Ben for Prez: Secretary of the Department of Disillusionment and Disenchantment (3D)

I am running for President. I've received a number of requests for positions in my Presidential Cabinet. I will be featuring them over the course of this week. If you want to serve, please send me a photo, the cabinet position you seek to fill, and a statement about how you think the world should be changed.

From:
Phil Crehan
Secretary of the Dept. of of Disillusionment and Disenchantment

In accordance with the Initiative to Stop being Fucking-Dumb, the proposed Keynesian economic policies, and the effort for more sustainable, local food, the Department of Disillusionment and Disenchantment will work for President Carver. The goal of this department will be to cast complete transparency on both domestic and multinational corporations. As the American neoliberal policies have increasingly granted power to these institutions, human rights abuses and environmental degradation has skyrocketed. Violent exploitation of human beings, the environment, and animals is a common practice. These practices have been almost completely covered up so that American consumers have no idea of their existence. Invariably, not knowing what is going on means not caring what is going on. This department will seek to end the illusion and enchantment behind the shit we buy and eat, by helping Americans connect the dots between how a resource becomes a consumable product. Or in other words, I will work to eradicate the commodity fetishism that runs so rampant in this country.

Of course, the underlying premise behind this effort is that, deep down, people actually DO care about their world. It is the belief of this agency that exposing the truth behind consumerism will lead to progressive change. If people actually see and understand the devastation that we are complicit with, then many people will change their actions. Connecting the dots will end much of the enchantment with ready-to-eat, plastic-wrapped steak. Connecting the dots will fight the illusion that our shirt was made safely. Seeing that our stuff has an actual past will fight the corporate green-washing tactics that is epitomized by Wal-Mart.

The department will dedicate a lot of time and energy to three essential areas of our consumer life: our clothes, our food, and our land.

Economic liberal policies have recently granted multinational corporations extraordinary power in (over) third-world countries. These policies stem from many leading institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and international trade agreements like NAFTA. While some good has come from these policies, a lot of harm has also come. Most notably is the wide scale use of sweatshops by corporations. Invariably, the pain and suffering that goes into making clothes (as well as toys and other commodities) finds its way to the American consumer. We will seek to make this process as transparent as possible, so that we can rationally choose whether or not to buy them.

As discussed in the Edible Food and Fairness Act of 2009, the quality of our food must improve. As it is now, the USDA allows unspeakable acts to occur, both against animals as well as our land. Corporate, industrial agriculture is now the norm. One example of this is how the federal government gives large subsidies to industrial farmers to grow a lot of corn. To grow so much of any one crop (monoculture) requires a lot of pesticides and chemical, fertilizers. (Where do they end up?) That corn turns into a surplus, which corporations can buy at a very cheap rate. This corn then goes into most of our food at the grocery store (corn starch, corn syrup, etc) or to a factory farm. At a farm, the cows are forced to eat something that they did not evolve to eat. Corn, instead of grass, makes them sick. To keep them healthy, they eat many antibiotics. Those that don’t get sick and die off of the corn they eat spend a miserable life in a factory farm.

As Secretary, I will cast complete and utter transparency on domestic and multinational corporations. This will take fortitude, resilience, and probably a lot of Harry Potter magic. Yes, a lot of magic is needed for such a feat. But when all is said and done, the Department of Disillusionment and Disenchantment will enable a more enlightened populace to make better ethical choices. Isn’t it about time we all saw in 3D?

-Phil Crehan