Letter to the editor on the killing of Osama bin Laden

      Jaquematepress has received a letter to the editor from Terry Zeller, a U.S. citizen, concerning the recent events involving  the assassination of Osama bin Laden. The letter, entitled "The Enemy Within," follows.

2 May 2011

THE ENEMY WITHIN

    The killing of Osama bin Laden is largely a symbolic achievement. Terrorist organizations still exist, as do the policies of the U.S. government that feed hatred of our country and led to the 9/11 attacks. Americans seem unable to live without an enemy. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union Islamic terrorism has replaced Communism as the greatest threat to the nation, or so we are told. The real enemy is an internal not an external one. Yet most Americans refuse to recognize the enemy within.

    The unbridled power corporations exert on all aspects of our national life has turned our democracy into a corporacy. There has been a dramatic redistribution of wealth in this country due largely to lax regulation of financial institutions and tax breaks for big business and the rich. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, political bribery is now legal. The only constituents who count with elected officials are big campaign contributors be they individuals or corporations.

    Rather than reducing the federal deficit by ending our military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, cutting the Pentagon’s budget, closing some of the hundreds of military bases we have around the world, and ending corporate subsidies and tax breaks, both Democrats and Republicans are prepared to cut or eliminate spending on programs vital to the health of our republic and beneficial to the majority of our citizens. Healthcare, the environment, infrastructure, public broadcasting as a corrective to corporate mass-media, and not just vocational training but real education—the study of the humanities, social sciences, and the arts which promote an informed and questioning electorate, something both politicians and corporations fear—are essential to a strong democracy.   

    Corporations are calling the shots for their minions in Congress and the White House in schemes to privatize Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, undermine public education with charter schools, end Internet neutrality, and much more. The reformers in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya put to shame complacent Americans who would rather take to the streets celebrating the death of a boogieman than to confront the enemy within.

 Terry Zeller, professor emeritus, Northern Illinois University

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