House of Corporate Representatives

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…

It was the best of times for the lucrative and (and monopolizing) energy corporations.

It was the worst of times for the American taxpayers, who have been forced to indirectly donate even more money to these companies that already take huge chunks of our money at the gas pump and in a variety of other energy costs.

How did this happen? The US Taxpayer has been burdened with an Energy Bill (to be signed into law next week) which gives out billions of taxpayer dollars in Corporate Welfare to the already highly profitable energy corporations. It was the best Bill that corporate money could buy.

This Energy Bill passed both the House and Senate last week. So who do the House of Representatives actually represent? It seems as though they mostly represent corporate entities, not the people. Perhaps we need to end the charade and open up the Congress for direct corporate sponsorship. Each seat can be purchased by the highest bidder. It would be similar to the sports stadiums that now carry corporate names. All that would be required is some simple changes to Congressional titles. For example, instead of the Representative from District 101, we could have the Representative from Chevron, or perhaps Senator Paimehoff from Citibank.

And if the Congress is not completely controlled by special interests, who is next in the chain of command? For the Party that has the Whitehouse, does it mean that the current administration makes all decisions, with everyone in the party towing the presidential party line? If that is the case, the new Energy Bill should come as no surprise.

When the Bush administration first took office in 2001, former Representative Spencer Abraham was tasked as the Secretary of Energy. For anyone who knew the past of Rep. Abraham, an agenda of corporate sponsorship was to be expected. The reason that Mr. Abraham was a former representative was due to the fact that he did not represent his home district in Michigan, but instead worked hard for his various corporate interests. He was thrown out by his constituents at the very first opportunity.

One of Rep. Abraham’s accomplishments included working hard for high-tech companies to bring foreign workers into the US to replace domestic workers. He was also the No. 1 recipient of campaign contributions from the automotive industry. No doubt his background was a perfect fit for the Bush Administration’s future Energy Policy.

In the final analysis, the individual players don’t matter as much as the fact that government is for sale, and only the vigilance of the citizens can prevent that abuse. Unfortunately, the latest Energy Bill is the worst of times when it comes to the vigilance of the taxpayers.