Enemy of the People

Take your choice. There are two interpretations to Enemy of the People. In Russian, there is the one conceived by Jozef Stalin that defined anyone who disputed his rule in any form as VRAG NARODA. From attacking spys and counter-revolutionaries, it quickly expanded to anyone who spat on a sidewalk or failed to meet his industrial norm, whether it was a kolhoznik milking a cow or miner filling coal gondolas. Once branded, the poor soul was sent to a Gulag near the Arctic Circle where he was starved, and worked to death as slave labor.

The other is based on an 1882 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen called Enemy of the People. A totally different meaning was developed in his play, the strongest man in the world is the man who stands most alone.

The dramatization involved a small Norwegian village that at high cost developed a spa to attract tourists from throughout the world. Successful, but soon it became evident the tourists fell ill once taking the cure. A town doctor discovered that a local tannery contaminated the waters. He proposed an expensive solution to the problem to the civil authorities, but was excoriated for spoiling the town's success. The honest doctor was branded as an ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE for his well-intentioned effort.

Fast forward to the world today and one finds variations of both Jozef's and Henrik's outlooks by authorities. To keep it simple, let's define it with a broad brush as any group or person who destroys the interests of the majority for the interests of the minority as ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (EOTP). Here are my candidates.

Most recent are Wall St. and other US bankers who scammed the American people by diverting 18 billion in federal bailout funds for personal bonuses; other money was cynically used for expansion of their enterprises rather than toward the intended bailout. Squalid congressmen, Bush administration officials, and politicians permitted this to occur. Some of the EOTP in this instance were Federal Reserve Chairmen Greenspan and Bernake, congressional financial committee chairmen Franks and Dodd, Treasury Secretary Paulsen and of course, our former DECIDER GW Bush.

Greedy financial institutions encouraged the promotion by the sale of toxic, valueless fiscal instruments as investments. US government institutions failed to observe due diligence and carelessly insured these artificially valued equities. Standard and Poors inflated high rating of firms peddling these instruments and shares the blame as it compounded the misrepresentation – the fix was in. Just look for the names of CEOs of major Wall St. firms to add to the list of EOTP.

One group that deserves the contempt of the American people are lobbyists. These private influence peddlers help write laws for befuddled congressmen who dutifully pass them for a free lunch and campaign contributions. There are about 35,000 of these people creeping around Washington, DC. As that little bird that picks the crocodiles' teeth, the lobbyist and the congressmen enjoy a symbiotic relationship. In the process, it is public interest be damned. Jack Abramoff with his pal Tom Delay were both nailed hard during the GW BUSH regime for their over exuberant lobbying.

But the most egregious lobbyists are those Americans who sell themselves to foreign interests to promote foreign interests. Legally, they are registered, but this does not make it ethical... Who checks up on them? In this category, the ones most damaging to American national interests are the Chinese, Israeli, East Indian, and Mexican.

The Chinese Lobby aims to limit tariffs and to keep US borders open to their substandard, sometimes toxic imports. They strive to keep their currency undervalued to spur exports; and, there is a great push for technology transfer from the US. Though not directly linked to their lobbying, the Chinese are also heavily engaged in espionage against the US.

The East Indian lobby hopes to violate US immigrant quotas with special visas by exporting high-tech computer talent that undercuts the US labor force. It advocates technology transfer and relaxing restrictions on US business to export jobs to India. Most recently, it curbed Obama's special envoy Holbrook by eliminating India and Kashmir from his portfolio when working with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most importantly, it managed to have the US provide uranium ore for peaceful purposes – net result was that the Indians could use their limited reserves to make nuclear weapons. This move helped to destroy US relations with the Pakistan military.

The Mexican lobby wants unrestricted US borders to solve its unemployment problems. It seeks to advance the cause of Mexican illegal immigrants in the US; American agribusiness supports this as well as US politicians seeking Latino votes.

The Israeli lobby seeks to ensure that US foreign policy favors Israeli interests over Arab countries. It contributes to US politicians who favor Israel and tries to defeat those who do not. It successfully advocates over 3 billion dollars in US arms aid with advance weapons systems. It expects the US to defend Israel diplomatically even when it ruthlessly deploys white phosphorous and cluster bombs on civilians. It fosters espionage against the US with at least three cases linked directly to the Israeli lobby, i.e.: Rosen, Wasserman and Franklin. This is in addition to Israeli spys Pollard and Kadish who were convicted, but not linked to their lobbies.

Now that some problems have been identified, what can be done? The institutionalized and compromised two-party system is guilty, up to its ears in all these issues; so without a viable third party or without realistic political alternatives, the Americans are forced to endue their own self-destruction.

Interest groups in protest could resort to putting up billboards all over the USA with the photographs of the guilty individuals with a banner reading- THESE RATS STOLE FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OR SOLD OUT TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

This would certainly raise political awareness, perhaps even provide a raw genesis for change; however, there is an equal chance that those who erected the billboards would be accused of being an ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE... Colonel Robert E Bartos USA Ret.

*Photo: Painting Saturn Deouring his Son by Francisco Goya