Who Is Guarding The Henhouse?
There seem to be a lot of people in a lot of government agencies who are not what we the people assume them to be. For example:
The Federal Communications Commission – the FCC. It seems as if most people think the FCC looks after our best interests in matters of public communications. But recently the Chairman, Kevin J. Martin, said that the commission …�should focus on creating a regulatory environment that promotes investment and competition…�.* That sounds more like the best interests of big media.
As a matter of fact, the FCC is currently “reconsidering� their rules. These are the rules that limit how many outlets any one company can own - the rules meant to protect the free exchange of ideas and information in our country. In 2003 the FCC voted 3-2 to weaken these rules about media ownership. This vote was cast in spite of 3 million comments in opposition. So it might behoove us to take a closer look at what this commission is doing for whom and why. We might start by letting our news media know that we object to their silence on the FCC "reconsideration" of its rules !
The Food and Drug Administration – the FDA. Most people assume that this agency works to protect our food and drug supply so that we can be confident in the safety of these products when we purchase them. That may play a part in what they do but looking a little closer, guess who you find paying for the testing the FDA does on new drugs? Surprise! The drug companies who are going to market the drugs. Seems like a conflict of interest doesn’t it? They claim not but remember Vioxx?
They also amended the FDA Act in 1987 so that US manufactured drugs could not be reimported to the US by anyone except the manufacturer. They now claim that they are against reimportation because they are concerned about the safety of the drugs . Funny how that works: if the manufacturer reimports the drugs, they are safe; if a consumer reimports the drugs they may not be safe.
These agencies along with many politicians and judges, are absolutely amazing. They are made of such strong moral fiber, have such incorruptible integrity, have risen so far above the normal human condition, that they are not subject to the temptations of greed, ambition, and hunger for power that most mere mortals experience. They are able to accept money and favors from people and companies directly connected to rulings and laws they must decide on and not give any special consideration to those same people and companies. It is interesting to note, that despite this lack of consideration, the rules and laws seem to favor these people and companies an extraordinary percentage of the time.
Perhaps it is time to fire the fox and get a real guard for the henhouse.
*Remarks of FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business’s Center for Business and Public Policy, November 30, 2006