Director’s Page

Buzz Williams

Like most folks, I had Christmas dinner with my family. After dinner we always exchange gifts and enjoy each other’s company while watching the kids play with their new toys. Inevitably the conversation turns to a discussion of current events. We don’t always agree, but the airing of perspective is always healthy and cordial. This year’s discussion ranged from the right to display the “Ten Commandments” in the local courthouse to environmental issues. My mother, as is her nature, listened intently and eventually joined in with thoughtful and sincere commentary. Her brief comment on the “state of the world” discussion this Christmas was simply, “People are really confused right now.”

Simple but profound. People do seem to be really confused right now. I have since given this dilemma a great deal of thought. One of the things taught to me at an early age is the best moral compass is the conscience. I also believe that our country was founded on the principle that government is best guided by the collective wisdom of a people free to express their views. Embedded in this philosophy is the bedrock principle of democracy that people are inherently good and when given the facts will make the right choices for our individual welfare and the common good. This certainly includes the assurance that government should protect the health and happiness of its people by protecting the environment.

This is a fairly straightforward interpretation of our framers’ intent in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Current polarization of opinion on everything from separation of church and state, how to best educate our children or how to best ensure environmental protection is evidence of the confusion in our country about where the truth really lies. One camp says the environment is just fine and even improving. Another group proclaims that we are on the brink of literally destroying basic life support systems. Some say global warming is not only real but that it is caused by humans. On the other hand, a group of podium-pounding senators in Congress call the whole thing a “hoax.”

So how could there be this much confusion in a country with some of the greatest minds on the planet? Back when I worked for the Forest Service, I vividly remember a meeting in which we were considering some more restrictive management regulations for the Chattooga River. Someone expressed the opinion that these proposed changes would cause quite a backlash from the public. Finally, an old veteran ranger said, “Just throw in enough weasel-words and keep the whole thing as confusing as possible, and we can get away with whatever we want.”

In America today, I believe there is a weasel in the henhouse. In fact, I am sure that our democracy based on the principle of the “silent hand of collective consciousness” has already been usurped by a silent coup that has taken over our government under the cloak of deception and campaign contributions. In short, corporate America has slowly but steadily gained control of almost every facet of our daily lives through advertising, political influence, and control of assets.

As far back as the early 1800s, corporations in America and the industrial aristocracy that benefit from their power have slowly amassed the same rights as the individual in this country, including the same rights as “persons” under the Bill of Rights: equal protection, limited liability, “due process,” and the power of eminent domain. One of the earliest warnings that corporate intent would threaten democracy was penned in the 1830s by the Frenchman Alex de Tocqueville, in his now classic work Democracy in America. He wrote, “The friends of democracy should keep their eyes anxiously fixed on the industrial aristocracy. For if ever again permanent inequity of conditions and aristocracy make their way into the world it will have been by that door that they enter.”

I am now convinced that corporations in America are not only the greatest threat to our environment, but to our very cherished democracy itself. Look closely behind the flag of patriotism in Iraq and you will find the oil corporations. Tucked between the pages of scientific theses supporting new government programs such as the Healthy Forest and Clear Skies Initiatives, you will find the special interest dollars of the timber and fossil fuel corporations. In the collection plate of religious zealots are political kickbacks from a government with scant respect for separation of church and state. In Congress and the White House, you will find a whole host of special interests pulling the strings of our government.

I have faith that you, the people, when presented with the facts, will understand that monstrous corporations are behind the deceit and confusion in this country, and that it is they that threaten not only the environment in this country but the very democracy which ensures its protection. We who love America must take back power from corporations who do not possess the same conscience as the individual. I hope you will join us in tearing down the veil of corporate deceit to expose it for all the threats that are taking our great nation.