Self determination is really important to Americans. That is after all, why we fought the Revolutionary War — so the American people could decide their own fate, not King George and the English aristocracy.
Well it’s obvious some people in Tacoma have forgotten that.
Most elected leaders in this democracy would err on the side of the democratic process. If a sufficient number of citizens were riled up about any particular issue to qualify an initiative for an election, the leaders would typically champion that as our democracy at work, and then abide by the results. That is what a democracy is all about. Rule for the people, of the people and by the people.
Except in Tacoma. In Tacoma, when the common people have the sheer effrontery to challenge the supreme wisdom of their elected leaders, the leaders go to court and file massive lawsuits to beat and club and force the people into submission.
The lawsuit brought jointly by the Port of Tacoma, the The Chamber of Commerce, the EDB and now the City of Tacoma against the Save Tacoma Water organizers unmasks the dictatorial, authoritarian style of our current elected leaders.
The lawsuit is quite a dogpile, actually. They’ve brought the massive, combined weight of the city, the port, and the corporate business community down on the organizers personally, even asking for damages and legal fees if they win.
Outside of taking the organizers out and beating the holy living piss out of them, I can’t quite imagine how these combined forces might have been more intimidating. And better yet, the lawsuit is in good part, funded by taxpayer dollars.
Is that not irony personified? Using public funds to subvert the democratic process.
Yes, this is all done simply to thwart the normal workings of democracy. So that the corporate business interests — the new American aristocracy can prevail.
This shift to putting the interests of the corporate aristocracy over the interests of the common people has been building for some time.
As Jimmy Carter observed last July, speaking about the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision:
” Now [the United States] is just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congress members. So now we’ve just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election’s over.”
President Carter’s analysis is dead on. And it’s abundantly clear that this cancer on the American system of government has spread down to the local level in Tacoma.
The lawsuit reveals our elected leader’s true colors. It offers clear and incontrovertible evidence that they are working, not for the people who elected them, but rather for the corporate interests with deep pockets bulging with wads of easy cash. It’s become obvious that the interests of ordinary people have been wholly subordinated to the will of this new aristocracy.
Their despicable lawsuit is an outrageous affront to every registered voter in Tacoma. Even assuming their innocence, at best, the suit shows that they feel that we are totally incompetent to manage our own affairs. Specifically, we are not competent to decide if these corporate aristocrats should be allowed to plunder of our natural resources.
It is incomprehensible that this could have happened.
To the City Council and the Port Commission: every one of you who stands idly by like a good German and lets this reprehensible perversion of our democratic process play out is just as guilty as the instigating parties. Beware.
Our democracy is not quite dead yet and if you think this power grab has gone unobserved you’re very wrong. 16,000 registered voters signed those petitions, and through the non-corporate media and the social networks and through every other means possible we will raise our voices in strong protest.
We will not rest until every last one of you has been turned out of office.
You can redeem yourselves. Renounce the lawsuit! Speak out against this power grab by the corporate aristocracy. Don’t be a good German! Don’t be a coward!
Speak out in favor of democracy and letting the initiatives go to a vote. The lawsuit must be quashed. Let the people vote!
The people, not the corporate aristocracy, must reign in Tacoma.