Saturday, July 7, 2012

Corporate Governance and Monsanto's Bee Genocide

One criticism of libertarians claims that they are too pro corporation. As one who still self identifies as a libertarian (small l) despite the continuing barrage of insulting rhetoric and misconceptions coming from both Democrat and Republican sources, I take exception to that critique. I am not pro corporation at all, but I am pro business. The difference being a corporation is the creation of a government and is given privileges and protections over individuals, a business is the creation of an individual to provide goods and services to other individuals and it is its privilege to serve the individuals who are its customers. Businesses are the cornerstones to innovation and human advancement, corporations are a danger to human endeavors and individual freedom, especially when given the power to govern.

It is no secret, in my opinion, that elite multinational corporations have usurped the power to govern in the Western world. All one needs to do is look at the connections made between mega corporations, national central banks, and government leaders and officials who are selected (no longer elected) to sit in the highest national offices. It is money and special interests that rule not only in Washington, DC, but all over the Westernized world now. They use their money and privileges to keep the little guys from competing with their cartels and monopolies.

There was a time when we were moving in the right direction. There was a time when the people of the west had supposedly freed themselves from the tyranny of monarchs and an oppressive ruling class. For a while in the United States of America, opportunity flourished and prosperity reigned. The federal government was formed to help protect the little guy, the individual, from the power and might of the rich and powerful. Oh sure, it was never perfect and there were flaws in the system, but the principles of liberty were established and we were headed in the right direction. We took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. At one time, corporations were ruled to be persons with the same rights as individuals by the supreme court of the United States. That, in my opinion, was a huge error in judgment.

Fast forward to today. We are in a big mess. The world stands on the brink of an economic collapse that will make the great depression look like a boom time. The saber rattlers in the United States seem to want a war with Iran which could quite possibly start the next world war and a possible nuclear conflagration. Day after day we are worried about the damage being done to our environment, the environment we need to protect in order to survive. What are people doing about it? Many are looking to big government to protect them. But big government got us into this mess. What does big government do? It doesn't protect the little guy, the individual and his rights, instead it protects the monopoly privileges of the big international corporations. This doesn't solve problems, it adds fuel to the fire.

As a case in point I present the story of an Illinois beekeeper, Terrence Ingram. He seems like a pretty intelligent and successful individual. He owns four businesses. He has been a beekeeper for 58 years, longer than I've been alive. He has been teaching beekeeping classes for 40 years. It seems like he should know a thing or two about beekeeping. In fact, I would suspect that in a court of law he could be called upon as an expert witness in a lawsuit about bees. So why is it that the Illinois Dept. of Agriculture (IDofAG) snuck unto his property and stole his beehives back in March?

According to IDofAG they did this because his beehives had a highly contagious disease called foulbrood. According to him, if there was any disease present it was the disease known as chilled brood. That disease can be caused as an unintended consequence due to the use of Monsanto's Roundup (for details please read the story at the above link). So, who are you going to believe, a man with 58 years experience beekeeping, or bureaucrats from IDofAG who simply do as they are told without question and believe what they are told by questionable sources?

Mr. Ingram's beehives were stolen three weeks before he had a hearing. Conveniently for the state, the bees were lost along with any other evidence they may have had. Certainly one might say that Mr. Ingram got off easy because of the loss of the bees, but what if the state and IDofAG didn't really want to prosecute Mr. Ingram? What if they merely wanted the hives destroyed? If so, then they achieved their goal. Why would they want to destroy the beehives of such a man? Well, it could have something to do with the fifteen years of research this man had independently undertaken that shows that the recent bee die offs and the mysterious colony collapse disorder so many have been talking about recently have everything to do with genetically modified crops and Monsanto's Roundup.

In one of his statements Mr. Ingram claimed he had a queen that had survived three years of spraying and may have developed a genetic resistance to Roundup. He had planned to use her progeny to create other queens to see if he could make more genetically resistant bees. I wonder if IDofAG knew that. I wonder if Monsanto knew that. If not, and they destroyed the bees, then they may have destroyed a chance to solve a problem they created. But then, government never really wants to solve problems they create unless the solution creates other problems that will help them achieve more power.

