Sarkisian vs. Corporatism

A year and a half ago Americans were hotly debating Arizona’s new bill that allowed police officers to spontaneously confront any person and demand to see their documentation of citizenship. Civil rights advocates fought nativist proponents rally-to-rally, pen-to-pen, senator-to-senator— exemplifying American freedoms of speech, assembly, and representation: democracy. But while the bill aroused application of our sacred liberties through indignant debate, we Americans remained blissfully ignorant of the true origin of Senate Bill 1070 and the mockery it makes of our democracy.

The inception of Bill 1070 can be traced not to the Arizona state legislature, but to the Hyatt in Washington, D.C. in January, 2010. Meeting here is the influential American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. And in 1070’s conference room we find not a collection of Arizona Congressmen but an assembly of representatives from legislatures—and corporations—across the country. At this corner a delegate from the Correction Corporation of America, the country’s largest private prison detainee of undocumented workers; across the table an agent sent by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, corporation; here a New Mexico senator, developing a plan to bring home a bill identical to 1070.

But this senator and all the other “public servants” in this room traveled here not simply to write legislation—they can do that back home. No; for them, ALEC is a great time of year: raining down upon them are the world’s finest gifts, vacations, box seats—and the best part: promises. Promises that each corporation will bestow upon the senators a “substantial investment” in their campaign funding when running for their next term—as they did for 30 Arizona senators immediately following the passage of 1017.

So why are the CCA, ICE, the Bureau of Prisons, corporations et cetera so very captivated by the senators’ cause? Why would these corporations spend exuberant money and effort to draft specific legislation for Arizona? Unless . . . maybe those corporations have something to gain from the passage of those bills and the friendship of those Congressmen. . . . Oh yeah, didn’t all of those companies’ names have something to do with immigration?

Interestingly, Senate Bill 1070 not only allows police to demand documentation, but also declares undocumented presence in Arizona a felony. Now all undocumented workers are not immediately deported, as so many assumed, but instead imprisoned. But Arizona’s state penitentiaries are already overflowing. So to the rescue come the profiteering private prisons, like those owned by the Correction Corporation of America and the Bureau of Prisons. Sound familiar? Those were some of the very same corporations that wrote the bill back at the Washington Hyatt.

So . . . Corporations drafted Senate Bill 1017, corporations lavishly gifted the Arizona senators, corporations funded these senators’ campaigns, and these same corporations made a fortune from Bill 1070. Where in this democratic process do “we, the people” come in?

Thanks to corporatism, our legislators answer to more powerful forces than their constituency. U.S. corporatism defines a societal monster among us: it has ingrained itself into our government since the 1970’s and crippled our democracy, exploiting the disconnection between citizens and government. Lobbying spending has increased over 200% in the past decade and spread to every major industry. If lobbying were truly limited to advocating bills on the floor of Congress, why does it demand of our largest industries over 3.5 billion dollars annually?

As illustrated by the example of Senate Bill 1070, lobbyists don’t do their real work on the Senate floor. Corporations write the bills, they pay the senators to pass them, and they reap the profit. And don’t even pretend to think that 1070 or the American Legislative Exchange Council are anomalies or worst case scenarios. Private manipulation of legislation occurs on every level in every branch. In 2007 three hundred cities had implemented Red Light Ticket Cameras only to discover that the organization advocating them was a puppet of the ticket camera supplier companies, which had actually just paid city government officials. Meanwhile, up top, the massive crop seed monopoly Monsanto actually bought Searle Pharmaceuticals from Donald Rumsfeld on the grounds that he would return to politics immediately.

But why take my word for it when even lobbyists themselves have started to speak out against the corruption. Like Jack Abramoff, possibly America’s most influential lobbyist, humiliatingly arrested in 2005 for bribery, tax evasion, and extortion. Now out of prison, Abramoff has realized the injustice of modern lobbying and spoken against it, including writing a book exposing his own fraudulence as a lobbyist. Abramoff asserts, “Our system is flawed and has to be fixed. Giving a gift to somebody who makes a decision on behalf of the public—at the end of the day that’s what bribery really is, but it is done every day. The truth is there are very few members who I could think of . . . who didn’t at some level participate in that.”

Some may wonder how such an egregious flaw in our democracy has escaped the American public, known for its quickness to eradicate governmental injustices. If lobbying is really that bad, why haven’t I heard much about it on the news? Well, how much does the news tell you about the private sector? When was the last time CBS detailed the events at the Wal-Mart executives’ meeting? Because make no mistake, lobbyists are totally private businessmen, and control the same devices of secrecy that Wal-Mart does. Lobbyist meetings are by no means public affairs.

The truth is I cannot even begin to express here the impact corporatism currently plays in our government. But a few reminders of the devastating effects of irresponsible plutocracy, like the coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky in 2000; the foreclosure crisis of 2007; and the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, might spark your imagination. Interesting how some legislators that helped pass the bills that loosened regulations on coal slurry impoundments, mortgages, and oil rigs worked directly with lobbyists from the coal, banking, and oil industries.

But we do live in a democracy, and we have the power and the tools to reshape it. Because no matter how much campaign funding a senator receives, he/she must win your vote. So before we even write our vote, we must demand four core changes by our representatives:

· A repealing of the Supreme Court’s United Citizens decision, which gives corporations the ability to contribute to political campaigns.

· A requirement that any bill passed must be traced back to a totally transparent and legitimate source or convention—no more secretive hotel getaways like the American Legislative Exchange Council.

· The illegalization of any gift from a lobbyist or any private interest to a Congressman.

· And the prohibition of a politician from being a lobbyist before or after holding office.

Cancerous cells serve only themselves and continuously infect surrounding cells, destroying the system from the inside out. Striking how similar an effect a lobbyist with blank check can have on a democratic government, bribing one Congressman at a time, corrupting that which serves our common good. As citizens given the ultimate power over this country, we are blessed with a cure for corporate cancer—but it’s only available every November.