the Voice of the OTHER Texas -- Jim Hightower

[Guest guest]

http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/08/int04040.html

 

August 4, 2004

 

BuzzFlash Interviews the Voice of the OTHER Texas --

Jim Hightower

....Yes, Lone Star State Populism Lives On!

 

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

 

I think, deep down, Karl [Rove] is the one who's

worried right now. How could he not be? You've got a

low approval rating for a sitting president. You've

got a record deficit, lagging job growth, abysmal

income numbers for American workers, and a war machine

spiraling out of control. Nearly every objective

indicator you can examine looks terrible. You can put

lipstick on a hog, but, in the end, would you want to

kiss one? -- Jim Hightower

 

If there ever were a person who should know about the

evil of the Bush Cartel, it's the indefatigable Texas

populist, Jim Hightower. Hightower had a bright

political future in Lone Star State politics until

Karl Rove teamed up with a rogue FBI agent to sabotage

Jim's career. Yes, Rove abused government powers to

derail Hightower. By now, we all know the modus

operandi of Bush's Machiavelli, but Hightower was one

of Rove's first big-time victims -- and he never saw

it coming.

 

Maybe that's why Hightower has a photo of Bush with

devil's horns on the cover of his new book, Let's Stop

Beating Around the Bush. But it isn't a book about the

injustice done to Hightower; rather it's a well-argued

chronicle about the injustices done to us.

 

As Hightower notes: " They're insane. They're zealots

totally dedicated to implementing their plutocratic,

autocratic, militaristic, and imperialistic vision of

America -- and it's time we stopped beating around the

Bush about it. "

 

Jim Hightower is one of America's great progressives,

a barnburner of a speaker and a rabble-rousing radio

commentator. He's a damn good writer to boot, as this

book makes clear.

 

 

***

 

BuzzFlash: Recently a husband and wife were arrested,

handcuffed and removed from a taxpayer-funded

Presidential event in West Virginia because they were

wearing anti-Bush T-shirts. You have a section in your

book about " BushZones. " Isn't the practice of

excluding dissenters from publicly-funded events kind

of Sovietesque?

 

Hightower: As they say in Moscow, " Da. " The offending

T-shirts declared: " Love America, Hate Bush. " These

folks, Jeff and Nicole Rank, had proper tickets to the

event, they proudly sang the National Anthem with

everyone else, they were in no way disorderly -- but

they were not politically correct, so they were

summarily arrested, taken to jail, finger

printed...and charged with " trespassing. " Others who

were there wearing pro-Bush T-shirts and Bush campaign

paraphernalia at this public event on public property

were not arrested.

 

It seems that the Bushites define " trespassers " by

their political beliefs. What's worse is that Nicole,

who worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency

in Charleston, was promptly told that her services

were no longer required. Technically, she wasn't

fired, but she was " released " from her job and not

reassigned -- meaning she no longer gets paid. The

good news is that this is STILL America, and Nicole

and Jeff are not bowing to King George. Despite the

financial hardship, they're fighting Bush's absurd,

un-American assault on their constitutional right to

dissent. They're not the only ones being denied their

right to speak out -- dissenters all across America

are being treated like this.

 

BuzzFlash: Speaking of civil liberties, you have a bit

to say in your book about Mr. Ashcroft. Is he acting

like an Attorney General or a Commissar?

 

Hightower: I dare say that Bush's attorney general is

acting like an extremist sicko. Like a demented street

preacher whacking his Bible and shouting damnations at

libertines, Ashcroft seems to hate America's

liberties.

 

This is the guy who crudely threw a blue burka over

the justice department's " Spirit of Justice " art deco

statue shortly after he took office. This is the guy

who rammed through the decidedly unpatriotic " USA

Patriot Act " just days after September 11th, erasing

essential elements of our First and Fourth Amendments.

This is the guy who decreed that the FBI can resume

spying on our churches and political groups. This is

the guy who has instructed agency heads to deny We the

People access to information under right-to-know laws.

This is the guy who has ordered prosecutors to seek

executions in every case where the death penalty is

available, even when local authorities don't think

it's warranted. Now he's looking for ways to suspend

the November elections -- further proof that we need

to get the Bushites out.

 

BuzzFlash: True to your populist roots, you devote

quite a bit of Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush to

how the Bush administration is shafting the American

hourly wage earner. How can anyone earning less than

$60,000 a year even think of voting for Bush?

 

Hightower: What's wrong with you people? Don't you

know that the economy is humming, that our very own

president has declared " mission accomplished " on his

promise of prosperity, that the stock market is up by

40 percent over last year, that jobs are cropping up

like crabgrass, that the bluebird of happiness is

officially singing everywhere across our land, and

that you should be grateful, for godssake?

