Tyranny of King George III and Ohio Government

American Revolution was a revolution against tyranny and for self-governance...at least in principle. Colonists faced not only the tyranny and oppression of the King of England, George III, but the King’s two “arms.” The one was the British military that used its police power to maintain social “order” in the colonies and later waged war to maintain the King’s supremacy. The other arm was the British “crown” corporations (i.e. Massachusetts Bay Company, Carolina Company, Maryland Company, etc.) which received their authority through charters from the sovereign (the King) to politically and economically rule on behalf of George III and their own corporate interests.

The American Revolution, the anniversary we’ll celebrate this weekend, was a declaration of independence not simply against George III, but also against his military and corporate arms. People demanded that they become “sovereign,” independent or democratic -- able to rule themselves free from military intimidation and corporate authority.

The tyranny that is corporate rule and inability of citizens to govern themselves has seen a reincarnation in the form of many laws passed by those currently in charge of Ohio government — the Governor and General Assembly. Laws which are anti-democratic. Laws which are injurious to people and communities. Laws which usurp the authority of people and communities to decide for themselves.

As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “[t]o prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world”:

- They have allowed for 20 charter schools (most run by business corporations) to apply directly to the Ohio Department of Education for operation without having a nonprofit sponsor. The pace and race to corporatize public education continues.
- They have refused to eliminate $7 billion in tax loopholes, most benefiting corporations — which all by itself would have solved the state’s budget deficit. In fact, they have added to the state budget an “Invest Ohio” tax credit to corporations up to an additional $100 million.
- They have slashed funding to the state’s Local Government Fund by $455 million. They have also abolished the estate tax which provides another $250 million to local governments. These funding cuts will financially squeeze many municipalities and increase the drive to sell, lease or transfer public assets to business corporations, thereby, reducing public control.
- They have prohibited communities from governing themselves by outlawing local laws seeking to increase food quality (thereby protecting the interests of fast food corporations). This continues a state trend in recent years of state preemption of local control, including prohibiting communities from banning risky horizontal hydraulic drilling for natural gas (fracking).
- They have permitted 6 state prisons to be turned over (sold) to business corporations. The record of privatization/corporatization of public assets is one of reduced services, jobs and control and increased rates and fees.
- They have abolished collective bargaining for public employees. Senate Bill 5 is actually about reducing the rights and powers of people at their workplace to defend themselves against their employers. Provisions of the bill include a restriction on public workers contributing to a political action committee through a payroll deduction, a ban on requiring “fair share” fees – union dues paid by union workers who decide not to join their union, and a provision to make it easier to decertify a union.
- They have supported the lease of the profitable state liquor operations to one or more business corporations and use the money to fund JobsOhio, a quasi corporation also created by the state to replace the Ohio Department of Development. JobsOhio is being challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds.
- They have approved the exploration of corporatizing the profitable state Turnpike.
- They have ruled that oil and gas drilling can begin in Ohio’s state parks.
- They have suppressed the ability of citizens to vote by reducing the number of days people can vote absentee and have prohibited mass-mailing of absentee ballots to registered voters by county boards of elections.
- They have defending corporate agents not simply lobbying public officials but actually working with the Ohio Legislative Service Commission to write laws for public officials.
- They have capped the penalty for destruction of government documents at $10,000 in total, whether 1, 1000 or 1 million documents are destroyed. The old cap was $1000 per document. This removes the deterrent to destroy documents that citizens may request, essential to maintaining public oversight of their government. Having the right to know is essential to acquiring the right to decide.
- They have continued, if not expanded, the anti-democratic practice of bringing in brand new proposals into the final budget reconciliation process. These proposals have not been seen by the public or the media. The budget reconciliation process if meant to settle or reconcile differences between already-passed House of Senate versions of bills. It is not a place for a brand new proposal that the public has not had an opportunity to comment on.

There were other examples of Ohio Government tyranny proposed by either the Governor, the Ohio House or Ohio Senate, but not enacted, either due to public opposition, shame by the media and/or disagreement between the different government branches. These include:

- Requiring voters supply a photo ID at the polls
- Corporatizing the Ohio Lottery -- In an blatantly and galling undemocratic move, the Senate budget bill called for turning over the state lottery to the GTECH corporation, which hoped to manage the state’s $2.5 billion daily operation. The language in the bill was drafted by the GTECH corporation, which once ran a portion of the state’s lottery system. The Senate language was virtually unchanged from the GTECH corporation draft. There was no public hearing. The proposal simply was inserted into the Senate bill.
- Prohibiting the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel from taking positions, "contrary to the development of competitive markets in Ohio, including state policies pertaining to natural gas." Also not enacted was a provision barring consumers’ counsel contact information from customer bills and notices.

