You would think that in a democracy what a majority of the people want would matter. You’d think. But very often it seems that the distance between what Americans wish for and want to happen and what our government does is wider than the Grand Canyon.
Can I give you an example? Quite a few but let us do just one. Do Americans want subsidies for solar energy?
Let us look at the link below!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/survey-reveals-americans-overwhelming-opinions-120500351.html
(Quote from the article above.) An Instagram Reel by EnergySage — a platform that helps homeowners save up to $10,000 on rooftop solar panels — shared the stunning results of a recent study.
“Nearly 90% of Americans are in favor of government programs to help homeowners go solar,” the video says. “That includes 78% of 2020 voters for President Donald Trump.”
The clip also cites a survey from 2019, in which 92% of respondents said America should expand solar power. The lack of partisan split was equally encouraging: 86% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats backed the idea. The clip finishes with a map of the United States, highlighting the states that installed the most solar power in 2023, the year the Inflation Reduction Act went into full effect. Seven of the 10 backed the Republican candidate in 2024. (End quote.)
Those number would seem to suggest with great certainty that the American people want solar energy to be subsidized and it implies that they believe the future is going to be one of sustainable energy. So, how are their views reflected in the actions of their “democratically” elected government.
The federal government abolished a major tax credit for solar energy. See the link below.
https://www.energysage.com/news/congress-passes-bill-ending-residential-solar-tax-credit/
President Trump signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law on Independence Day, cutting the 30% residential solar tax credit by December 31, 2025—nearly a decade ahead of schedule.
But that wasn’t the only thing cut. The current administration used its power to destroy a solar energy program of quite a large size in Ohio. Note the link below.
The abrupt termination of a $7 billion federal solar energy program has dealt a serious blow to Ohio’s renewable energy plans, with the Today in Ohio crew ruing the state’s loss of $156 million that would have powered thousands of homes with solar arrays.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to end the “Solar for All” grant program – created by the Biden administration – has eliminated cash that would have provided solar power to over 900,000 homes nationwide. For Ohio, the impact is severe.
But don’t the American people want solar energy? What’s happening here? What happened to the a government “of the people, for the people?”
It was purchased.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/big-oil-donations-trump
According to the report, Big Oil’s total known spending in the last election cycle amounted to “an astounding $445 million.”
“Importantly, however, the oil and gas industry also routes undisclosed funds through dark money groups that do not have to reveal their donors, making it nearly impossible to understand the full scope of their impact,” the report notes.
So, not so much a government of the people as a government purchased and operated for the benefit of giants corporations like the associated group know as “Big Oil.”
That explains a lot.
It explains why the President and his crawling minions in the House and Senate are entirely comfortable with defying the will of the people.
In terms of business ethics, it is a catastrophe. Morally wrong, it not only subverts democracy, it has the government enacting laws that results in policies that make money for contributors but in the long term are disastrous for the nation and the larger planet as well.
And it is a symbol to every student in the United States who sees that human beings educated in the finest institutions and elected by the American people sell themselves, their honor and their votes for money.
James Alan Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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