June 21, 2012 at 08:58:11
What would
happen if we asked the executives of the giant U.S. corporations, whose
products constantly surround us, to show some corporate patriotism?
After all, General Electric, DuPont, Citigroup, Pfizer and others
demand that they be treated as "persons" under our Constitution and our
laws. And, they expect unfiltered loyalty from American workers even to
the point of blocking the organization of unions so workers can band
together for collective bargaining.
Moreover, many of these corporations expect to be bailed out by
American taxpayers when they are in trouble, and they regularly receive a
covey of direct and indirect government subsidies, giveaways and
complex handouts.
Some of them pay no federal income taxes year after year, and a few
game the tax laws to receive additional money back from the U.S.
Treasury. Historically, the U.S. Marines and other U.S. armed forces
have risked their lives to protect or protect these corporations'
overseas interests by invading or menacing numerous countries.
So it is reasonable for the American people to expect some reciprocity
from these immense corporate entities that were born in the U.S. and
rose to their economic prowess on the backs of American workers. The
bosses of these companies believe they can have it both ways -- getting
all the benefits of their native country while shipping whole industries
and jobs to communist and fascist regimes abroad that keep their
workers in serf-like conditions.
The first test as to whether these U.S. companies have any allegiance
to the U.S. and its communities is to demand that CEOs stand up at their
annual shareholders meetings and pledge allegiance in the name of their
corporation, not their boards of directors, "to the flag of the United
States of America," ending with that ringing phrase, voiced by millions
of Americans daily, "with liberty and justice for all."
More than seventy years ago, a famous Marine general, the double
Congressional Medal of Honor awardee Smedly Butler, said his Marines
were ordered to make sure the flag followed U.S. companies from Central
America to Asia. In the past, the lack of allegiance was shockingly
callous. DuPont and General Motors worked openly with fascist Germany
and its companies before World War II and did not sever all dealings
when hostilities started.
About fifteen years ago, I sent letters to the CEOs of the top 100
largest U.S. chartered corporations asking that they pledge allegiance
to our country in the name of their company at their annual shareholders
meetings. Their responses were instructive. Many said they would review
the request; others turned it down, while some were ambiguous,
misconstruing the request as being directed to their boards of directors
instead of their U.S. chartered corporate entity.
Walmart replied that they would "give it every consideration."
Federated Department Stores expressly thought it was a good suggestion.
Citicorp (now Citigroup) wrote that it is "not our practice to respond."
Time for an update. I've just sent letters to twenty of the largest
U.S. chartered companies renewing the request for the pledge. They
include Exxon Mobil, Walmart, Chevron, General Motors, General Electric,
Ford Motor, AT&T, Bank of America, Verizon Communications, J.P.
Morgan Chase, Apple, CVS Caremark, IBM, Citigroup and Cardinal Health.
Imagine the CEOs of General Motors (or Exxon Mobil, Citigroup, Bank of
America, etc.) pledging allegiance "to the Flag of the United States of
America and the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
You may wish to contact these companies and urge their CEOs to take the
pledge. This effort needs your participation as consumers, workers,
taxpayers or shareholders. It opens up a long-overdue discussion about
corporate patriotism and what it all should mean.
As conservative author Patrick Buchanan wrote some years ago: "If they
[large U.S. corporations] are not loyal to us, why should we be loyal to
them?"
Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and website architect of
OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), and publisher of
Storycon.org, President of
Futurehealth, Inc, and an
inventor . He is also published regularly on the
Huffingtonpost.com
Mediate ranks Rob Kall among the top 150 print/online columnists, often ahead of NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post columnists.
With his experience as architect and founder of a
technorati top 100 blog, he is also a new media / social media consultant and trainer for corporations, non-profits, entrepreneurs and authors.
Rob
is a frequent Speaker on the bottom up revolution, politics, The art,
science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey and Positive
Psychology. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the
power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates, and
optimizing tapping the power of new media. Watch me speaking on Bottom
up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit,
here.
See more Rob Kall articles
here and, older ones,
here.
To learn more about Rob and OpEdNews.com, check out
A Voice For Truth - ROB KALL | OM Times Magazine and
this article.
And
Rob's quotes are here.
To watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, former Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click
here
Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows,
representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me
on and refer them to this youtube video.
Rob's radio show, The Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived at
www.opednews.com/podcasts Or listen to it streaming, live at
www.wnjc1360.com
Rob also hosted a health/mind/body/heart/spirit radio show-- the
Rob Kall Futurehealth radio show. Check out podcasts from it at
futurehealth.org/podcastsFollow me on Twitter
A few declarations.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
Recent press coverage in the Wall Street Journal:
Party's Left Pushes for a Seat at the Table
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
No comments:
Post a Comment