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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D., President International Association of Educators for World Peace Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University

The American people have learned from experience that the person they choose as their President does not tend to perform in accordance with the promises he made and hopes he gave prior his election. Unfortunately, this episode has now been going on repeatedly for quite a long time. The time is now ripe for all Americans to predict the performance of every presidential candidate that may be elected with fair accuracy. This could be done before elections take place. This way there should be no regrets afterwards.

American Political Structure

As the whole world may know and realize, the United States is a country of plutocracy, where everything is controlled by the rich for the exclusive interests of the wealthy. In fact, for a presidential candidate to be elected, he must have countless millions of dollars so that he could reach the homes of all Americans through the news media with his message. However, to do so one must pay the news media -- radio, press and television -- millions of dollars.

Since not too many running for such an office are multi-millionaires, this means that presidential candidates must rely on big corporations to raise money. These are certainly not humanitarian organizations, such as the one established by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Hence, corporations always study carefully the character and personality of such presidential candidates before they start pouring millions of dollars into their elaborate campaign.

As things stand today, the political system in the USA may be viewed as dualistic. Americans will have to choose between electing a democrat or a republican. To this end, big corporations study presidential candidates carefully to finance the campaign of two or three from each party. They are virtually certain that one of them would be elected as the next US President. Needless to say, every presidential candidate that accepts the money of big corporations commits himself to one big obligation from which he cannot escape by all means.

Every presidential candidate who received money from a corporation promises to himself to dedicate his presidency primarily to the promotion of such corporation’s product, no matter how lethal and detrimental such product may be to the American people and the world at large. A careful study of big corporate money that was given to most US Presidential candidates since World War II was over n 1945 seems to have come basically from what has been termed the trinity of corporate evil.

Trinity of Corporate Evil

This trinity of corporate evil has been outlined as the weapons industry, the construction companies, and the oil enterprises. They work hand in hand. The weapons industry provides all material needed for the destruction of the infrastructure of cities and the brutal massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people. The construction companies then step in to rebuild such destroyed buildings of all kind. At the same time, the oil enterprises explore all the possible opportunities to confiscate as much oil and/or rich natural resources as possible.

If such is the case, as it has been proven to be already over the past 60 years, then what the American people need to do primarily is not to listen blindly to what the presidential candidates have to say and promise to do. Although this would be good to know, what is more important is to discover the corporations that are pouring millions of dollars into the presidential races. In fact, we may conclude with virtual certainty that the promotion of the product of such corporations will take absolute precedence over the eventual needs of the American people and the world at large from day one the elected presidential candidate assumes office.

Here are some rules of the thumb for all Americans to keep in mind in order to avoid by all means from being frustrated and disappointed afterwards:
    1. A presidential candidate who receives money from the weapons industry and related agencies is guaranteed to continue to use the military to provoke more and more wars. This way, under the guise of "protection of democracy and freedom," "national defense and security," "waging war on terrorism," the US Congress will be coerced to put millions of dollars into the manufacture and sales of weapons and into the promulgation of more wars.

    2. A presidential candidate who receives money from corporations that are polluting our air and water with toxics is guaranteed to be against restricting such industries from their continued emission of this lethal product. Let us keep in mind that the elected US President will spend billions of dollars for the financial benefit of such corporations as top priority.

    3. A presidential candidate who receives money from pharmaceutical companies is guaranteed that, once he assumes the presidency, he will make sure that Americans are forced to purchase only American-made drugs, no matter how expensive they may be. In fact, those Americans who could get drugs from overseas for their numerous ailments are prohibited to do so by their government. In this regard, the official motto of such an elected US President may run as follows: "Buy only American drugs for your ailments; if you cannot afford it.... tough! I'd rather see Americans suffering and even dead rather than well and healthy while giving money to pharmaceutical companies overseas."

    4. A presidential candidate who receives money from insurance companies is guaranteed to see to it that Americans would be forced to consume most of their paychecks in buying more insurance........ for their health, homes, cars, you name it! Such a president would never dream of providing Americans with a free health care system and with a free education like we have in quite few countries. Besides, the trend for privatization of anything possible will soon emerge.
The list of the sources from which US presidential candidates get their millions of dollars to finance their exorbitant campaign goes on and on. Briefly stated, Americans have a sacrosanct right to explore from where each presidential candidate is getting his money. As a result, Americans could predict the eventual performance of their next US President before it would be too late. 