These modern day forms of tyranny need to be replaced with modern day forms of self-governance, self-rule, democracy. What are its elements?
- A system where We the People have a legitimate opportunity to shape implement and evaluate decisions affecting our lives.
- The voice of every person counts. All votes are equal.
- All people have adequate time and information to make decisions.
- Whether the issues are local regional national or global; political social or economic decisions made without our direct or indirect legitimate input are illegitimate.
- The more directly we're involved in decisions which directly affect us the more democracy or self-governance exists.
- Only human beings possess “inalienable human rights.” Corporations are not people and should not possess Bill of Rights and other constitutional rights.
- Money is property, not speech. Money must be regulated in elections. If money is speech, then those who possess the most money possess the most speech. Such a system is plutocratic, not democratic.

A few things to keep in mind as you participate this Independence Day weekend in hot dog eating contests, watch parades or sit in the sun.

The Hegemony of Authoritarian Ideology and the Vancouver Hockey Riot

The immediate response of both the authorities and most of the public was to find a subject to blame for the riot and demand swift vengeance. The riot was the work of “anarchists”, or “thugs” and at the most analytical level, dragged out the old and dog-eared, “society is too permissive” bromide.

We expect the authorities – as group forever mired in a LaBrea Tar Pit state of denial, to do this. But for all the ordinary people who engaged in this blame fest, it only goes to show the hegemony of authoritarian ideology. Such hegemony means that most people are incapable of a structural or systemic analysis of an event. All they can do is conjure up demons, scapegoats and conspiracy theories. Thus, the causes of an unpleasant event, like the hockey riot, are shoved onto individuals or despised minorities.

The inability to think in structural terms is an immense help to the dominator class, by taking the heat off the system of domination, which in this era is corporate capitalism. Furthermore, analyzing an event systemically or structurally leads one to seek rectification of the problem in structural and systemic changes, ie, social change not vigilantism. Of course, it is easier to yell for revenge than get up off your lazy butt and eliminate the root causes of a problem. That requires action and thought, not to mention it automatically leads one to a critical evaluation of the status quo.

Socialists and anarchists have struggled for almost two centuries to acquaint the masses with systemic thinking. That we still have to do this shows the immense strength that authoritarian ideology has. Blaming, vengeance and punishment all have their roots in religion. Authoritarian religions claim that humans are innately evil and that when they do bad things it is because they chose to do so – the doctrine of free will - being too weak or vicious to restrain themselves. People need to be terrorized into obedience and punished severely if they fall by the way side. But terror is not enough to maintain a system, it is much better when the masses sincerely believe this clap trap and engage in a virtual knee jerk reaction, applying it to all situations. Truly a wonderful tool for protecting the system of domination.

It comes as no surprise that such doctrines have their origins in a slave-based society. Hunting and gathering and pre-dominator class agricultural societies sought harmony among their members not punishment, nor did they believe in humanity's supposedly innate evil nature.

That a supposed progressive mayor would seek to scape goat anarchists only goes to show how deeply ingrained this ideology is. Part of the problem lies with social democracy which ceased its educational role back in the 1950's when they adopted the foolish belief that class struggle was over. The only “education” most people get is from the schools and the mass media which naturally indoctrinate them in dominator ideology.

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- June 27-July 3

JUNE 30

1812 – FIRST US TREASURY NOTES AUTHORIZED BY THE UNITED STATES
Treasury notes are promise to pay notes to borrowers to raise revenue. The US needed funds to fund the War of 1812. Rather than print US money (such as “Continentals” – an interest- and debt-free money issued by the Continental Congress to pay for the Revolutionary War), the US government followed a different course – to issue notes to borrowers with promises to pay the principal with interest at a later date. The original interest rate was 5.4%. Wars cause indebtedness. Bankers tend to like wars since they tend to create financial dependency of nations to bankers. Thomas Edison would later say about Treasury bonds, “If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good...”

JULY 1

1818 – SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF US TRIGGERS RECESSION/DEPRESSION
The Second National Bank of the United States (a private financial institution) on this day reversed its financial course from monetary expansion to contraction. They called in loans and cut future loans. They required payments from state banks in gold alone. This caused deflation, leading to a two-year recession/depression – called the “Panic of 1819.” This is what happened time and again when private financial corporations control a nation’s money system instead of We the People through their government.

