Uniting the Two Superpowers

Global Justice and the Heart of America

By SYD BAUMEL

The Superpower of Corporate Globalization

The emerging Superpower of Global Peace and Justice has a rival that dwarfs all others: the Superpower of Corporate Globalization. It's a fiercely competitive, profit-seeking behemoth comprised principally of an ever-growing number of the world's largest economies: multinational corporations. It operates in a global market almost untouched by law. Its overwhelming wealth (General Motors alone has annual sales greater than the GDP of Denmark, Hong Kong or Saudi Arabia) and mobility of investment make it the most sought after and influential nongovernmental power in the world today. Virtually all nations are its clients, whether by choice or necessity. But its most willing and able political partner is the elected leadership of the nation where its wealth is most concentrated: the United States.

Forty-two years ago in his last presidential address, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned his fellow Americans of a near and present danger to their democracy: the nation's emergent "military-industrial complex" and "scientific-technological elite."

It was a creepilly prescient warning from a conservative American war hero. 

With unprecedented zeal under George W. Bush, America is divesting itself of its democratic lifeblood, transferring ever more political power to this unelected swarm of commercial interests.

"Washington's a cesspool of money," Stewart Udall, the 83-year-old former Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, told Bill Moyers on "NOW" recently. "I was there 49 years ago. It has changed so drastically it makes me sick every time I look at it. . . .

"The shocking thing to me is that nobody's shocked. There's no indignation in Washington."

At this very moment, the American military-industrial wing of the Superpower of Corporate Globalization is set to earn billions by illegally privatizing and economically colonizing Iraq under cover of liberating her and protecting the American homeland. Meanwhile, back in the homeland, the chemical wing is saving billions by spending millions to obstruct proposed Congressional legislation that would secure thousands of notoriously vulnerable chemical plants from terrorist sabotage. According to the EPA, over a hundred of these plants are each capable of killing or maiming more than a million Americans. [Click here for an overview of this issue.]

The Superpower of Corporate Globalization is amoral. It has no interest in harming or benefitting humanity. While human beings within its ranks may try to civilize it, its fundamental character remains "reptilian," seeking only profit, growth and survival. Having evolved in a predatory marketplace, it is stunted psychologically at the level of the sociopath – selfish, ruthless, manipulative, dissembling. It requires strong laws to guide it. And it is certainly neither morally fit nor legally entitled to dominate a country, much less the planet.

Were American politicians to restore their primary allegiance to we the people, America could become a friend, not a foe of the Superpower of Global Peace and Justice. American citizens, it seems, already are.

The Heart of America

In Dude, Where's My Country?, American writer, filmmaker and populist Michael Moore argues that opinion polls show his compatriots are predominantly liberal and tolerant. My own Google-powered review of the polls confirms that Americans have much more in common with the Superpower of Global Peace and Justice than they do with the Superpower of Corporate Globalization. Here are some key findings. [One of the most useful websites for keeping abreast of American public opinion is PollingReport.com.]

Whatever the world may think of the United States, polls say Americans believe their country is a benevolent team player – "a force [for] freedom and democracy everywhere in the world," "a genuine superpower . . . that actively seeks out allies in dealing with global issues," according to a Zogby poll this September. 

Only about one in three acknowledge a darker side, that the United States is a selfish "imperialist power" willing to betray its "espoused ideals of freedom and democracy."

Clearly, most Americans want to be a force for good in the world, whether or not they think they are. In fact, 73% regard themselves "as a citizen of the world as well as a citizen of the United States," according to a poll in 1999.

A large majority of Americans didn't want their country to invade Iraq without UN approval. Within months of the occupation, two to one preferred that the UN, not the U.S., should "take the lead in setting up the new Iraqi government."

Americans like nonviolent strategies, even against terrorism. Eighty percent or more would rather woo adversaries with diplomacy and try "suspected terrorists in an International Criminal Court" – the same court their President is working to destroy.

As many as 90% want the UN to be stronger, not weaker, even if that might curb their nation's "full freedom of action to pursue its interests." This September, with Bush and cohorts spurning the UN as "irrelevant," 59% thought the UN was "needed now more than ever."

A large majority of Americans would like to see an independent UN peacekeeping force, with as many as 100,000 soldiers recruited from around the world. They want the UN to tax international trade in arms, oil and tobacco to fund peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, healthcare and environmental protection. [For sources on a UN peacekeeping force, click here, here, and here. For sources on UN taxes, click here. For UN taxation, click here.]

It's become a standing joke that George Bush never met an international treaty he didn't dislike. For most Americans, it's just the opposite. 

When asked in 2000 by pollsters Belden, Russonello & Stewart:

Americans support treaties and other agreements to control or ban weapons of mass destruction, to bring war criminals, terrorists and tyrants to justice and to combat global warming. Ninety percent wish "to participate, together with other countries, in efforts to maintain peace and protect human rights." Two thirds regret that the UN, with U.S. participation, failed to intervene to prevent genocide in Rwanda. [For a more detailed discussion, with links, click here.]

By a huge margin, Americans want more protection for the environment, not less – even if it costs more money or slows economic growth. They consider their government and corporations to be part of the problem, not the solution. [For a review of American public opinion polls on the environment, click here.]

Seventy-five percent of Americans feel a responsibility to share their wealth with the world's poor. Mistakenly, they think their country is spending way too much on foreign aid. The average American thinks the tab is 25% of the budget. S/he would prefer 10%, which is over 10 times the actual figure. [For a detailed discussion of American views on foreign aid, click here. For a detailed discussion of American views on relieving world hunger and poverty, click here.]

Americans believe in a globalization not just of trade but of values. 

"It appears that Americans think in terms of a kind of 'golden rule' for globalization – do unto others as you do to yourself," reports the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA). Americans want globalization to give poor countries a better break. And most think US companies should abide by American environmental, labour, health and safety laws when operating in countries with lower standards, even if it costs American jobs or profits. [These results are from PIPA's Amercians & the World report: globalization.]

Just 10% of Americans believe in "free trade or trade without any restrictions." Most want fairer and/or more protective trade. A majority believe the World Trade Organization (WTO) "tends to think about what's best for business, but not about what's best for the world as a whole." They want the WTO to be guided by ethical concerns. As their governmment (and Canada's) pushes to force genetically modified food and organisms (GMOs) on reluctant foreign markets, 89% of Americans don't even want GMOs on their own market unless they've been properly tested for safety. Independent scientists, including the Royal Society of Canada's panel on food biotechnology, say they haven't. 

When Newsweek put it to 1,004 Americans this October that "some people think this country's political system is so controlled by special interests and partisanship that it cannot respond to the country's real needs," 70% agreed. In 1999, nearly 90% were troubled that "the high cost of campaigns" was discouraging "good people . . . from running for office." In a Harris Poll last February, "big companies" and "political action committees, which give money to political candidates" were thought by most Americans to have "too much power and influence on Washington." Least influence? Racial minorities, small business and (wait for it) public opinion. [Click here for a detailed description of these and other related polls.]