Freedom Isn’t Hunger, Sickness, Lack of Education, or Work – And It Isn’t Science Co-opted by Corporations

 

This speech by Thom Hartmann is brilliant—full of passion and most of the truth. Here’s a pretty fair expression of what he said, much of it quotes, but at the end is a discussion of what he, and most on the left, miss:

You’re not free if you’re homeless.

You’re not free if you’re hungry.

You’re not free if you’re sick and there’s nobody who will care for you.

You’re not free if you’re smart enough to get an education and you can’t.

You’re not free if you’re willing to work and there’s no work available.

On corporations, as Franklin Roosevelt said: They hide behind the flag and the constitution, but in their blindness they forget what the flag and constitution stand for. We must stand up to this kind of power. These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain about is that we seek to take away their power, and our commitment to American institutions requires the overthrow of that kind of power.

Did you know that, before Abe Lincoln’s administration, tariffs on imported goods once paid for America’s government operations? The offices, politicians’ salaries, army, navy—everything! And from Lincoln’s administration until World War I, they covered two-thirds of it? Not only did they pay for government, they protected American businesses—and jobs. Did you know that the media will not discuss this? And that they will boycott anyone who does? Is it any surprise that you didn’t know these things?

Is it freedom to have our tax dollars pay 3 billion dollars a year in subsidies to companies like Exxon-Mobil, which was the most profitable corporation on earth last year—and paid no taxes last year, yet got a 400 million dollar “rebate”?

Or is it freedom to say to these corporations, “If you want to do business in our country and you want to use our commons and you want to use our courts and you want to use our roads and you want police protection and fire department protection and you want an educated work force and you want the benefit of this nation, then you’re going to have to pay part of the price.

Did you know that 90% of America’s legislation is written by corporations? Is that freedom?

Corporations are not people and money is not speech!

Here’s What’s Missing

All of that is truly brilliant stuff. But what Hartmann and so many others on the left don’t get is that the star of their universe—holy science—has also been co-opted by corporations. Therefore, the trust in science to guide us to the truth has been every bit as corrupted as the government institutions that promote corporations.

There is no freedom if government can dictate the kind of health care we receive.

There is no freedom if government can dictate that we be vaccinated.

There is no freedom if government can lay claims to what is true and what is not—as the FDA is now doing.

There is no freedom when government agencies, like the FDA and FTC, wield SWAT operations on businesses and families producing things that citizens want to buy.

There is no freedom when health is held hostage to pharmaceutical profits.

There is no freedom when the environment is polluted by Agribusiness.

There is no freedom when government agencies co-opt nature’s bounty for corporate profits.

There is no freedom when the sources of scientific information are taken over by corporations—and they’re cited to support government actions.

Please, watch Thom Harmann. He’s brilliant—but even he misses some of the most significant areas of freedom. These areas slide under the radar of far too many who genuinely do care about democracy.




Tagged corporate profits, environment polluted agribusiness, fda ftc swat, health care freedom, holy science, nature’s bounty co-opted, science, science corporations, thom hartmann freedom, vaccinations freedom, vaccines