Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy by R.F.K. Jr. - Book Report/Review Example

Download file to see previous pages At every step of the way, Kennedy demonstrates Bush's disregard for the government, as he appointed cronies eager to get their hand in the cookie jar of corruption and greed. Kennedy makes the case that in the end our national security is at risk, our people are less safe, and the laws that were put in place to protect Americans have been set back decades by Bush's corruption and greed.
Well before Bush took office as President, he was busy in Texas honing his skill at corruption. In exchange for campaign donations and favoritism, Bush was busy making a bad environmental situation in Texas even worse. As the home of oil refineries and petrol-chemical plants, Texas has had a long record of poor environmental controls. Still, Kennedy contends, "rather than remedy the situation, George W Bush set out to destroy virtually all attempts to clean up the state's tainted air, water, and land" (12). The end result, Kennedy would write, was that Texas created one of the worst environmental records in America, endangering the public's health, while he and his corporate cronies profited from the lax environmental law. Kennedy states that Texas was just Bush's training ground, as he would carry this attitude to the White House in 2001.
Much of what George Bush accomplished in the way of destroying the environmental fabric of America was accomplished with the cooperation of the extreme right wing. Working with radicals such as Gale Norton, Linda Fisher, Thomas Sansonetti, and Jeffery Holmstead, Bush was packing the departments of government with people that had been prior leaders of some of the country's worst polluters. Using the organization "Wise Use", he created a coalition of people dedicated to, as founder Ron Arnold would say, "Our goal is to destroy, to eradicate the environmental movement. We want you to be able to exploit the environment for private gain, absolutely" (27). Through a series of "stealth" governmental tactics, Bush and his anti-environmental cronies, "doled out waivers that exempt campaign contributors and polluters from rules or regulations" (32). Kennedy illustrates that the White House was up for sale to the highest bidding lobbyist, and the environment was the prize.
Kennedy leaves no doubt about the direct connection between corporate greed and the Bush White House. He states that as of 2004, Bush and the Republican Party had raked in over $100 million in campaign donations (96). And these investments in greed and corruption were paying off. Drawing from his close corporate ties in the energy, oil, and the gas industries, nearly two thirds of his transition team came from the oil industry (96). In addition "4 cabinet secretaries, the 6 most powerful White House officials, and more than 20 high level appointees are alumni of the industry and its allies", and filled the roster in the Bush administration (96). But the corruption did not stop at just the oil and gas industries. They also targeted coal and found ways to make the excessive carbon dioxide emissions more acceptable, or at least not illegal. Quin Shea was a top lobbyist for the big polluting Edison Electric Company and a major advocate of burning coal at any environmental cost. After working to defeat the Kyoto Agreement that would regulate CO2 emissions, Shea boasted, "We're taking steps right now to reverse every piece ...Download file to see next pagesRead More