Bush's Beef

The recent recall of ground beef, the largest in U.S. history, once again underscores the perfidious nature of the Bush administration's domestic policies, particularly in regard to its failure to protect ordinary Americans from the dangers precipitated by corporate rapacity. Indeed, under Bush's leadership, organizations like the Department of Agriculture, the FDA, the EPA, OSHA, and MSHA, have found their staffs cut, regulations rolled back, and leadership positions filled with corporate insiders. So it's no surprise that the incestuous relationship between the corporate interests/lobbying groups that have bankrolled Bush and the federal regulatory agencies seems analogous to putting the wolf in charge of guarding the hen house.

In 1906 Upton Sinclair published a little book on the meat-packing industry - The Jungle - which highlighted the unsanitary conditions in which beef was processed. The book shocked Americans, including reform-minded President Theodore Roosevelt. Although a Republican, Roosevelt was a torchbearer of the Progressive movement, a reform impulse with its roots in the 1880s and 1890s. Thanks to muckrakers like Ida Tarbell and Jacob Riis, state and local governments passed legislation to improve working conditions for many American laborers. Even the federal government responded to the greed and predatory practices of the "robber barons" of the Gilded Age and enacted measures like the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Thanks to the public outrage generated by Upton Sinclair's work, and the support of Teddy Roosevelt, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act which authorized Department of Agriculture inspections of packing plants and also paved the way for the creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Unfortunately, that Progressive spirit, and the belief that government has a role to play in insuring the safety of the products consumed by Americans, has been cast aside by Bush and his conservative allies under the guise of a "less government is better" sentiment. What really motivates them, however, is the close relationship they enjoy with the country's agri-business giants and corporate monoliths. Naturally corporations want as little regulation as possible, since regulation ostensibly diminishes profits. Mind you, this tug of war between corporate greed and the public interest is nothing new. As a nation we've witnessed the ill effects of this struggle for over a century. And as we so often see in history, the relationship between these two sides has been cyclical in nature. Obviously we're now in a period of corporate strength, with consumers suffering the consequences.

Surveying the wasteland of the Bush administration and its policies, Americans need to initiate a new reform impulse, calling on governments at every level to insure the safety of our citizens and allow our regulatory agencies to carry out their mandate free of the cancerous influence of corporate lobbyists and former executives. As something of a socialist, I naturally favor as much regulation as possible. Indeed, I would love to see a return of the spirit which guided FDR's "New Deal" and LBJ's "Great Society" programs. Although our next president will never advocate such radical reform - since both Democrats and Republicans owe fealty to a diverse field of corporations and special interest groups - the winner in November will have to address the mess left behind by Bush in nearly every agency, from the Justice Department to OSHA. Without this effort, the new president can neither maintain his credibility nor hope to restore Americans' faith in their government.