Local author takes on corporate America

Bill Boyer. photo by Judy Vallembois

Sisters author Bill Boyer wants to take America back from what he sees as a collusion between government and powerful corporations.

He has written a new book entitled "Myth America: Democracy vs. Capitalism." Boyer says his objective in writing this book is to help students and the public get their government back.

"I love what we would like to be and what we claim to be but we have lost it," Boyer said.

"The American public is subject to a narrow range of information through mass media and even through the schools. Our founding fathers created a constitution that allowed anyone to vote as long as they were white, male and held property. This was the beginning of oligarchy."

Oligarchy is defined as a government in which power belongs to a few wealthy persons. According to Boyer, oligarchy is alive and well in America today.

A key issue for Boyer is highlighted on page 168, where the author notes that Chief Justice William Rehnquist recently pointed out that an 1886 decision made a business corporation into "a 'person' entitled to the protection of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (U.S. Supreme Court Reports, 55L.Ed 2nd)." "So, to understand how the corporation came to have so much power you have to understand this decision."

Boyer calls that decision "preposterous."

Because of it, Boyer argues, corporations are currently able to contribute vast amounts of money to campaigns, to promote and to block initiatives.

"There is no control unless the government is by the people, for the people," Boyer said. "Right now the government is by the corporation for the corporation. In recent years we have begun to see some restrictions on campaign contributions. It has started but is not very strong."

Boyer is at an age when many people would want to sit back, rest, relax and enjoy what they have achieved. When asked why he wrote this book, he responded, "I think of the meaning of life as being connected with the kind of future we'll have.

"In order to have a better future, the public has to control the government," he said. "How? Make known how we've lost it. This is one of the purposes of my book.

"Then what? What we're doing in Oregon is to run an initiative, Measure 53, which takes power away from corporations in campaign finances. They would be allowed to make no contributions. Individuals can make contributions but there are limits. This confronts the question of whether or not a corporation is a 'person.' Other states are likely to follow."

Boyer suggests that there are many avenues for reform: know who you're voting for and vote, write a letter to the editor, discuss these issues with church or civic clubs, have some influence on what your children are reading in school and some may use the influence of a labor union.

"We are not just individuals, we are members of the human community who are capable of having some effect on the future. That's what democracy is all about. We should be creating a legitimate basis for hope. Many people are cynics and pessimists because they don't have any hope."

Boyer is Professor Emeritus in philosophy at the University of Hawaii. He has written other books on education and social change. For more information contact Boyer at 548-6544.