Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
Corporate chieftains are giants, even geniuses -- right?
Years ago, laissez-faire ideologue Ayn Rand hailed them as society's supermen, comparing them to Atlas, the mythological Greek god who "holds the world on his shoulders."
But look, here comes one of her modern-day gods now -- Timothy Wentworth! He stands astride Walgreens, the multibillion-dollar drug store conglomerate. Last month, Wentworth demonstrated his corporate prowess by offering a stunning insight. He noted that, with shoplifting on the rise, chains like his had reacted by moving much of their merchandise into locked display cases. But the ever-alert Big Boss has now deduced that this impacts sales, "because when you lock things up, for example, you don't sell as many of them." Wow ... pure genius!
Did I mention that Walgreens pays Timothy $13 million a year? Or that his monopolistic chain is closing some 1,200 of its "less-profitable" stores, which will leave entire communities with no pharmacies to meet their crucial needs?
My point is not to disparage one silly corporate boss but simply to say: Hey, why are the so-called leaders of both of our political parties kowtowing to the painful ignorance, arrogance and avarice of the most self-serving group of egos in the world: billionaires? Look at them -- Elon Musk is a jabbering jerk, Mark Zuckerberg is a pathetic whiner, and Jeff Bezos cluelessly floats around on a garish yacht he financed by underpaying and mistreating his workers.
These are our giants? What about schoolteachers, family farmers, mechanics, cooks -- and other everyday people who (SET ITAL) really (END ITAL) make things work? America needs to start listening to them -- and reinvesting in their genuine genius.
I guess I'll just have to throw myself on Donald Trump's mercy, for I confess that I am a repeat violator of MAGA's high crime of DEI-ism.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. Guilty on all counts! But it's not my fault. From childhood, I was fed a steady diet of that kind of all-in-this-together thinking by my parents, teachers and ministers. So next thing you know, I was doing DEI on my own. Then, when I was elected to be Texas Agriculture Commissioner, I shamelessly promoted all three as agency goals (particularly for women and minorities who had long been excluded).
But I now see that such egalitarian concepts are out of step with the moral precepts of Trumpocracy. Thus, I'm an outlaw. You might be, too, for the MAGA minority now ruling in Washington is thuggishly expunging DEI values from our schools, corporations, libraries, churches, etc. You have two choices, they bark: Comply ... or be forced to comply.
Sure enough, even corporate powerhouses like Amazon, Disney, Facebook, Target and Walmart are sucking up to the new regime by cravenly surrendering DEI principles and promises without a fight. Well, they whine, we have no choice.
But wait -- this is America! The choice has always been clear: Don't just comply, defy! Even corporations can stand for the people's democratic principles, as Costco recently did. The popular retailer was assailed by a right-wing group demanding that shareholders terminate its DEI efforts. But Costco executives didn't cower, and guess what? *Ninety-eight percent* of Costco's shareholders stood with them, emphatically endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion as core American values.
This is Jim Hightower saying ... 98%! That, Mr. Trump, is a *real* mandate.
In the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the framers were clear on what they were NOT creating: a monarchy. One delegate expressed the group's absolute conviction that the founding document must exclude even the "fetus of monarchy."
Yet, 238 years later, watching Donald Trump's inaugural week, it was both awful and comical to see the royal pretensions of King Donald. There were silly gestures, like him waving around a ceremonial sword (made more ludicrous by the fact he was a cowardly rich-boy draft dodger). Plus, the staged spectacle of him imperiously signing stacks of orders, proclamations and pardons in a show of "Kingliness."
Petty pomposity aside, though, he is an untethered megalomaniac whose inaugural speech re-asserted such monarchial concepts as "the divine right of kings" and "manifest destiny." And let us not naively dismiss Trump's flat-out claim that the Constitution gives him "the right to do whatever I want as president," or that he previously suggested "termination" of the Constitution to return him to the White House.
Indeed, he now contends that he can unilaterally terminate a bedrock constitutional right: the 14th Amendment provision guaranteeing citizenship to everyone born in the USA. He has royally and unconstitutionally decreed that children born here whose parents were undocumented immigrants are not citizens but "aliens."
Well, at least there's the 22nd Amendment, which *makes clear* that he can't be president again, right? Uh ... maybe. Trump is already suggesting his royal court might find a way to keep him in power, just as they're now contriving to void the clear citizenship protection of the 14th Amendment. Despots don't obey Constitutions -- they pervert them. And We the People must reject the perverters.
The far-right potentates of Christian nationalism not only say they speak to God, but they now claim to speak *for* God.
They might, however, want to ponder a cartoon I recently saw. It pictured one of these pious flimflammers demanding entry to heaven, bragging that he had been God's personal messenger on Earth. "Really," said God, "You don't look at all like Dolly Parton."
But now -- Great God Almighty! -- here comes a gaggle of these lordly pretenders proclaiming that Yahweh has ordained their narrow religious sect to be America's governmental rulers. This month, a flock of these "chosen ones" descended on the Texas state capitol, announcing that God has instructed them to transform our government into an authoritarian arm of their own fundamentalist churches. "We take charge and authority of [this] legislative session," one of their leaders declared, informing the rest of us that his cult has "been given spiritual jurisdiction over the affairs of men."
Unfortunately, this is not just another case of Crazy Texas. The extremist Christian nationalist show at the Texas Capitol was fully embraced and coordinated by the extremist Republican governor, attorney general, legislative leaders and state party hierarchy. More pointedly, it's all part of a messianic crusade by two Bible-thumping, West Texas oil billionaires, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. This plutocratic/theocratic duo is pumping unlimited sums of crude political cash into the GOP to "Christianize" elections and all public policies.
So don't laugh -- pay attention. This right-wing, religious, anti-democratic power play is unfolding all across America. Ludicrous as it seems, they're out to crucify our freedoms and force their state-run theology on everyone -- all in the name of Jesus.
Jim Hightower is a former *Texas Observer* editor, former Texas agriculture commissioner, radio commentator and populist sparkplug, a best-selling author and winner of the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. Write him at info@jimhightower.com or see www.jimhightower.com.
