Greed will be America’s downfall. The foundation of our politics, once founded on the public well being, has been interchanged with the corrupted stones of corruption and scandal. “We the people” had once powerful persuasive presence in legislature. Unfortunately, now, the government and the public opinion has been overshadowed by the upcoming presence of major corporations. American politicians have been caught in the dark entanglements of corporate affairs.
With the food industries and companies, such as the Meat Industry and Monsanto, their intricate, deeply rooted ties with the government through bribes, donations to officials causes, and black mail, these companies are deceiving the American consumer into eating foods that are potentially harmful to their health, all for the sake of these companies accumulating a massive amount of profit. There is no capitalism in America. The people of the United States of America has fallen for the illusion that citizens carry a heavy influence in politics.
The government was built to protect its people from dangerous predators such as major food industries. Unfortunately, somewhere through the cracks, these corporations have slithered their way into the foundation of American politics. Under the care of the Clinton and Bush administration, representatives of these major companies have played a key role in American legislature. Robert Shapiro, was one of many people involved. A former CEO of Monsanto from 1995-2000, and Mickey Kantoe, a board of directors of Monsanto, they joined the Clinton administration as a member of the President’s Advisory Board.
Not only is the legislature intertwined with corruption and bribery, the Food and Drug Administration has been infected with officials from Monsanto. Margaret Miller is a former chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto, who, from 1989 to now, is a FDA branch chief. Also, Linda Fisher, a Monsanto Vice President of Public Affairs joined the Food and Drug Administration as an FDA deputy and allows Monsanto to continue their scandalous activities. (Food, Inc) James Welsh, a New York politician, was used as a pawn by the meat industry.
Money is power. ‘We have lost our control of power, stripped away by the major food industries. ‘We put our power faith in the government to protect us, and we aren’t being protected at the most basic level. [When] the USDA (threatened] to shut them down… the Meat and Poultry Association took them to court. ” (Food, Inc. ) When Tyson, one of America’s largest poultry company bought IBP, the number one meat distributor, the grasp that food industries had on legislation only grew tighter.
As the political debate of forcing the USDA to mandate regular salmonella testing continued, the once balanced debate began to shift towards the favor of the companies. Unfortunately, despite activists best efforts, these food industries have woven intricate, powerful bonds in legislature. (The Politics of Meat, Steve Johnson) Despite the 200,000 signatures petitioning the HR 933 Section 735, also known as the Monsanto Protection Act, President Barack Obama ignored America, and granted immortality to Monsanto.
Despite the ongoing, major clinical studies being conducted, the government put their greed before the public’s wellbeing, and granted Monsanto permission to plant genetically modified crops and seeds without the interference of the federal government. With the government stripped of their authority of enforcing GMO sales, Monsanto has broken their chains, and now has full control of the public’s food. If GMO’s are found to be harmful to the consumer’s health, because of this bill, the government will not be able stop Monsanto’s production and distribution. International Business Times). (para)
The food industry is amoral. Consumed with greed, they have gone to extreme measures in order to play a role in the government. Michael Taylor was chosen to represent the USDA inspection criteria as the head of Food and Inspection Service, realized the job came at a risk when he noticed a telephone at his desk with the speed dials of the numbers of the American Meat Institute and the National Cattleman’s association, the two major companies in America that process and distribute cattle meat.
Taylor stated, “It is just a political context, a culture that has developed over the years at a political level, the food safety program at the USDA thinking of the industry as our customer, rather than the consumer. ” The entire system is completely compromised. There is not one organization that is tainted with influences from food corporations. The methods of deceit from the meat industry continue with bribing government officials. After receiving 65,000 dollars from the American Meat Institute, New York politician James Walsh, proposed a plan to prevent the USDA from mandating regulatory salmonella testing, and E.
Coli recalls. These are only a few of the many people who were former Monsanto representatives that have rooted themselves into American politics. There is supposed to be a separation of government and corporations, but in the last forty decades, the divide has become increasingly translucent. (The Politics of Meat, Steve Johnson) The food industries deceive the consumers into believing that their food is freshly grown, cleaned, and processed. As demonstrated in the documentary Food, Inc, the viewers get to experience the way the Tyson Corporation treats their chickens.
After pumping the poultry with hormones that enlarge the chicken, which can ultimately lead to its death, Tyson has farmers store the chickens in coops that have no windows or ventilation system, therefore, there is feathers, feces, dirt, and bacteria harvesting and being spread through the air. The people who heard the chickens to the cages to where they will be transported in, kick the chickens, and toss in the deceased ones into the cages as well to be eventually eaten by a consumer.
Also McDonalds and other fast food companies are another example of how their livestock are treated. Opposed to feeding cattle grass, their natural food source, these corporations have chosen to feed them corn, a much cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, this diet causes cattle to become sick, due to their inability to process corn at a healthy rate. Due to this, and that these companies keep their cattle ankle deep in their own feces, E. Coli, and other bacterial illnesses harvest in the cows intensities, which eventually can lead to the consumer’s plate. Food, Inc) The food industry is manipulating and finding loop-holes in politics in order to continue with their practice of cheap labor. With roughly thirty percent of their workers illegal immigrants, the companies can use threats of deportation in order to motivate workers to complain less, and perform grueling tasks. Forced to chop and “de-brain” cattle, bleed out animals, and make incisions into the animal’s fat, workers are psychologically affected by the brutal acts murder they commit on animals daily.
Also threatened by money, parties, and their employment, workers are persuaded to keep quiet about their injuries. Furthermore, the line speed is limited by sanitation laws, not in the interest of the workers’ safety, which has led to numerous injuries. The highly stressful, fast paced work environment of an eight hour working day has led to many workers experiencing chronic fatigue symptoms. chronic pain in their backs, wrists, and hands. (Food Empowerment Project) Our food is poisoned, and we are getting sicker and fatter.
The general public is being deceived by major food companies into thinking that they are consuming more nutritional, less calorie foods. Companies and food chains decrease the calorie number selfishly, in order to accumulate more sales, at the cost of exposing their consumers to severe health risks, in example, Applebee’s healthy choice menu mostly contains more than 500 calories per meal, and Hooters wing sauce contains over 1,000 calories, which is deceiving since regular wing sauces only contain two hundred calories, and their wings contain, harmful, cheaper ingredients such as, “… altoderxin, propylene glycol alginate, [and] xanthin gum… ”
Furthermore, Panera’s supposably natural ingredients have been compromised with red dyes in the pastries, which lead to massive mood swings, irritability, and other psychological issues. These are a few of the innumerable instances where the food chains and companies are harming their customers. (16 Secrets The Restaurant Industry Doesn’t Want You to know) The American legislature is intertwined with the fabrics of corruption and is held together through the intricate knots of greed.
Poison, deceit, and socialism is being served on the general public’s plate. American’s have blindly followed a false idol-our government-putting their faith in the government’s protect of our basic human rights. The consumers are slowly being poisoned by major food industries and unknowingly following the cruel treatment of animals and people. Greed is a powerful, influential emotion, that has transformed our government and corporations innately pure morals into corrupted, selfish ones.