Iraq for Sale and the US Powder Keg

I've owned Robert Greenwald's "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers"[1] for half a year. I finally watched it last night having resisted so long because I knew it would be a bummer. Actually, it was energizing in the sense that anger induces motivation.

The movie Sicko, by Michael Moore, thoroughly discredits the US health care system. It also exposes deep and wide corruption that is enriching an elite minority. That same establishment has cornered the US defense and security industries. US government officials are implicated and enriching themselves upon retirement from high office. The Democratic and Republican parties are corrupted by the wealth and power that has been consolidated via government largess.

Our hope lies in common people of all political persuasions who are harmed, even killed, by this corruption. There are more of us than the elite minority, and we live in a democracy where majority rules... at least the majority is supposed to rule.

The US political system that has enabled this corruption has lost nearly all legitimacy. You can be sure that the establishment knows this. In response, the power elite is establishing new laws that anticipate the need to clamp down on domestic dissent in the future. That impending need is summed up in the last segment of the film Iraq for Sale in which a relative of a former Blackwater employee says:

You know, I love my Country.I stand behind it. I'm concerned now in a way that I've probably never been concerned before, because I don't like what I'm seeing. America has become a powder keg I think, and it's just waiting for a match.

Michael Moore explains that the French people actually exercise democracy because they are well organized. He observes a difference in our countries; in the US, the people are afraid of their government. In France, the government is afraid of the people. [2]

The people who have the money, the people making the profit, have a lot of power and a lot of money, and a lot of influence. And, so I think it will really take something big, a big movement here in the United States

The myth of the US democracy is being exposed as a fraud.

How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

- Joan Baez

People now "see" and are grappling with what to do about the fact that American Revolution replaced the British aristocracy with an American aristocracy. The answer lies in one word, "organize."

Click Here for an "Action Guide" associated with Greenwald's film and links to organizations working for positive change. An "action" example of many is provided immediately below:

Take Action (Just one Example):

Army investigations implicated employees from Titan and CACI in the abuses of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. To date, only one civilian contractor has faced charges. Write to the U.S. Department of Justice to act immediately to investigate and prosecute all cases of human rights abuses by civilian and corporate actors operating with seeming impunity in the “war on terror”. You can also write to the companies, like Titan, to express your concern over their human rights policies and practices. For both actions, go to Amnesty USA Action.

Sources:

1. Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, by Robert Greenwald.

2. PBS "NOW" with David Brancaccio, Michael Moore, on French vs Americans, June 29, 2007.

CNN Positive Review of 'Sicko'

Wow. CNN entertainment critic Tom Charity gives Michael Moore's Sicko a very positive review. Granted, like all of the establishment media, Charity has to characterize Moore as a "polemicist" and the "most polarizing filmmaker." It appears that the corruption of the US health care system is so stark that it carries the movie, in spite of being associated with the "controversial" Michael Moore. This is evidenced by Charity's observation:

A little over a year ago, Moore invited citizens to send in their health-care horror stories. Within the week his Web site was inundated with 25,000 emails. If this is anecdotal evidence, it's on a scale worth talking about.

Charity also highlights what I feared might get lost. The fact that the system fails even those who have health care:

"Sicko" begins with three cases illustrating the plight of the 46 million Americans without health insurance, but quickly moves on to address wider concerns about the kind of care reserved for the lucky 250 million who do have coverage.

Charity also pegs the take-away message of Moore. Cut out the middle man:

In a nutshell, Moore's argument comes down to this: the insurance companies are making a killing at their customers' expense. And in this industry, that term is all too literal.

I've not yet seen Sicko, but have heard Moore interviewed twice on DemocracyNow. If ever we had a chance to fundamentally change the US health care system, now is the time. There's one major reason for hope, besides the awakening that will accompany Sicko. That is, the private sector doesn't want to pay for health care any more, and is willing to support a government-based health care system. That's because paying for healthcare it makes private businesses uncompetative with foreign corporations that aren't saddled with paying for their worker's health care.

See Full CNN Review.

Hope in a Broad Based Backlash

Another in the series on "hope" for changing the aristocratic system.

The corrupt US health care system enriches an elite minority. They use their power and wealth to co-opt both Democratic and Republican parties, thereby securing and expanding their wealth and power. The same thing occurs with other major American industries, most notorious being the ballooning defense and security industries.

These two examples have been exposed in the documentaries "Sicko," by Michael Moore, and "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers," by Robert Greenwald.

So, where's the hope?

In both cases these corrupt industries are harming, even killing, common people of all political persuasions. I repeat, people of all political persuasions are getting the shaft. Broad based harm translates into potential for a broad based backlash, and this broad based backlash translates into a high probability for changing the aristocratic system.

Therein lies the hope.