Dear Friends,
It seems to me, both run of the mill progressives and conservatives agree, that corporations have too much power, where we vehemently disagree however, is how to curtail that power. Sadly, the average person has been spoon fed anti libertarian, conservative, and anti Christian propaganda for so long, many of us believe human beings who are categorized as such, by the intelligentsia, are at heart bad people… when nothing is farther from the truth. This is because it behooves the globalists to keep us focused on our differences, rather than realize we have so much in common… and become cohesive. Were we to come together, we could actually move the world away from where only psychopaths want us to go, to where we all know we want to go. We all agree that the “military industrial complex,” the “deep state” and “corporate America” are all tied together and are existential threats to individual liberty, the environment and oppression, where we differ is in how to control them.
Progressives believe that the only way to control such powerful actors is with a more powerful actor, namely, the government. They see the government’s role as in limiting the power of corporations over us. To that end they don’t have any problem granting government ever more power to control the ever growing power of corporations, a kind of race to the top. They believe government through the use of enlightened regulation, written by thousands of Philip Dru administrators, working diligently in their cubicles, can curtail the power of large corporations. Like the the Lilliputians tying up Gulliver they believe regulations can shut down the caustic power of corporations to rape the environment, stomp on worker’s rights, pay a livable wage and help mankind transition to a sustainable paradigm. All these glorious goods can be achieved, if only we cede enough power to government… according to progressives.
Conservatives believe that the power of corporations is derived from their control of government, through their access to so much money with which to lobby, buy senators and create “non profit” groups to sway government’s actions their way, and so to limit the power of corporations, conservatives believe we must first limit the power of government. Elected officials are above the law, they have little fear of reelection and they even have the taxpayer pay for their indiscretions. They only fear their donors. Corporate donors know this, and along with the occasional blackmail evidence, have our elected officials under their thumbs. With that power, our corporate masters can wield regulation like a long sword, cleaving the head from any would be competitor, enabling them to grow into fat cats. Even the most anti big corporation regulations serve to help big corporations, because they have the resources to meet burdensome regulations, where their smaller competitors don’t.
Everyone agrees corporations seldom work for the favor of their shareholders, almost never for the environment or their employees, and usually take customers for granted… but work only for the advantage of the executives. Glaring examples are like looking for rain drops in a downpour. From the fact Goldman and indeed all the “too big to fail banks,” regularly get hit with billion dollar fines for breaking the law and no one even loses their job let alone goes to jail, to sweeping regulations that are closed to the public but written by corporations, Net neutrality and The Trans Pacific Partnership come to mind. Even as a corporation hemorrhages customers and market share, the executives feed deeply at the trough, until they declare bankruptcy and wipe out the shareholders’ investment, while landing softly with their golden parachutes. In the new class lust for power, wealth and fame, everything else gets trampled underfoot.
So what then is the best answer? Give government unlimited power, in hopes it will use that power to limit the power of their corporate masters, or limit the power of government and take away the lever corporations have over the rest of us? It is clear the direction corporations want us to go, it is the direction they lobby for… give government absolute power over everything. That would benefit corporations the most. Since they pull the levers, behind the scenes, they will really be the ones we are handing the keys to the world to. On the other hand, we could try limiting the role, scope and power of government over the people, and force cumbersome top heavy corporations to face actual competition from entrepreneurs. Were that to happen, the foundation of giant corporations, their wielding of government to their own ends, would collapse, and so would their bulwark against real competition. The rise in small business would increase the demand for workers lowering base unemployment, the rise of entrepreneurs would increase worker productivity and also the standard of living, while the creation of a smaller sized business economy, would increase innovation to a much faster rate.
So… which method do you think will work better?
Sincerely,
John Pepin
