Werbach: Liquidation of the commons

[glitch]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=459_0_1_0_C

When the Bush administration's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency was asked to describe his goals, Gov. Mike Leavitt of Utah summed up his general approach by invoking the Latin term enlibra, which roughly means "in balance." In typical fashion for the Bush administration, the choice of language is both elegant and misleading. Environmentalists understand balance, but Leavitt's balance is not the tending of the delicate interaction between nature and humanity in order to ensure that the ecological systems on which we rely are protected. An examination of the Bush administration's record during its first three years in office demonstrates that it views its role as reestablishing the preeminent right of corporations to take from nature what they need with little regard for the long-term health of nature or for the communities that live downwind or can't afford bottled water. The "balance" the administration wishes to strike is akin to an affirmative action program for corporate polluters.

There has not been such a wholesale giveaway of our common assets to corporate interests since the presidency of William McKinley.

In the 1896 presidential election, McKinley was aided in his battle against the great American populist, William Jennings Bryan, by coal and oil magnate Mark Hanna. Hanna has been cited by Karl Rove, President Bush's key political adviser, as a major influence and inspiration. Hanna raised more than $4 million in campaign contributions from corporations like Standard Oil and unapologetically blanketed the country with pamphlets suggesting that only a government that catered first to the needs of corporate interests could serve the needs of the people. Upon election, McKinley proceeded to give away large sections of America's common assets under the direction of Hanna.

The Bush administration, elected with the contributions of America's largest polluting companies, is on a similar path. Executing the plan are the same people who were lobbying for exemptions and tax breaks before Bush took office, only now they're being paid by the federal government. For example, the Undersecretary of the Interior, J. Steven Griles, is an industry lobbyist still being paid by his former firm to work on behalf of that firm's interests rather than on behalf of the interests of the American people.