Nationally syndicated columnist and radio commentator Arianna Huffington spoke on the dearth of principled leaders in the American government in a speech yesterday. The address was delivered as part of a multi-campus tour to promote her latest book, "Pigs At The Trough."
In her presentation, Huffington railed against special interest groups, the financially beholden politicians who do their bidding, and political America's obsession with poll results. She concluded that the only way to bring about change in the system is to start grassroots movements.
Huffington directed her opening criticism against the government contractors that will receive 1.5 billion to rebuild Iraq but employ offshore tax shelters in order to avoid U.S. taxes.
She claimed that these shelters cost the American government over $70 billion per year in tax revenue; "it's unpatriotic not to pay taxes." She also called for a bill to prohibit such corporations from receiving government contracts.
Huffington specifically denounced Halliburton, the conglomerate "which increased its offshore tax shelters from nine to forty four" while current Vice President Dick Cheney was its CEO. According to Huffington, Halliburton and the other reconstruction contractors have donated a total of $2.8 million to political candidates, mostly Republicans.
Although Huffington was a registered Republican for part of her early career, she targeted Republican lawmakers with her harshest invective. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was singled out for his suppression of the bill to end government contracts for companies that use tax shelters. Huffington noted that "[DeLay] has blocked e-mail from outside of Texas," but she encouraged the audience to write to his office or to demonstrate in support of the bill.
Huffington denounced President George W. Bush as overly simplistic. "Remember the axis of evil? It included North Korea, Iran, and Iraq; that was too much for [Bush]," Huffington quipped.
She blamed the president for attempting to reduce the complex war on terror to a "Cold War-style binary system" in which a single good force opposes a single enemy.
The president's revisions to the tax code, such as a measure that allows business owners to buy luxury sport utility vehicles and deduct the SUV's entire cost from their taxes was cited as further evidence of Bush's alliance with corporate interests.
Democratic leaders were accused of not providing a compelling alternative to the right. "They suffer from congenital spinelessness, without which we would not be in Iraq," Huffington said.
She also blasted the Democrats for living in fear of being called unpatriotic or un-American: "in the absence of loyal opposition, we have had this artificial consensus," she said.
Huffington identified excessive polling as the other root cause of weak leadership. She said that "leadership is about building consensus, even where none exists. Polling is being used as a substitute for leadership."
Huffington also highlighted the danger of basing policy on polls alone.
"Pre-September 11, if you asked the public, 'are you afraid of terrorism,' they would have said 'no.'" Huffington cited the wildly fluctuating approval rating for the war as proof that the public opinion changes every time a news story breaks.
According to Huffington -- an economist by education -- the recent price of bad leadership can be expressed in "opportunity costs," which represent the alternative opportunity one forgoes when a choice is made.
She identified the primary opportunity costs of the current war as a shortfall in funding for schools, neglect of the Afghan operation, inadequate attention to rising tensions on the Korean peninsula and the unchecked escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan.
Due to her belief that politicians care only about polls and campaign donors, Huffington emphasized the grassroots path to political change.
As the creator of the controversial "Detroit Project," whose television commercials highlight the link between American oil dependence and terrorism, Huffington feels that even a modestly funded operation can receive national attention if its message is compelling.
"The change has to come from outside politics ... Martin Luther King called it a creative minority. Lenin called it a strategic minority," Huffington stated. She emphasized that "The civil rights movement was not started in Washington."
A diverse audience of area residents, College professors and students filled most seats in the auditorium, which was near capacity 20 minutes before the presentation.
After the conclusion of her commentary, Huffington received an ovation lasting nearly a minute, and the vast majority of audience members remained for the hour-long question and answer session.
