Civil Disobedience is the American Way – Time to get up off our butts and take action

The American population has been lulled into a trance-like state. Once upon a time, we were a nation of activists. Our founding fathers were anarchists of the highest order. But then, they didn't have television or internet or iPhones, only a sense of righteousness and purpose that makes the current American apathy all the more pathetic. We don’t deserve the country they made for us.

Our founding fathers bequeathed us a United States with a legislative infrastructure specifically designed to protect citizens from the manipulations of powerful, private interests, a government, elected by the citizens and operating solely by the consent of the people. And by people, I am pretty sure they meant flesh and blood individuals, not corporations.

Over the years, the heirs to this great country have allowed the miracle of personal liberty that was the United States to become hijacked by the same types of powerful entities our founding fathers were explicitly trying to remove from the legislative process. Free market capitalists have twisted the law to extend rights intended exclusively for humans to corporate entities. A right to personal liberty has been distorted into a right to exploit resources and labor without regulation. Where does personal liberty end? I would submit that it stops at the door where another’s personal liberty begins. And in this regard, corporate pillagers have run riot across the liberties of the global human population and the living earth.

The multimillion dollar campaign by the fossil fuel industry to deliberately manufacture doubt about global climate change highlights the blatant self interest and indifference towards potentially catastrophic consequences perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry. When viewed objectively into the future, this campaign of misinformation may be seen as the most heinous crime against humanity and the rest of the living biosphere in the history of our species. Life on earth now finds itself pitted against the largest and most powerful industry in history.

To make matters worse, a corporate-owned media muddies the informational waters with the faux science they have been spoon-fed by the fossil fuel industry. As news budgets are cut across the board, true investigative journalism has become a relic of the past. The modern news media is a farce, an entertainment entity that no longer provides factual information as a primary responsibility.  Yet the American people have not yet adjusted to this new reality and many still believe that the false dichotomy presented in the mainstream media, showing the science behind anthropogenic climate change as questionable, is an accurate representation of reality.

Our government, supposedly of, for and by the people is complicit in the crimes. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling is merely the capstone on a degraded and increasingly illegitimate political system that now blatantly serves the corporate interests that sponsor it. This is true now no matter which political party is in power. The current impotence of government to effect meaningful changes to the corporate hegemony perfectly illustrates this.

The government of the United States and the powerful fossil fuel interests it now represents will not effect meaningful climate change policy, as both the Bush and Obama Administrations have now proved unwilling and ineffective in this regard. While Bush’s blatant disregard for the environment was obvious, Obama’s activities have been more insidious. While our President is very good at paying lip service, when real action is needed, at Copenhagen for instance, Obama’s tendency is to bow to the forces of the status quo. Apparently, voting for a new party leadership makes no difference at all in the United States of America.

It’s time to show our government who they are supposed to be working for. From August 20^th until September 3^rd, concerned citizens are meeting in Washington D.C. in what will hopefully become a historic act of civil disobedience. It turns out that President Obama has the exclusive authority to sign off on the Keystone XL pipeline to the Canadian tar sands. President Obama alone will decide the fate of the pipeline that has been described by NASA climate guru James Hansen as “essentially game over for climate.” It will be time for President Obama to demonstrate whether he is the pro-environment President he presented himself as during his campaign or whether he is just another corporate lap dog. The organized protests that will take place on the above dates are intended to inform the President of the people’s opinion on the subject, lest he harbor any doubt. We want a decent planet to live on.

Attendees can come for the entire two weeks or just for a day or two. The reality of the corporate control of government can be daunting. Average people feel like they have no power to effect change. Nothing could be further from the truth. The recent uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia should give us all hope and insight. Our government will not change unless we force it to. There are few opportunities in the modern era to alter the course of history. This is one of them.

Sign up to be part of history at http://www.tarsandsaction.org/. If you plan to attend, post a comment here, and hopefully we will be able to meet up in Washington.