We! The People Webzine: Are You a Consumer or Citizen? by Ron McBride

Are You a Consumer or Citizen?

by Ron McBride
February 6, 2007

Over the last six years we have watched as we have gone from a government of the people to a government of corporatism.

What do I mean? I mean that there are more contractors working in government than there are government employees, being given no-bid contracts at some times 10 times the daily or hourly rate that government employees receive. The main reason is that Bush & Company are no longer controlled by salary regulations when using these pet contractors, and can expect large donations to the GOP by the same Corporations that are getting the contracts.

The top 20 service contractors have spent nearly $300 million since 2000 on lobbying and have donated $23 million to political campaigns. Spending on federal contracts has soared during the Bush administration, to about $400 billion last year from $207 billion in 2000, fueled by the war in Iraq, domestic security, and Hurricane Katrina, but also by a philosophy that encourages outsourcing almost everything government does.

Hey, wait a minute! These contractors spent $300 million on lobbying, they got Billions in contracts, they kicked back $23 million in form of donations to political campaigns. I wonder what happened to the Billions of $'s difference? Sorry, profit is the wrong answer.

Why? Because these same contractors who saw their contracts extended required more money this year than last because last year they made no profits, and paid no taxes. And this is just the top 20 contracts. There are thousands of contractors involved in this scheme. Many of these 20 are doing 90-95% of their business on Government Contracts. Peter W. Singer, who wrote a book on military outsourcing said, "They're not really companies, they're quasi agencies." Indeed, the biggest federal contractor, Lockheed Martin, which has spent $53 million on lobbying and $6 million on donations since 2000, gets more federal money each year than the Departments of Justice or Energy.

An analysis by The New York Times shows that fewer than half of all "contract actions" - new contracts and payments against existing contracts - are now subject to full and open competition. Just 48 percent were competitive in 2005, down from 79 percent in 2001.

Bush likes the contractor scheme, first, because there is less oversight, and second, because everything is kept secret behind closed doors. And since the Freedom of Information act only applies to Governmental Agencies, we can't find out what outfits like Halliburton or Blackwater are doing.

Government employees are beholden to all the people. Corporate Contractors are beholden only to the owners and shareholders of their corporations. Some even suggest that government cannot operate without contractors, which provide the surge capacity to handle crises without expanding the permanent bureaucracy. BS! What of temporary civil servants? We haven't even explored this, and it is a viable alternative. Temp Civil Service would be a way to fill in where there is a need, it would be a pool of talented already vetted for security reasons employees who are willing to work on a part time basis.

In 1941, Harry S. Truman, then a senator, declared, "I have never yet found a contractor who, if not watched, would not leave the government holding the bag." Nothing much has changed except these contractors have become even bolder in their schemes to relieve you and I of our tax dollars.

Now we learn that contractors are being used to police contractors, to investigate whether contractors are engaged in overcharging or wrong doing. To me that is putting the fox in the hen house, especially when contractors like CACI are the ones hired to do the investigating when they were also under investigation by the GSA for violations in Iraq.

Why in the world do people in Congress allow this to happen? First, follow the money trail…. Then second, follow the money trail…. All will be answered.

But, you ask, what the heck does this have to do with your original question "Consumers or Citizens?" Actually it has everything to do with it. These Contractors are merely the tip of the Corporate Iceberg that is blocking good government at all levels from city to national.

Corporations use the regulation of trade through the "free trade" laws and system so that we end up with the only thing mattering is more and bigger profits. This can only be achieved by consumers who purchase those products created or sold by these corporations. But the citizens, you and I, have had our community values cast aside in favor of these profits. The corporations such as Wal-Mart decided that worker rights, human rights and ecological integrity are irrelevant.

We the citizens did not make these decisions, nor did we create these situations by "consumer demand." They are political decisions. It is not as economic entities, but as politically active corporate "persons," that corporations exercise power to define how trade is conducted and how workers are treated, as well as how natural resources that belong to all of us are used. These same corporations rely on us being consumers, not citizens.

Corporate owners and managers decide what to produce, based on projected profit, and spend millions of dollars on advertising to convince us that we want it. People respond by buying the products that are advertised--voila! Consumer demand.

As consumers, we can only choose from what is offered, and corporate decision makers only offer what they know will be profitable, while doing their best to ensure we don't have access to full information about the product so that knowledge won't influence our decision.

Some have said we should boycott different corporations, such as Wal-Mart, but this is a waste of time, it won't happen. Only by being citizens and taking an active stance against the voice and power of corporations in politics can we influence the decision making taking place around us.

Others blame the Government for the state of the nation politically today. They are wrong. It is Corporate Greed that has created the problem, with their bribes, lobbyists, and political donations.

Only when We the People unite as Citizens exercising our rights and enacting our responsibilities - not as consumers - will we be able to turn the tables on the greed and reckless actions of Corporations and Governments, and restore Democracy as it was meant to be.

This will only happen when we Citizens wake up, become informed, think and act on our political opinions, talk with others about them, organize our friends and neighbors, and learn to work and make decisions together even when we don't agree on everything. Then and only then will we be in a position to add our voice to the Citizens' movement to change government at all levels.

How can you help?