1944 – BRETTON WOODS CONFERENCE BEGINS
The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, known as the Bretton Woods Conference was a meeting of 44 Allied nations in New Hampshire, where the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank were created. Participant nations agreed to fix their currencies to a set value of gold. Debtor nations were to be helped with payments. The actual program was the use of loans (to be paid back with interest) to create political and economic dependence to loaning countries and their bankers. Agreements to receive further loans were often conditioned on “Structural Adjustment Programs” which called for privatization/corporatization of public services, wage cuts, and perversion of economies to service debt payments.

1967 – US POSTAL SAVING SYSTEM ENDS
Because of opposition from the commercial banks the postal savings system does not develop in a substantial way. The United States Postal Savings System was a postal savings system operated by the United States Postal Service from January 1, 1911 until July 1, 1967

JULY 2

1787 – LETTER TO JAMES MADISON FROM GOUVENEUR MORRIS, ONE OF THE PRIMARY ARCHITECTS OF THE US CONSTITUTION
In describing the motives of the owners of the new Bank of North America, Morris stated,
“The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. They always did. They always will…They will have the same effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by [the power of] government, keep them in their proper spheres.”

1881 – PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD SHOT. HE DIED 10 WEEKS LATER
"Whosoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce, and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.”

1890 – SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT BECOMES LAW
The Sherman Act was an attempt to prevent unlawful restraint of trade and commerce and prevent monopolies – including banking monopolies. The Act was more aggressively enforced under President Teddy Roosevelt, including against the corporate practices of JP Morgan, the most powerful banker, if not corporate titan, of the day. In response to this increased enforcement of the Sherman Act and the Hepburn Act, Morgan created a financial panic by having his banks and those he controlled call in loans and refusing to grant new ones. The economic crash of 1907 followed. The “Panic of 1907” was a direct cause for the creation of the Federal Reserve System several years later.

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

Transparency in Government

Due to our campaign of developing and advocating for political campaign contribution limits and other reforms in the new Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) charter, I was asked by the leader of the upcoming TAP Summit on Transparency in Cleveland in July to offer reflections on the general topic.

http://tapsummit.org/post/6802649989/northeast-ohio-american-friends-service-committee  

Supreme Court blocks massive sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart

With the decision, the Supremes are saying corpses are not only too big to fail, but too big to sue...

Supreme Court blocks massive sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-blocks-massive-sex-discrimination-suit-against-wal-mart/2011/06/20/AGCQ81cH_story.html

Jobs Disaster in the US

By the Numbers

Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector from late 1980’s to late 1990’s: 2
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector since: declining
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector in 2009: 0

Employment by private companies in March 2010: less than 110 million
Average annual percent growth of economy (GDP) during last ten years: 1.9
Average annual percent growth of economy (GDP) during Great Depression: 1.3
Annual percent growth of economy (GDP) needed to add large numbers of jobs in private/corporate sector: 3 to 4 or more

At the start of 2011, number of unemployed persons per job opening: more than 4

As of March, 2011, percentage of 16-19 year olds unemployed: nearly 25
As of March, 2011, percentage rate of unemployment among blacks: 15.5
As of March, 2011, percentage rate of unemployment among those with less than a high school education: 13.7

Number of people who had reached the maximum 99 weeks of receiving unemployment as of March, 2011: 2 million

As of March, 2011, officially defined as unemployed: 13.5 million
As of March, 2011, persons not in the labor force but a wanting a job: 6.5 million
As of March, 2011, persons working part time but desiring full-time work: 8.4 million
Total: 28.4 million

Figures from The Jobs Disaster in the United States, Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review, June 2011

Ohio To Become “Publicopoly” if Kasich and Co Have Their Way

Governor Kasich and his corporatization cohorts in the State House and Senate are currently engaged in “Publicopoly” -- a term coined by the pro-corpoate think tank, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Plans to corporatize turnpikes, prisons, education, alcohol sales and the lottery in the state budget are right from the ALEC playbook.

See http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=publicopoly

Click on any “Game Square.” There’s several choices: Government Operations, Education, Transportation & Infrastructure, Public Safety, Environment, Health, and Telecommunications. What public service/asset not yet proposed for sale, rent, or lease will probably soon be...unless we resist.