I am preparing this
article from a rather intimate point of view; by including my Op Ed News
readers in a local conversation in my home town. It is appropriate to bring others into this
local conversation, as it has national and global implications. Since we are speaking as friends engaged in
conversation in this article, as the Author, I will introduce myself. I'm Michael Richards. Some readers will be familiar with my
writing, as I contribute to Op Ed News on a fairly regular basis. Op Ed news is a bastion of free speech in a
nation that is ruled with fear and mis-information.
There is often a
common thread that weaves through the various articles that I write that are
published by Op Ed News; I write about sustainable economics, effective citizen governance, and non-violent conflict resolution as an alternative to the
wanton waste of war. This article is about bully behavior in the school
yard, in the board room, on campus, and on the global battlefield. In this article
I connect the dots of how bully behavior damages many segments of society.
My home town is Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. We have a population of
about 125,000 citizens here. We have
about a dozen town bosses that think they have a divine entitlement to run the
city as they see fit. That is also bully
behavior. As long as I write about
issues as they relate to the national or international scene, my point of view
is seen as alternative to the mainstream norm, but expressing my status quo
challenging point of view is usually considered with Midwest courtesy and
tolerance. As soon as I speak or write
about these very same issues as they relate to the local economy and political
gaming in my own home town, I am met with belligerent resistance and disdain
from the tight knit local power structure. Unfortunately, the local power structure
is dominated by bully behavior. They
apply the Golden Rule here. Those with the big bucks dominate local government... -You know, the old 1% -- 99% rule. The bullies always attempt to bring me to the
common state of citizen silence, complacency and conformity. I do not stand down in the face of bully
behavior.
Speaking truth to
power seems to be a bit more palatable, as long as that power is generalized,
far away power. When I turn my focus to
the specific actions of the local power structure, there is a personal price to
pay; the local social hierarchy does all they can to marginalize me and at
times engage in outright attack or intimidation to silence my voice of local
dissent. We have bullies at every level of power in the
USA. Bully bankers want private profit
and demand that citizens pay the cost. The biggest bullies on the block are members
of the corporate war making cartel.
As one example of this
local circumstance, when I was interviewed on a state wide radio talk show
based in our State Capital of Des Moines"
-before I even got back in my car to start the 120 mile drive back to Cedar
Rapids, I had an irate Cedar Rapids City Council member call my cell phone and
demand that I retract my statements and publicly apologize to the power bosses
in my home town. My radio interview simply mapped out the local economic and
political power structure and pointed out recent abuses of such power. On the radio interview, I openly invited any
of the local power bosses to engage in open public debate, either in a
town hall meeting or on a local news broadcast.
No one in the local power structure will step forward with facts to dispute
the uncomfortable truth that I had presented, they just demand my compliance
and obedient silence.
Since compliance,
obedience and silence is the behavioral norm of at least 99% of the citizens in
Cedar Rapids, I am expected to uphold the local norm. When I continued to speak out and write about
local misuse of power and public funds, one of the local power bosses contacted
the President and board members of a local art and cultural district where I've
served on the Board for almost ten years.
The power boss demanded that I be removed from that board, or the local
crew of bully bosses that control the local economy would see that no one in
this town would direct funding to the art and cultural organization. When the vote came before our art and
cultural district Board, I simply reminded my fellow board members that the
only place where artists and writers are silenced and banished are fascist,
authoritarian states. With the exception
of one board member with a direct financial connection to a local power broker,
my fellow board members stood up to the demand of our local bully bosses. My board colleagues unanimously voted for my
extension with another 2 year term of office, -and also elected me as a board
officer. With that act, my fellow board
members restored my faith in our local community, and they did their part in
maintaining free speech and open civil comment in an increasingly closed
society in the USA.
The personal
experience that I share above relates to my topic in this article; bully
behavior from school playgrounds, corporate boardrooms to global
battlefields. There are growing
initiatives in school districts all over the U.S.A. to counter bully behavior
in the classroom and on the playground.
There is a total lack of social context, as this "anti-bully" movement
is taking place in a nation that behaves daily as a very violent planetary
bully. As a nation, we
demonstrate through our ill-advised foreign policy, and then blunt force
military action that violence is the "American Way" of dealing with global
political and economic challenges. If
adults behaved with mature methods of non-violent conflict resolution in the
global community, they might have credibility with "anti-bully" initiatives in
school. Adults can only really teach by
example. Kids smell hypocrisy and reject BS.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa
we have a close-up look at the operations of the global military/warfare
economy. The problem is, almost
everyone in town wants to put on blinders and refuse to look at this at
all. Our town is the headquarters of
Rockwell-Collins, one of the most active economic players in the global military
industrial complex. Rockwell brings home
the bacon to our home town from the global economic battlefield; 4.8 billion
dollars in annual sales. Half of
that is derived from military contracts. They provide the paychecks that keep
7,000 families with homes, cars in the garage and dinner on the table. Rockwell
is by far, the largest employer in the region.