Face it, corporations like Monsanto own our governments. Monsanto owns Illinois agriculture. They do as they please and anyone who defies them will pay. It doesn't matter if they poison the food with their chemicals. It doesn't matter if they cause serious and deadly diseases in humans with their genetic manipulations. No one is going to do anything about it. Government won't even take the simple step of requiring genetically modified food to be labeled as genetically modified. Thanks a lot Rand. They don't want you to know what you're eating. Powerful corporations own the state and it doesn't matter what you think, or whether or not you're in the majority.

In this case, Monsanto's ownership of the Illinois Department of Agriculture has cost a man his beehives. But more than that, it has cost all of humanity. It possibly could lead to the collapse of a huge section of our food chain. Already nature has answered Monsanto's genetic modifications with some modifications of its own. Super weeds and super bugs have already adapted to the poisons created by man and now threaten to decimate crops even more than they had been in the past. Yet does Monsanto stop using their dangerous toxins? No. Instead they try to cover up and disappear evidence that their products are creating hazards to mankind and nature. Instead they use their buddies in government to strong arm those who would expose them. It is this type of fascistic marriage of government and private corporations that is the most dangerous and damaging to humanity.

Who is going to be held accountable? The corporate executives? I think not. How many corporate executives went to jail for the gulf oil spill? How many are serving life sentences for the deaths of those eleven men on that oil rig in the gulf? How many of Monsanto's executives will go to jail for stealing Mr. Ingram's bees and perhaps a shot at developing a bee that could survive Monsanto's toxins? How many of Monsanto's executives will go to jail for poisoning and perhaps causing cancers and other horrible diseases in those who eat their supposedly safe genetically modified foods?

How many executives are ever held accountable? How many board members of these elite corporations? How many owners and executives of central banks worldwide will end up in jail for causing the economic hardships we are still feeling the effects of and have yet to see the end of? How many of them will be held accountable for the human suffering they have caused? My guess would be zero.

Will the politicians be held accountable? Not likely. They have limited immunity. They have plausible deniability. They are the biggest culprits of them all and yet they skate away Scott free when the hammer comes down. They are the biggest Mafia, legalizing their theft of hard earned money while pocketing the gifts of lobbyists and campaign contributors. When they walk away from their political offices they do so as millionaires with pensions that you and I can only dream of.

No, I am not pro corporations. In fact, I believe if we are to have a federal government at all, then it should govern and police only the corporations. There should be no limited liability. Liability should fully rest on the executives that run a corporation. Any monies awarded in lawsuits should come from their pockets. Any negligence should be their responsibility. They should be personally held accountable for any life they might destroy with their avarice and lust for power. They should always feel the hot breath of competition breathing down their necks, always be ready to adapt or fail in the marketplace. If they are to reap great rewards, then they should have to take great risks.

The federal government, on the other hand, should protect the weak from the very powerful and wealthy. It should protect individual rights, not corporate privilege as it does today. If we are to have such a government, then those who have been involved with corporations should not be allowed to govern or create laws. Those who have taken money for personal gain from corporations should not be allowed to govern or create laws. If it is found that they have done so while in office they should be subject to criminal prosecution. What is and what should be are two very different things.

I think it will take some hard work to affect real change in this nation. It will take protests. It will take lobbying efforts. It will take an awakening of the masses that is long overdue. It will take people getting involved where before they were content to sit it out and go along to get along. It will take people like you and me telling everyone the truth as we see it and letting those at the top know that we know what they've done. Let them know that we know what they're up to. Let them know that we will not let them get away with it. Let them know that their secrets are out for the world to see. Resistance is victory. If we just keep pecking away a little at a time, eventually we will topple the elite and establish a more free and prosperous society.

My archives can be found at my website szandorblestman.com. Please visit there to read more and support me by making a donation.

For a time my books will be available exclusively at Amazon.com from Kindle Direct Publishing. Keep an eye out for special offers. In the meantime, I do need sales in order to support my habit of eating. These are great, well written books that I'm sure you'll find entertaining. Here are the links to all my ebooks so you can purchase and enjoy them:

The Colors of Elberia; book 1 of The Black Blade Trilogy

The Legacy of the Tareks; book 2 of The Black Blade Trilogy

The Power of the Tech; book 3 of The Black Blade Trilogy

The Edge of Sanity (a Matthew Wayne novel)

The Ouijiers (a Matthew Wayne novel)

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