CREAM! GET THE MONEY! DOLLA! DOLLA! BILL Y'ALL!
"A man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health. There are plenty of lives less valuable." Thomas Mellon
The Pledge of Allegiance was a verbal ritual designed to instill love, respect and honor for the country. As a kid, I vividly remember when we would rise every morning before class and recite the pledge from memory. The indoctrination to patriotism was part of what it meant to be an all american boy. However, as time passed, I learned patriotism was a little more complicated if you had a corporate identity with a Tax ID number. When I entered my teen years, I saw the mass flight of corporations from the shores of America to foreign tax havens and low waged slavery of peoples in other lands. Suddenly, there was a hollow boast to the label, "Made In America." Upon further investigation, I discovered that there was a kind of perverse pride in loving and leaving America. The history of complicated allegiances runs deep in the American experience.
It is painfully apparent that though many lip wrestle about the virtues of American democracy, when it comes to defending them, these deaf mutes are always invisible. Take for instance the case of the American Civil War; a bloody schism that cost the country 625,000 lives. The majority of those lives were the poor and working laborers of the land. Most of whose interest was not reflected in the conflict. However, the elite, whose interest were at risk in the conflict, were able to opt out of combat under the Conscription Enrollment Act of 1863. This act allowed the rich to make a 300 cash payment in avoidance of military service. One such mogul was billionaire steel magnet Andrew Carnegie, who paid a poor man to fight on his behalf. Never ones to let a good draft dodging opportunity go unexplored, fellow colleagues, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould, took full advantage of the status their money afforded them, and followed Carnegie's example. Thomas Mellon of the Banking House of Mellon wrote to his son James stating that: "a man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health. There are plenty of lives less valuable." A young Haliburton executive named Dick Cheney would later replay the same scenario during the Vietnam War, as he sought and obtained 5 military deferments from service. In a sick display of timing for a bad comedic punchline, Cheney would later become Secretary of Defense, as well as, Vice President in 2000 under George W. Bush.
These complicated allegiances ranged from draft dodging all the way to outright treasonous collaboration with wartime enemies.
Standard Oil supplied the 3rd Reich with nearly $20,000,000 in oil, which fueled Hitler's invasion into the Sudetenland in March 1939. Coca Cola taught the world to sing in perfect harmony when it created and distributed its' Fanta Orange Soda to refresh the Nazi offensive, after a hard day of Eastern European domination and expansion for lebensraum. Henry Ford increased production of military vehicles for the Nazis, even as he cut back on production of vehicles for the American war effort against the Nazis. So grateful was Hitler for Ford's contribution to his goals of European conquest, that he awarded him the Order of the German Eagle. Hitler also elevated his "enemy collaborator" to a position of honor by calling him his inspiration and hanging a photo of him in his office. Prescott Bush, Father of George H.W. Bush and grandfather to George W., made sure that all of the investments from those hard stolen dollars of the Third Reich were protected in foreign banks. Even though these acts were violations of the Trading With The Enemy Act of 1940, Ford and General Motors would later show this government who's boss when they sued and recovered damages for allied bombing of their plants on enemy soil. Also, after the war, under Operation Paperclip, the Joint Intelligence Operations Agency was nice enough to help our former enemies escape those pesky Nazi hunters, who were pursuing them for some horrendously petty things called war crimes.
When placed beside this history of sunshine patriotism, it is clear that transnational corporations are loyal to this country only in pursuit of profit. Things like fidelity, loyalty or bravery are amorphous when weighed against the circumstances of red ink losses and deficits. There was even a bill proposal that would allow millionaires the privilege of dual citizenship for tax purposes. This bill allowed them to obtain their fortunes in U.S. markets while taking the non-existent tax codes of foreign nations. I guess democracy is good as long as you don't have to sacrifice for it. Somehow, I think these companies are more Wu-Tang than the RZA. They would be better off flying the flag of the Wu because it's explicitly clear that Cash Rules Everything Around Them, even their loyalty to America.
