams -- each one representing not a city, but a corporation. Among those named as possible owners are Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo, and Federal Express. I think this is a terrific idea if for no other reason than it presents the opportunity for some absolutely great team names! Instead of "Bears," "Panthers," and other ferocious animals, why not some more-descriptive monikers that truly reflect the fearsome power of the team owners: the Exxon Oil Spillers, for example, is a natural; the FedEx Unionbusters rings true; the McDonald's Minimum Wagers says it all; millions would turn out to boo the Prudential Policy Cancelers; maybe the GM Job Punters could play in Flint, Michigan; the Monsanto Cancer Causers would strike terror coast to coast; the Lockheed-Martin Cost Overrunners is a winner; and what could be more fitting than the Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Fixers?"
There's one other quote from the book I would like to share with you. This one isn't so funny and it isn't by Jim Hightower. Can you guess who said this?:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign... until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the war."
That is from a letter written in 1864 by a chap you may have heard of -- the very first Republican president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He may have been just a few wars and 134 years ahead of his time.
The Hightower book is a well-researched, fascinating summary of how far and how fast we've come to the verge of a corporate dictatorship. With both major parties beholden to the major corporations, with laws made by the rich and for the rich, what are the rest of us to do?
"Some say we need a third party," Hightower quips. "I say we need a second one."
I agree. I, too, have been totally turned off by the Republicans and the Democrats, which seem, more and more, like two branches of the Corporate Party. A lifelong Democrat, I have just reregistered as a Pacific Party supporter. I've also joined the New Party and the Alliance for Democracy, all of which seem to have so much in common that I wish we could all get together in one national organization, pooling our limited funds and our unlimited intellectual resources, energy and spirit.
I'm not going to make any effort to summarize Hightower's 292-page book here for two reasons: (1) I couldn't do it justice, and (2) I wouldn't want you to think that reading this is any substitute for reading the book. I want you to read the book because I hope that the more people who do, the more recruits we'll have for the struggle against the corporate take-over and all that this means to our freedom, our health, our environment, our quality of life, and our future.
And I think that it is just as important for people around the world to read this book as it is for Americans. We are dealing with multinational corporations here. They cause as much or more damage in other countries than they do in the U.S. They have gotten so powerful they have governments all over the world doing their bidding. Awareness of the dangers posed is the first step toward doing something about them.
On this score Hightower seems optimistic. He points out that big corporations seemed to be taking over the country a hundred years ago, too, in the age of the "robber barons." "Muckraking" journalists exposed their excesses then, some of which, like bad meat and sweat-shops, are becoming all too familiar once again. Once alerted, the people demanded reform and they got it, and it included a series of antitrust laws which seem all but forgotten nowadays. But can history repeat itself when the media are now controlled by a handful of media barons who run some of the very corporations which need to be reformed and controlled? Corporations which charge candidates for public office unconscionable sums of money for a few seconds of airtime on what were supposed to be the public airwaves? Corporations which are prime contributors to the pollution of our air and water, not to mention our minds?
It may already be too late for the people of America and the world to stop the high-speed corporatization of the known universe. The dictatorship of the bottom line has already taken over most of our country, and other nations will be quick to follow, despite the wishes and needs of the vast majority of their populations. Nevertheless I think the tide can be turned or I wouldn't be writing this. And it all starts with being informed as to what's been happening, what is happening, and what is going to happen if we don't wake up very soon and support a peaceful, populist uprising.
"We don't own the networks," a good friend of mine points out, "so we have to network." Read Hightower and you'll want to join the opposition to corporate control. The megacorporations will certainly not be easy to beat. Look how long it took to begin to get at the cigarette industry! But that very example gives me hope that good will eventually triumph over evil -- as long as there are enough dedicated, hard-working, idealistic people around to fight for what is right.
