Congress has long been one of the most unpopular political
bodies in the free world and in the last few weeks, it has earned it’s status
as the body dropped the assault weapons bill and effectively gave a corporation
a bye from reprimand should it’s products harm the American public .
There has much made of the fact of how beholden America’s
political class is to the interest of big business to the detriment of their fellow
citizens, but the actual protection of corporation from reprimand if it’s products have adverse effects on the
public’s health has to be one of the most shocking instances yet.
In an eager rush to get a funding bill passed or face a
government shutdown, President Barack Obama signed the bill that had “language”
that “effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or
planting of GMO of GE crops and seeds, no matter what the health consequences
from the consumption of these products”[1].
Food safety advocacy groups
have made their disgust for this bill clear as it serves as a major “gift to Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) and other firms that
produce genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetically engineered (GE)
seeds and crops.”[2].They
expected their government would be cognizant enough to spot devious ‘language’
buried in legalese but, no surprise to anybody paying attention over the last
five years, the public interest is the
last thing on the minds of members of it’s
political class.
It’s safe to say that the US public are aware that their
political leaders could care less about the public interest as congress’s
approval rating, according to public policy polling, is only a shade more
popular than “Lindsay Lohan, the Ebola virus, the Kardashians and North
Korea” and is bested by “Genghis Khan”[3].
Any dissenting doubt of this fact was quashed just several
days before the Monsanto debacle as Senate majority leader Harry Reid publicly gave
up on the assault weapons ban citing a lack of votes for the measure. However this should be no shock to anybody as
democrats already gave up on passing an assault weapon ban a month in
advance. Contrast the difficulties of
getting votes for a assault weapons ban in the wake of multiple mass shooting s
including the tragic events that took place in new town and the near consensus in
both houses to protect Monsanto form legal reprimand goes to show where
congress priorities lie.
In sum, it has not been a very good week for congress as the
body has shown why it is one of the most unpopular democratic bodies in the
free world as it dropped the assault weapon ban in the face of a number of tragic mass shooting and granted
immunity for a corporation which goes to show that the political class are
beholden to anything but the public interest.
[1] C.
A. Sheets, 2013, Farmers and food safety advocates lead Monsanto blacklash, http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/farmers_and_food_safety_advocates_lead_monsanto_backlash_partner/
[2]
Ibid
[3] J.
Stephens, 2013, Congress Approval Rating Lower Than Cockroaches, Genghis Khan
And Nickleback, Poll finds, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/congress-approval-rating-nickelback-cockroaches_n_2435601.html
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