by Lisa Kochheiser, Co-ordinator, Ohio Community Rights Network/CELDF, July 6, 2018
Pollution of our water (and air and soil) is intentional. Elected officials and governmental agencies cannot help us; their “hands are tied.” That’s why it is up to us, we the people, to change the law to protect our communities from unjust harm. Ohioans are working on two state constitutional amendments that would do just that.
Americans are ruled by the corporate state, a duplicitous system, which leads people to believe that elected representatives and governmental agencies, such as the EPA, are here to help us, that it is it our duty to elect them and then follow their laws; when in fact they are here to help industrial polluters succeed at the expense of their constituents’ health, safety and welfare. For as long as the polluters are “permitted” to pollute they will be the ones to profit from poisoning our waterways and freely depleting our aquifers. Poison water scares consumers which easily allows the flood gates to be opened for water privatization schemes. So while one invisible hand is busy poisoning our water, the other is selling it back to us in single serving size plastic bottles, which perpetually requires the production of more and more oil and gas to make. They have calculated the perfect deadly mass crime – a sickening closed loop of systemic greed. And how convenient – cancer treatment centers are popping up all over the place; as the wealth continues to be shifted to the top.
Ohioans are quite literally sick to death of playing the victim of this corporate state scheme. We are no longer idly hoping and waiting for a hero to save us because we understand this fixed system is incapable of rendering any true representation. It simply cannot since it was specifically designed and created to do one thing alone – move wealth to the top of the economic pyramid in the guise of liberty for all, amen. Meanwhile, we the people are legally, covertly being poisoned in the places where we live, work, and cast our symbolic votes.
Ohioans understand this systemic scheme is why we can’t gain traction with our supposed elected officials and why the EPA won’t protect the environment. We also recognize this story comes as a shocking revelation to many. Popular belief would have it that current “electeds” and their appointees created this deception, when in fact history shows us it has been this way all along.
It’s true that the current administration obscenely flaunts its belief that it can do no wrong, that it is beyond retribution and can therefore blatantly ignore the health, safety, and welfare of the people, the environment, and of our climate future. It also conspicuously follows the age old trick of creating multiple crises to keeps people in a constant state of panic, which effectively diverts attention away from the fact that the corporate state’s only real intention is to make big billionaires richer.
Yes – Ohioans are sick to death of playing along with this unholy game. That is why we are now bypassing the corporate state and going straight to the people, where the real power lies, to directly grab the system by the horns and alter its unjust poisonous trajectory. By the right to initiative we assert our right to self-govern; for standing up for our rights to protect our health, safety, welfare, environment and climate future to create the just and sustainable communities we envision. We are collecting signatures for a state Constitutional Amendment which will protect local community self-determination, which is the only real systemic check and balance that we have left.
You can help. Read about our pioneering movement at http://www.ohiocraction.org/