In Washington-"Green" Still Mainly Means $$$---The Gulf and Our Oily Campaign-Finance System

The Gulf and Our Oily Campaign-Finance System

By John R. MacArthur

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The Bush family, given its long history in the oil business, would understandably not want to interfere with the creativity of the likes of BP and ExxonMobil. What’s possibly more troubling is that nothing seemed to change at Interior or the MMS, besides a few names in top-level positions, after Obama and his supposedly more environmentalist crew took command. Butin Washington, “green” still mainly means money in the form of lobbyist fees and campaign contributions. So why mess with a good formula?

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former senator from Colorado, can make a scapegoat out of former MMS chief Elizabeth Birnbaum, but nothing short of his resignation would indicate a change in the administration’s fundraising priorities. As Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has no doubt reminded the president, Colorado is rich in both fossil fuels and political donations from energy companies, so why would Obama want someone running Interior who comes from a state with little or no interest in coal, oil, or natural gas? Over the latest election cycle, from January 2009 to May 2010, the total contribution of oil and gas companies to the Democratic Party was $3.7 million.

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What has to change? To be sure, Americans must end their addiction to SUVs and other monster vehicles. The U.S., with one-twentieth of the world’s population, gobbles up one-fifth of world oil production. But Americans also need to stop electing regular Republicans and Democrats like Bush and Obama who will never ask them for any sacrifices, apart from money at election time.

So far, the only sacrifices I’ve seen are the ones made by the oil-rig workers who died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. They were sacrificed to a two-party oligarchy and a campaign-finance system that are leading us toward a very creative self-destruction.

more:
http://harpers.org/archive/2010/06/hbc-90007240