Let’s make this very clear from the beginning. The tragic death of the 29 coal miners in West Virginia was no accident. Their deaths were due to aggravated murder for profit. The mine and the mine owner, Massey Energy has had a long history of severe safety violations. It is clear from the news reports that Massey Energy put profits ahead of the safety and lives of its employees.
If this had been a drunk driver running his car into a crowd of people and killing 29 people, he would have been arrested on the spot and charged with murder. The West Virginia governor needs to answer the question why he hasn’t ordered the arrest of the drunk driver in this case. The drunk driver is still free to commit further mayhem. At the very minimum the senior operating officers of this mine and of Massey Energy including the board of directors and the major stock holders should be arrested and charged with aggravated murder for profit.
While the deaths of these miners is tragic enough for their families, the families will likely experience further woes in the very near future. Those families have lost the breadwinner and the majority of them will likely loose their homes within 3 to 5 years and end up on public welfare. Why shouldn’t the ones that profited the most from the sweat and labor of these lost miners, be forced to maintain these families? In short the assets of the senior managers including the board of directors and the largest stockholders should be seized and sold dividing the proceeds equally among the 29 families.
Thus far there has been no credible response coming from either the state or federal government. Instead a blue ribbon whitewashing committee will be appointed to vindicate the owners of the mine after a slap on the wrist.
While the deaths are tragic this incident is only a symptom of an even greater tragic unfurling in the United States. That is the government no longer represents the people instead we have a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations and the people can be damned. Unless this headlong rush towards fascism is checked; incidents like this will only increase in frequency and it will become common place for corporations to demand their employees put their lives at risk for the betterment of the corporation.
Fascism is a merger of business and government. It never comes complete all at once nor does it require a revolution since its in essence a top down revolution by the rich elite to maintain their grip on the society. Instead, it infiltrates into every aspect of a society until it suddenly blossoms into the full blown virulent variety like Nazi Germany. The U.S. has been on a steady march towards fascism since the 1900s. The pace quickened with election of Ronald Reagan and the pace became a headlong rush under George W. Bush. This march towards fascism was made possible by right wing legislatures and by right wing judicial activism of the Supreme Court. A good example being the recent decision by the Supreme Court just weeks ago ruling corporations could spend any amount of money on elections.
Perhaps, the question we need to ask the West Virginia governor is how much money he has accepted from Massey Energy or its principals and owners in his election bids. This points to the extreme urgency of appointing a liberal to the recent Supreme Court vacancy to counter the extreme right wing bias now gripping the court.
For years, I have been sounding a warning about creeping fascism and the gradual erosion of our rights. In the mid 1990s, I first proposed an amendment to limit the rights of corporations. At the time, I was a lone voice in the wilderness. That amendment is included in my book Nazi Hydra In Fascist America including of the court cases coming from right-wing judicial activism supporting corporate rule.
Such an amendment is desperately needed to reverse the worst decision ever made by the Supreme Court in which a right wing judicial activist simply proclaimed corporations had the right to personhood. At least one of the members of that court owned stock in the railroad company in the case before the court. At that time. Almost all of the clauses included in the proposed amendment are reenactments of past law that has been overturned by judicial activism from the far right such as the recent decision to allow corporations to spend freely in an election.
Allowing corporations to buy the best politicians possible is not the answer to reforming what is wrong with America today. With the recent ruling to allow corporations to spend freely in an election will only insure that candidates that have been vetted by big business will appear on the ballot and our second question for the governor of West Virginia will only be more valid..
The greatest threat this country faces is not from its external enemies but rather from the internal enemy headed by the rich elites demanding one world government. The only rights we and freedoms we enjoy are rights that we stand ready to fight for. The greatest weapon one can wield at these fascist crackpots that are running the nation business is knowledge. I urge those that stand ready to fight for their freedom to obtain a copy of the Nazi Hydra and learn how the enemy has infiltrated our society and what we can do to expunge the enemy from our society. Live free or live in fear.