In a second hand thrift store I recently bought an old 2002 issue of "Sierra" magazine for a quarter because it featured an essay written by Wendell Berry. He wears many hats - college professor, farmer, conservationist, author, poet, maybe more. I find him to be thought-provoking whenever I read from one of his writings. I have met him and sat in an audience where he gave a reading.
He makes a statement that validates a belief I've begun to hold, so this makes at least two of us who think this: "The massive ascendency of corporate power over democratic process is probably the most ominous development since the start of the Civil War, and for the most part the 'free world' seems to be regarding it as merely normal." Hah, a zoo animal born in a cage probably thinks that's normal, too.
There's an ant army of lobbyists crawling through all levels of government influencing lawmakers to do their bidding, many of them representing corporate power. Where is the democratic process when a President commits military forces to fight a war? Eisenhower warned to beware of the Military-Industrial Complex that likes to sell war machines and yearns to see a good war so they can sell even more. I've begun to wonder what powers lawmakers have over the industries of petroleum, drugs, health care, etc. Maybe we are like those zoo animals and our cage just keeps getting smaller.
