The Illusion of Democracy?

Yesterday I was in documentary film mode. Being a movie buff since childhood, I have only recently developed a taste for learning via documentary films. The first one I watched, called Who Killed the Electric Car?", delves into the short life of the GM EV1 electric car -- a fuel-efficient electric auto that was once all the rage in the mid-1990s and now has fallen by the roadside. GM developed the spiffy little sports-like car in answer to the California Air Resources Board mandate that all seven car manufacturers selling cars in the state would have to develop and market a zero-emission car. The filmmaker, Chris Paine, interviewed government officials, GM executives and several Hollywood celebrities lucky enough to have leased an EV1.

The second film was The U.S. vs John Lennon, about a slice of American history that I obviously lived through. This retrospective of the events of the Nixon, Johnson and Peacenik times chronicles our government's response to the former Beatle's anti-war activities from 1966 to 1976.

Conclusions:

1. The success of the Toyota Prius flies directly in the face of the geniuses at GM who, fueled by their overriding greed and their affair with the oil industry, determined that there was little demand for an electric car. The Prius was developed by Toyota at the same time as the GM EV1 and for the same reason.

2. Those of us who take literally the phrase "government of, by and for the people," owe a lot to the eccentric and brilliant John Lennon, who wasn't even an American, but who used his celebrity to help put the spotlight on the anti-war movement.

3. A handful of people who have been placed in critical positions within both government and big business have the ability to alter the fate of millions of unsuspecting Americans. That is simply terrifying.