At this stage of history, the American people are in desperate need to have as their next President one:
    1. Who puts top priority on the welfare of the American people over corporate greed and interests. This should be revealed with the provision of: (a) a free health care system, (b) a free education at all levels, and (c) an adequate home facilities for the homeless and the poor.

    2. Who preserves the freedom that Americans once cherished, by allowing US citizens: (a) to secure prescription drugs that are cheap from anywhere in the world, (b) to travel in any country of the world with no hindrances whatsoever, including the peaceful nation of Cuba, and (c) to respect the privacy of the American people by all means.

    3. Who uses skillful diplomacy in dealing with every single nation on earth: (a) by never considering the waging of war as an option under no circumstance whatsoever, (b) by having the United States cease to be the policeman of the world, and (c) by changing the role of the military from destructive to constructive purposes.

    4. Who makes the strength of a nation consist mainly of such vital areas as: (a) the development of the civilian economy and the safeguard of moral standards especially in human relations and business ventures, (b) the improvement of school and hospital facilities especially for the handicap, and (c) the elimination of violence from all the news media especially the television and the press.

    5. Who provides other nations with items that are purely positive and constructive, which may be revealed in furnishing them with: (a) adequate food for the hungry, (b) with proper home facilities for the homeless, and (c) with all needed medication instead of weapons of destruction and military material for the waging of wars.

    6. Who stops boosting the lethal product of the weapons industry: (a) by stopping to refer to the manufacture and sales of weapons as "defense and national security," (b) by furnishing countries, especially the developing ones, with the vital needs of life instead of military equipment, and (c) by taking the lead to develop an international program of disarmament and arms control.

    7. Who takes the initiative to abolish all nuclear weapons and landmines: (a) by encouraging the nations that have nuclear weapons to develop a cooperative program for the total dismantling of such weapons, (b) by eliminating all landmines from all the nations that have them, and (c) by creating an international program that would make the institution of the military evolve into a humanitarian organization.

    8. Who makes the imposition of sanctions against a nation rarer to happen: (a) by showing more concern for the needs of the people across every continent, (b) by encouraging the replacement of military governments with civilian ones, and (c) by respecting the diversity of governmental systems, which are proven to be beneficial to the dire needs of people.

    9. Who never supports extremists and belligerent groups, regardless of their culture and religion, especially those that may be termed as fundamentalist Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, you name it.

    10. Who would not allow the news media -- radio, press and television -- to distort facts, and to manipulate the masses in the best interest of big corporations under the pretext of "democracy and freedom." This phraseology has been successfully used to literally create and promote anarchy as well as confusion of minds.
The American people need to raise one legitimate question: How come the US news media literally ignores and buries into oblivion all US presidential candidates that are genuinely interested in the promotion of world peace and in the abolition of wars, like democratic presidential candidate US Congressman Dennis Kucinich? A careful analysis of this matter reveals that such peace-oriented presidential candidates are viewed as a threat to the business interest of the weapons industry, which thrives on the promotion of more struggles and wars.

Corruption of Big Corporations

At this stage of history, big corporations have emerged to become among the most corrupted elements in the world. This is due to the fact that they all seem to base their actions on the Machiavellian philosophy: The end justifies the means. They promote the product of their business, no matter how lethal and detrimental it is to human lives, they will do anything. Nothing would stop them by all means even it would cost the destruction of the infrastructure of entire cities and the death of tens of thousands of people amounting to millions.

For many centuries the military always tended to serve as a tool in the hands of politicians to achieve what they want by violent means when they could not achieve it peacefully through healthy dialogues. This explains why the military is always being presented by responsible governments as a “safeguard” of democracy and freedom and the equivalent. In fact, a careful analysis of the training soldiers receive makes us realize that they are constantly being trained to destroy the infrastructure society and to kill anyone that comes across them consisting mostly of women, children, the elderly and the sick.

The military has never been trained to grow and distribute food to the hungry, to build adequate home facilities for the homeless, and to keep the environment free from air and water pollution.  Responsible military personnel should come out into the open to apologize and to ask for forgiveness to local communities and the whole world, as a matter of fact, for having made so many millions suffer crucial pain, agony and death. This explains why some scholars described the military as a terrorist organization sanctioned by the government. A simple comparison made between terrorist and military activities should convince everyone of this tangible fact.

The time for the American people to wake up seriously from their apparent hibernation to whip things into order is now. They certainly deserve the attention and respect from the next US president by all means. They should no longer be ignored like they have been already for quite a while. They really have no time any more to make up their mind until after the next time they happen to sit in a backyard watching the stars!