Winds of Change Newsletter, December 2005     See sidebar for table of contents

Foxes Guarding Henhouse - Why We Need Real Campaign Finance Reform

(Excerpts from Bill Moyers’ keynote speech, “A Question for Journalists: How Do We Cover Penguins and the Politics of Denial?” to the 2005 Society of Environmental Journalists Convention.)

“Theodore Roosevelt warned a century ago of the subversive influence of money in politics. He said the central fact in his time was that big business had become so dominant it would chew up democracy and spit it out.  The power of corporations, he said, had to be balanced with the interest of the general public.  That warning was echoed by his cousin Franklin, who said a ‘government by organized money is as much to be feared as a government by organized mob.’ Both Roosevelts rose to that challenge in their day. 

“But 100 years later mighty corporations are once again the undisputed overlords of government. Follow the money and you are inside the inner sanctum of the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the American Petroleum Institute.  Here is the super board of directors for Bush, Incorporated.  They own the administration lock, stock and barrel, and their grip on our government’s environmental policies is leading to calamitous consequences. 

“Earlier this year the White House even conducted an extraordinary secret campaign to scupper the British government’s attempt to tackle global warming – and then to undermine the U.N.’s effort to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions.  George W. Bush is the Herbert Hoover of the environment.  His failure to lead on global warming means that even if we were dramatically to decrease greenhouse gases overnight we have already condemned ourselves and generations to come to a warming planet.

“The promise of America has been subverted to crony capitalism, sleazy lobbyists, and an arrogance of power matched only by an arrogance of the present that acts as if there is no tomorrow.”