Rockwell Collins is thus the sacred cow of the local belief system. All bow in reverence. No heretics are allowed
to question the faith. This is the Gospel
of Global Military Domination. It
brings jobs to town, so it has to represent all that is Good about God, Mom, Apple
Pie and everything that Makes America Great" and beyond reproach.
Rockwell Collins CEO
sits on a State Economic policy council established by our Republican
Governor. Rockwell does not pay a single
dollar of state taxes on almost 5 billion in annual revenue. To the contrary, the Citizens of Iowa pay
Rockwell Collins $14 million in annual tribute to keep the Rockwell jobs in
town. Polite Iowans rarely use terms such
as influence peddling or conflict of interest.
Obedient taxpayers just pay the bill.
Intimidation works on most people whether on the playground, the
political scene, the global marketplace or on our now endless global
battlefield.
I first realized just
how entrenched the sacred cow status of Rockwell Collins was in our home town
about ten years ago. Rockwell was the economic hero for hiring more people to
pump up more war contracts. As the very
first bombs dropped in the endless "War on Terror", a group of Jewish,
Christian and Muslim women in town formed Cedar Rapids Women for Peace. They asked if I would donate use of an
historic building that I own in the "art and cultural district" noted
above. As a life-long advocate of
non-violence and peaceful, sane economic and political alternatives, I was
pleased to do so. My family living space
was in the apartment above "The Peace Center".
For years I heard words of protest and inquiry about the insipid evils
of war, and the especially vile, constitution trashing, international law
violating concept of "pre-emptive" war downstairs in The Peace Center.
When we all found out
that the "War on Terror" was launched through the use of outright lies, the
contempt for war and the distrust of our corporate controlled government
escalated. Still, no one seemed to
connect the dots back home to Rockwell military contracts. A professor at an Iowa university that is a
world renowned authority on war profiteering and the economic political
patronage that rages in the military-industrial complex was kind enough to travel
and speak to Cedar Rapids Women for Peace.
The good professor presented detailed documentation on how our nation
went from a pre-war federal treasury surplus to trillions of dollars in federal
deficit. He showed how a large part of
war is about wealth transfer from us, to
them.
Along with other
massive national frauds such as the housing/financial fiasco, the
military-industrial cartel was raking in trillions, and not providing any
measurable improvement in the actual security of the United States; in fact a
very strong argument can be made that we have seriously eroded the
international respect of the USA with torture, extra-legal assassinations,
massive collateral damage to person and property, and other negative
consequences of this senseless, endless war. We are much less safe now. We are Bully Nation. The rest of the
world had better respect our entitlement to total control as "The Only Global
Superpower". If the boss speaks, the
servants need to be ready to jump fast or at least get out of the way. We could use our Superpower status to model intelligent conflict resolution. That would actually improve our security.
Thousands of well
intentioned, but highly misinformed U.S. soldiers have sacrificed their very
life to an idealized, but never realized American Dream. We sell the empty image of democracy abroad,
as U.S. Congress destroys it at home. Millions
of refugees in war zones have been displaced.
Hundreds of thousands on far away battlefields have been maimed or
murdered by the mindless march of war.
Hundreds of thousands of physically and mentally damaged US military
personnel return to broken families. The
cost is absolutely enormous. The only
winners are the military industrial corporations that master the military
economy. Whenever I mention the role of
our hometown hero, Rockwell Collins in this whole sad story, no one wants to
acknowledge the obvious connection.
There's still a void of awareness on the local connection with Rockwell. Silence is Golden, when Gold Rules.
Rockwell-Collins is a
major player in the war economy... As
noted above, it is somewhat okay in this town if we protest far
away-generalized issues, but bring it close to home, and a deathly pall of
silence falls over the room. How dare I
speak out about a local business that employs so many? I am seen as an infidel, an iconoclast of the
sacred local belief system. The belief
system that jobs rule all is a core tenet of the National belief system as well;
we can rape the environment, carry on global military empire building with no
conscience, and it is all okay, as long
as the jobs are delivered. Are we so
lacking in real intelligence and innovation that we could not create just as
many jobs within an ecological and just economy? The brilliant engineers
at Rockwell could lead the way in this economic paradigm shift with visionary
engineering and innovative retooling.
Instead, as a nation we still take the low and easy road, when the high
road would lead to a much more vital economy, an economy that would actually be
sustainable.
Childhood experience with the "Bully thing"
Since I mentioned that
this article is written on a more intimate level, as a conversation among
friends, I will share a bit of personal history that provides me with insight
on bully behavior from the playground to the battlefield. Bullies are always insecure people. Bully
behavior is not an expression of real strength.
Bully behavior is rooted in deep,
irrational fear. Bullies use
violence and intimidation to try to force their way.
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