Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

We've got Enron-itis

I am so tired of our institutional policy of cover-up and misdirection. We all know that our politicians obtain power by accepting money from big business. Most of us know that the price for keeping their war chests full is a spoken or unspoken promise to legislate what is best for big business. By their own hand politicians have placed themselves in an untenable moral dilemma.

They must sell themselves to the voters by promising to look after our health, safety, and financial well being while at the same time repay their debt to those who finance their elections. In most cases these two considerations are diametrically opposed.

The priority that prevails ain't you and me chum.

We now know that the seventh largest company in the United States has declared bankruptcy under the most nefarious circumstances. We have been horrified to learn that Enron has financed the campaigns of over half of our representatives in Washington and basically everyone in the White House.

They have shelled out to Republican and Democrat alike. As a mindless entity with the bottom line as their deity, they have no opinions or morals. They merely support anyone who has a chance to influence policy. They would happily support both Charles Manson and Jesus Christ, were these two individuals vying for public office with a chance to win.

I have no direct evidence that corruption has led to the downfall of Enron. I know this however: Enron is an enormous energy producing company. The USA is totally dependant on energy.

Who at Enron was unable to estimate energy needs versus energy supplies? What cadre of decision-makers led this company and its employees to financial ruin? If they paid for policy makers in government, how could they possibly fail? I hope these questions will be answered in the coming months but I am not so sure that they will be.

Who, after all is noton Enron's payroll that is qualified or has the opportunity to make up committees of investigation?

We may have to look long and hard for someone in power who hasn't been tainted with Enron bucks. The dogcatcher in Cornsnaggle Nebraska perhaps, or the game warden in Big Squirt Falls Alaska?

Our strangely elected leader George W. Bush is jukin' and jivin' like Mugsy Bogues on speed trying to weasel out of his long-term affiliations with Enron. His lying is not only transparent, it is downright stupid.

We know he was supported by Enron; his long term affiliation with Enron was revealed minutes after he denied it. Who is advising him on this issue? Al Gore? The cynics among us don't even blame him for accepting Enron support. Everyone else has and that is the shame of our system.

We, the great unwashed, have no idea how much our government and its policies have been influenced by corporate money. Since Enron's collapse it has come to light that the company that audited Enron, the Andersen Company, was also a paid consultant for Enron.

It is legal, apparently, to get paid to check the books of an entity so the stockholders will have some idea where they stand financially while at the same time be paid to advise that same company on how best to hide all the warts and weaknesses which might influence stockholders to demand accountability.

This shamelessly corrupt practice is perfectly legal and when, in the past, legislation has been proposed to make it illegal, the paid stooges of big business have quashed it. Now that Enron execs have too blatantly raped their employees and the taxpayer this little loophole will be expunged, no doubt to be replaced by some other slimy practice.

Our system stinks. What probably started as a fairly innocent repayment for financial support by a politician has spread through our political system like a flesh-eating bacteria until the body politic is thoroughly diseased.

Our democracy is not a democracy. It is rule by corporation. Our only ace in the hole is that there are more of us than them and therein lies our only way out of this mess. We simply must outlaw all campaign finance from non-public funds.

Every man or woman who wants to be elected in this country should have the same amount of money to get his or her message out to the voters. It must be public money, our tax money, that finances these campaigns. It will then be Joe and Jane Voter that will be represented by elected officials not Verizon, not Boeing and not Enron.

We should have one question for potential candidates during the next election campaign: "Will you vote in favor of campaign finance reform?" If they say "no," so should you.