 

If you listen to the Republican politicians, corporate

economists, and the media barons, that's what you'll

hear. And that's the problem. People hear so much

baloney from these jokers that they think their own

high-wage job or tax-cut windfall must be just around

the corner, if only they keep the faith. Meanwhile,

they face such real-life pocketbook indicators as jobs

that only pay poverty wages, gasoline topping $2 a

gallon, milk at $4.43 a gallon, health-care costs

rising three times faster than wages, and 401K's being

shrunk to 1K's.

 

Democrats, in recent years, haven't helped themselves

any. They've been almost as guilty as Republicans,

supporting NAFTA, corporate welfare, turning a blind

eye to 401K fraud. Fortunately, the Dems have been

scared back to progressivism, and it looks like we'll

have a clear choice come November.

 

BuzzFlash: Your first chapter is on " Global Warming, "

yet that's kind of been lost as a national campaign

issue. As you point out, Bush has been a disaster to

the environment. How come this isn't getting more

prominence?

 

Hightower: Because it doesn't translate well to TV. We

need death and destruction to get our attention. Show

me a deformed baby. Give me an environmental disaster.

That will get people's attention. Until then, we'll

have our hands full worrying about hanging on to our

meager jobs or paying our medical bills. That's a more

immediate concern.

 

BuzzFlash: You're kind of the Texas Anti-Bush. Has he

done to America what he did to Texas?

 

Hightower: You can look at Bush's time in Texas as a

test run. Tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate welfare,

environmental rape, regulatory prostitution,

bankrupting our public treasury, gutting our public

education and health systems -- we've seen it all

here, and it's like déjà vu all over again.

 

BuzzFlash: What does " rugged individualism " mean in

terms of ACTUAL Bush policies?

 

Hightower: Caveat emptor. I got mine, you get yours.

Never give a sucker an even break. " Adios, chump! " is

more like it.

 

BuzzFlash: You have a section called " heroes. " Who are

some present-day heroes in America?

 

Hightower: I've recently become a fan of Jim Sinegal,

the CEO of Costco. I know CEOs are hardly sympathetic

characters these days, and I do my share of bashing

them. But here's a guy who could teach corporate

America a thing or two. He takes a shockingly

heretical view of his job, paying workers well above

the industry average (read " Wal-Mart " ). A full-time

Costco clerk or warehouse worker earns more than

$41,000 a year, plus getting terrific health-care

coverage.

 

Wal-Mart workers get barely a third of that pay, plus

a lousy health-care plan. Costco even has unions! The

bottom line is that Costco workers feel valued, which

adds enormously to their productivity and lowers

employee turnover. And even though Wal-Mart makes

twice as much profit as Costco, Sinegal believes it's

better business to make a nice profit, but not a

killing, and to invest more in Costco's 92,000 workers

-- Wall Street analysts be damned!

 

BuzzFlash: Your old nemesis, Karl Rove, has been kind

of quiet lately. Should we be worried?

 

Hightower: I think, deep down, Karl is the one who's

worried right now. How could he not be? You've got a

low approval rating for a sitting president. You've

got a record deficit, lagging job growth, abysmal

income numbers for American workers, and a war machine

spiraling out of control. Nearly every objective

indicator you can examine looks terrible. You can put

lipstick on a hog, but, in the end, would you want to

kiss one?

 

BuzzFlash: This isn't in your book, but it always

fascinates us. You live in Austin. It's a liberal,

progressive town that's also home to perhaps the most

wigged-out right-wing state government in the United

States. How do you all get along down there?

 

Hightower: We have a slogan here in Texas that says,

" It's like a whole other country. " And it is. Texas is

big and bold, and aside from being born and raised

here and having friends and family here, I love the

proud, agitating spirit of Texans. The Populist

movement got its start here in Texas, right up the

road in Lampasas. Austin itself is a progressive oasis

in the middle of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. The

relaxed, fun-loving atmosphere and the warm climate

are hard to beat. I've lived in New York and

Washington, DC, and I've traveled to just about every

place in America that has a zip code, and I've come to

realize that Austin is about as good as it gets.

Fortunately -- and to answer your question more

directly -- we get along because we have plenty of

space.

 

BuzzFlash: Finally, what happened to the sense of

community that used to bring Americans together? Bush

is the ultimate divider, trying to make America into a

Christian paradise for the wealthy. Where did we make

the wrong turn?

 

Hightower: In trying to make America into a

" Christian " paradise for the wealthy, he's done an

amazing thing -- he's united everyone else against

him. If only we could get the rest of the global

citizenry to vote in our election this November.

 

But I go back to something I've been saying for years

now -- we (meaning the Democrats) went wrong when we

stopped being Democrats and ceased to offer working

men and women a real voice in government to address

their concerns.

 

A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW

 

* * *

 

Get Your Copy of Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush

from BuzzFlash.com.

You can learn more about Jim Hightower at:

http://www.jimhightower.com