Article: The Lessons of Proposition 37
by Abraham Entin
WaccoBB.net
“For every 1000 hacking at the branches of evil,
There is one striking at the roots.”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
A month before the 2012 elections, California Proposition 37 (The GMO labeling initiative) enjoyed a lead of more than 20 percentage points in the polls - consistently showing approval ratings of over 60%. Yet, on election day, the proposition was defeated by a margin of approximately 53%-47%. How did this stunning turnaround occur?
During the last month of the campaign, almost $45 million of advertising was dumped on the people of California to convince us that we are better off not knowing what is in the food that we eat. This money was spent by Monsanto Corporation, by Dow Chemical and Kellogg Cereal, by Pepisco and Nestles. They were joined by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and many other companies that profit from making and selling the junk food that fills the supermarkets and snack machines of America.
The campaign waged by the “No on 37” committee was full of lies. In fact, almost everything they said was a lie. They said that the cost of food for the consumer would increase by almost $500 per year. This “fact” came from a study funded by the “No on 37” committee, and contradicts the experience of the more than 60 countries that currently require food with GMO’s to be labeled as such.
They lied about the credentials and affiliations of their spokespeople, and claimed newspapers supported them that did not. They lied about the “trial lawyers” being behind the proposition, when in fact the law was written to discourage lawsuits by making them unprofitable.
But they didn’t stop there. They even committed the felony of sending out a mailer claiming the FDA urged a “no vote on 37” and using the seal of the FDA on this mailer. This was not only a lie (The FDA is forbidden to take positions on initiatives) but also a serious violation of Federal Election laws.
Hundreds of thousands of California citizens worked to get Proposition 37 on the ballot and to inform their fellow citizens about it. People invested millions of hours of sweat equity into supporting this proposition, because they are concerned about the food they and their families eat, or because they simply support the right to know what is in our food as a basic human right.
And these huge transnational corporations came in, a month before the election, and trampled all over the work done by these citizens, engulfing California in a blizzard of lies unlike any other that has hit this state in many years.
They were able to do this because the Supreme Court, in a number of rulings culminating in the 2010 decision know as “Citizens United”, has slowly transferred the rights of human beings to corporate entities and thereby given them the power to control our political system and our lives in ways that make a mockery of the notion that we are a democratic republic of free citizens. The Court has ruled that “money is speech”-allowing corporations and the wealthy to buy our elections - as the battle over Prop 37 clearly illustrated. The Court has also ruled that these non-human entities should enjoy the rights formerly associated only with human beings. Principle among these rights is the right of “free speech”.
When given to corporations, it allows them to endlessly broadcast their message to us anywhere, any time, and to any segment of our population. As a result, our children have become target markets for entities that see them as profit centers to be exploited, rather than as the hope and dream of the future coming into being.
Corporations enjoy certain privileges. Among the most important are deathlessness and limited liability. They are the most effective profit generators in human history. They exist to make a profit - the courts have also made that clear by establishing the responsibility of the corporation to maximize return to shareholders as the most important aspect of corporate activity.
When one combines the “rights” of human beings with the privileges given to corporations, the inevitable outcome is what we are seeing today-corporate rule on a global scale, the destruction of the planetary environment, and an increase in the concentration of wealth that makes misery inevitable for the vast majority of the population of the earth. Corporations have the ability to impose their will upon us, and they do not and will not hesitate to do so.
The battle over Proposition 37 makes all of this as clear as can be. We were not asking for much — just a few words on labels to tell us if GMO ingredients are in our food. They would not give us even that. Instead they invested $45 million, told innumerable lies and committed crimes to deny us that basic human right. Is it not clear that this must come to an end? If Katrina was not enough, if the BP destruction of the Gulf of Mexico was not enough, if the XL Pipeline through the heart of the United States is not enough, if Hurricane Sandy is not enough, what will it take to wake us up to the situation we are living in?
We have an historic opportunity to push this issue to the maximum - to say “enough” and to strike at the root of the evil facing us. We can take back our country and our planet from the global corporations that have taken over the world. This is what the moment demands. Now is not the time for half measures and compromises. It is time for us to take our stand and stand together as human beings. If we do this, the future can be ours.
Barry [moderator, WaccoBB.net] asked that I add a few suggestions on specific things that people could do. The fact is corporations have invaded every part of our individual and social lives. Any conscious action in opposition to this is a step in the right direction.
Nevertheless, I will suggest a few actions that I feel can have a significant impact on corporate power. These are suggestions. They are not meant to be exhaustive and will obviously not appeal to everyone. There are so many groups working on various issues. Find one that resonates with you and give them the energy that you can.
On the individual level:
1. Move your money. There is absolutely no reason to continue putting money into the big banks that fund the entire system. Bank local, bank credit union, help create a public bank. See: Move Our Money USA and Public Banking Institute.
2. Use credit cards as infrequently as possible.
3. Shop local-especially food. See: Be A Localist.
4. Join the “label it yourself” campaign-put stickers on GMO food since the companies won’t. See: Label It Yourself.
5. Sing and play with your neighbors and friends to create and support local culture instead of consuming it. See: Love Choir and 100 Thousand Poets for Change.
6. “Hate the sin but love the sinner.” The problems are systemic, not personal. Even the Koch brothers are people. Remember, people are our
only assets.
7. Learn about and practice non-violence on a personal, community and
global level. Coercion is the enemy of love. See: Metta Center.
Here in California, we can use the experience of prop. 37 to leverage some real change:
1. Push for a criminal investigation of the fraud associated with the “No
on 37” campaign. Make sure that the highest level people who approved this crime are held accountable (loving people doesn’t mean that they are not responsible for their actions).
2. Push for public hearings on the state level on how global corporations
can hijack a California election under current law.
3. Use this to raise awareness of the need for a constitutional amendment ending corporate constitutional rights and dis-equating money and free speech in elections. If California passes an initiative around this, or if the legislature were pressured into supporting a powerful amendment on this issue, it would create great momentum on a national level. This amendment, in my opinion, is the sine quo non of meaningful systemic change. Without it, corporations will use their control of the federal judiciary to thwart any attempt to control their behavior. See: Move To Amend. Email: [email protected]
Nationally:
1. Push the president to fulfill his campaign promise to create a national
GMO labeling law. This would have global impact on the future of
corporate control of the world food supply.
2. Do everything to stop the XL pipeline. See: 350.org.
3. See #3 above.
Re: Article: The Lessons of Proposition 37
Terrific summation, adding action steps, and links --thank you for your effort, and good work --MSinger, Santa Rosa
