During every presidential election, Democratic and Republican candidates promise to impose new reforms and initiatives aimed at improving the lives of the people of the United States. But as the plight of working-class people continues to worsen regardless of which party is in office, it is clear that these promises are nothing but empty lies.
As long as society is dictated by the rules of capitalism, no politician will ever bring about meaningful change in the
|
A classic example of this relationship is demonstrated by former mayor of New York City and Republican presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani founded Giuliani Partners, a security consulting firm, in 2002. One of the firm’s first clients was Purdue Pharma—the manufacturer of the painkiller Oxycotin. Purdue hired Giuliani Partners to manage the controversy stemming from hundreds of deaths resulting from the abuse of Oxycotin.
Six years prior, Purdue Pharma had begun one of the most aggressive promotional campaigns for the high-powered narcotic. Purdue claimed to medical practitioners that Oxycotin was less prone to abuse than competing narcotics. The company promoted the drug not only to pain specialists, but also to family doctors with little experience in treating serious pain or recognizing drug abuse.
Due to wide access, Oxycotin generated sales of more than $1 billion each year. Countless people became addicted. Hundreds of people—many of them teenagers—died from overdose.
According to Robin Hogen, a former spokesman for Purdue, the company hired Giuliani to deal with the controversy because he was a well-connected political figure who was (incorrectly) revered for his leadership after Sept. 11, 2001. (New York Times, 2007)
As the mouthpiece for the pharmaceutical giant, Giuliani personally spoke with federal prosecutors who were investigating Purdue Pharma and told them that the allegations against the company were false. Former New York City police commissioner and partner of Giuliani Partners, Bernard Kerik, also negotiated on behalf Purdue.
In a clear conflict of interest, Giulani Partners was simultaneously part of a $1 million Justice Department consulting contract to advise it on reorganizing its major drug investigations.
By hiring a politician to do its bidding, Purdue Pharma paid only $2 million—less than 0.2 percent of the annual revenue generated from Oxycotin—as a penalty to the Drug Enforcement Agency for record-keeping charges. And it did not have to admit to any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Giuliani Partners earned several million dollars from the account and continues to represent the company.
In 2007, Purdue Pharma and three top executives plead guilty to misleading the public about Oxycotin’s risk of addiction and paid $634.5 million in fines. However, they evaded jail time despite being responsible for hundreds of deaths. Family members of the victims expressed in a Virginia court that this was due to Giuliani’s influence.
Giuliani and his supporters claim that he negotiated on behalf of Purdue Pharma because, as a cancer survivor, he wanted to keep the company’s pain reliever available to the widest circle of sufferers.
The truth is that Giuliani chose to represent the murderous pharmaceutical giant because he could use his political power to save a multi-billion dollar company and make a few million for himself in the process.
This is precisely the role of politicians under capitalism. Their task is to facilitate the domination of a tiny capitalist class over the vast working class. After all, politicians rely on capitalists to fund their multi-million dollar campaigns, and many politicians are members of the ruling class themselves. Under capitalism, politicians will always grease the wheels of commerce for the ruling class.
