Is the 1% taking over, state by state? I know I have said I would try to steer clear of politics in these blogs, but I just read an article by the investigative journalist Jane Mayer that has so upset me that I have to speak out somewhere, and here is as good a place as any.
Perhaps the scariest result of the Supreme Court striking down limits on corporate campaign spending is now being felt in North Carolina. One man, James Arthur (Art) Pope appears to be on a tear to take over the state and turn it into his private fiefdom, and a stronghold for very conservative Republicans. An article in the October 10, 2011, issue of The New Yorker magazine (I really need to catch up on my reading) examines how this one man seemingly has the clout and the dollars to stir up racism, hatred among political groups, and reductions in state funding for higher education.
According to the article, Pope and others believe that the state has no obligation to take care of its citizens; this should be left to the private sector. Pope is chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, a discount store chain. He has been known to complain that having to pay his employees minimum wage has hurt those people who could be hired for less money.
What this man, and others like him, are doing to this country is terrible. It seems they are trying to turn it into their own private dominion. And we seem powerless to stop them.
I cannot begin to delineate the horrors this man and the groups he supports have unleashed on NC, but if you care to read about it yourself here is link: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer
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