It's a colorful catchphrase that's bandied about during election campaigns and it continues to make frequent political media appearances. Just what th' hell is a "pork-barrel earmark" and should we be concerned?
In the early 1800's the pork barrel was a pantry staple in most American homes. Dinner was determined by its contents and a barrel's lack of salted pork was a sure sign of a family's poverty. By mid-century the term "pork-barrel" somehow morphed into a negative metaphor for excessive government spending. Blusterous diatribes about the other guy's "pork" filled the halls of Congress and a pork-barrel label was slapped on any taxpayer funded program that profited only a special few. In 20th century Washington pork-barrel spending became "part of doin' business." Now it's common practice for beltway boodlers to hand out rashers of biased bacon with little regard for merit or ethics.
The term
"earmark" once meant a tag punched into the ear flap of a slaughterhouse bound porker. Now it serves as a tag for those pork-barrel schemes that feed big tax bucks directly to a Congressman's pet projects. So, as it turns out, those pretentious finger-pointers got one thing right while stumpin' around the country last year, pork-barrel earmarks are pernicious little piggies. But the question is, are they the "Real House-swine of DC?"While pork-barrel earmarks are often ugly and smelly, they're but barnyard nibblets compared to the putrid slop of mega-industry graft found in today's Congressional lobbying feed trough. Sweaty little squealing lobbyists with pokes full-o'-corporate cash scurry about the Hill looking for their next Senator on the take.
And the easily-turned hog is not hard to find. Our modern style-over-substance American way says "how much you spend on media" rather than "what you accomplish during your term in office" defines your next Super Tuesday ROI.
In other words, if you wanna get re-elected and keep your job in Congress you'd better come up with some rootin' around money. And there's no quicker way to fatten the campaign sow than wallowing in the mud with big business.
So on it goes, term after term our Congressmen kiss corporate ass in return for millions in campaign contributions. It's argued that giving constituents what they want is the hog's share of an elected delegate's job, and campaign slush is rationalized as merely part of a Congressman's due compensation. But the hoggish level of uber-lobby pork we've been force fed for decades has taken a despicable toll. Consider these examples:
• Millions died from cigarette smoking-related illnesses while the tobacco industry lined the pockets of good ol' boys who voted down years of anti-tobacco legislation.
• Greasy oil industry payola on the Hill has helped perpetuate the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of war victims who have died in countries we don't give a damn about, except for the fact that they produce most of the world's oil.
• For decades automobile industry graft has lubed the gears of law-makers who continue to shamelessly deny that the cars we drive are making our planet uninhabitable.
• Arrogant, too-big-to-fail piggy-bankers wallow in taxpayer billions while they throw desperate families out of their homes and into the street. Congressmen, funded by big bank bucks, look the other way and call it "economic stimulus." How's that workin' out so far, huh?
• Greedy pharma giants and mega-insurance companies overdose congress with favors so they can continue their unfettered, gluttonous pursuit, deciding who lives and who dies.
All this talk about the other white meat has led to one observation: Money defines everything in Washington. That's not exactly an epiphany, but it's something that needs repeating occasionally. If you've got enough cash, you can buy anything and anybody. The barrel of rotting swine flesh pictured here smells pretty damned good in comparison to that statement.
There's no short-term solution, but here's a good start. Go to the Center for Responsive Politics web site www.opensecrets.org to find out who's buying whom, and for how much. Then let your conscience guide your next move.
Wake up, Porky, 'cause we're headed for the meat grinder.
Tha-a-ha, tha-a-ha, tha-a-ha, that's all folks!
-Aré
