Progressive Ponderings: Masters of Manipulation
by Joe Mayer
3/2/11
We are in crisis – cities, counties, school districts, states. Many of us are in crisis as individuals while the wealthy among us seek tax havens to protect their disproportionate opulence and multinational corporations have more cash than they know what to do with.
Maybe it’s time for a values check — who we are as individuals and what we are as a nation.
The Republican House started the session with a grandiose reading of the Constitution. But let us go back further to the Preamble: “We, the people…, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the Common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty…”
This continues to be a radical statement!
It overturned the way the world was ruled for millenniums. It questioned the manner in which wealth and ownership was shared. It elevated the Common Good. The words in bold in the paragraph above emphasize a new societal direction, a recognition that governance should be shared by the governed. NO reference was made in either the Preamble or the Constitution for Corporate participation in governance.
I still recall the first chapter of my college course Economics 101: Economics is the study of how people satisfy their needs and wants. Again, no mention of corporations.
Our evolving corporate world is undermining both our governance and our shared economic objectives. When first chartered by states, corporations were limited in duration, limited to specific industries and charged with working for the GOOD of the COMMUNITIES where they were located. Today that charge has been completely reversed. Now large corporations control our governing bodies by hefty political donations which purchase political puppets that become obligated to fulfill their corporate desires. Understanding this is the only way to comprehend our current mess:
And the world is alive with this rage. Global societies are being plundered and exploited by the Free Market system – by unequal wealth (and ownership) beyond tolerance. As common citizens we have two choices, join the rebellions of the world or sink into Third World misery.
3/2/11
We are in crisis – cities, counties, school districts, states. Many of us are in crisis as individuals while the wealthy among us seek tax havens to protect their disproportionate opulence and multinational corporations have more cash than they know what to do with.
Maybe it’s time for a values check — who we are as individuals and what we are as a nation.
The Republican House started the session with a grandiose reading of the Constitution. But let us go back further to the Preamble: “We, the people…, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the Common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty…”
This continues to be a radical statement!
It overturned the way the world was ruled for millenniums. It questioned the manner in which wealth and ownership was shared. It elevated the Common Good. The words in bold in the paragraph above emphasize a new societal direction, a recognition that governance should be shared by the governed. NO reference was made in either the Preamble or the Constitution for Corporate participation in governance.
I still recall the first chapter of my college course Economics 101: Economics is the study of how people satisfy their needs and wants. Again, no mention of corporations.
Our evolving corporate world is undermining both our governance and our shared economic objectives. When first chartered by states, corporations were limited in duration, limited to specific industries and charged with working for the GOOD of the COMMUNITIES where they were located. Today that charge has been completely reversed. Now large corporations control our governing bodies by hefty political donations which purchase political puppets that become obligated to fulfill their corporate desires. Understanding this is the only way to comprehend our current mess:
- Governance is purchased which strangles democracy
- Those who cause national economic disasters are bailed out
- The economic VICTIMS are told to SACRIFICE
- Unions of people are denigrated by unions of corporations (Chamber of Commerce)
- The commons is privatized with no one being held responsible for its stewardship
- Inequalities in income and wealth increase
- Citizens and society in general are sent on a downward slide
And the world is alive with this rage. Global societies are being plundered and exploited by the Free Market system – by unequal wealth (and ownership) beyond tolerance. As common citizens we have two choices, join the rebellions of the world or sink into Third World misery.
Labels: Scott Walker, Wisconsin
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2 Comments:
Mr Mayer said this of the Constitution:
"It (the Constitution) overturned the way the world was ruled for millenniums (PJD - plural for millenium is millenia, but I'll let that pass). It questioned the manner in which wealth and ownership was shared. It elevated the Common Good. The words in bold in the paragraph above emphasize a new societal direction, a recognition that governance should be shared by the governed. NO reference was made in either the Preamble or the Constitution for Corporate participation in governance"
The Constitution absolutely did not question the manner in which wealth and ownership were 'shared'. The Constitution was written to protect the common interests of the states and was written with certain enumerated powers which served to protect private property, enforce contracts and oppose illegitimate force. The Constitution doesn't care how much wealth you have or what you own. It was written to protect you from, as Bastiat put it, legal plunder at the hands of the government (such as a king confiscates from his subjects)
The Constitution says nothing of the 'common good' and what is the 'common good'? The preamble and the Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution only give Congress the power to 'promote the general welfare' not 'provide the general welfare'. The Constitution says nothing more on the topic.
Besides, the 'commong good' is subjective because what I believe to be the common good and what Mr Mayer believes to the be common good are not the same. I believe the 'common good' is something government provides that the private sector otherwise would not - courts, police, military to name few.
Consider the 16th and 19th Amendments. How could we deny elective franchise to women once the states gave the federal government the power to collect income taxes? After all, if the federal government can collect income taxes from women, how can it deny them elective franchise? By the same token, how can we deny corporate participation in governance. After all, doesn't the federal government regulate business? How can you deny a voice to an entity you regulate? You may not like corporations and you have every right to not like them, but if government would stop regulating them and regulating their products out of existence, then I would agree with you.
As for Governor Walker in Wisconsin, I just find it wholeheartedly disingenuous and completely arrogant to suggest that he was elected by 'masters of manipulation'. Just two short years earlier, Barack Obama won Wisconsin with 56% of the vote - 4% more than Walker won for governor. Do you really believe that people were manipulated in to changing their vote in just two short years while the guy they voted for in droves is the President? How do you explain the nearly 700 Democrats who were defeated at every level of government across the nation? That's one helluva conspiracy considering Team Obama is the most heavily organized political force in the history of the country. Maybe - just maybe - people looked at Candidate Obama and compared him to President Obama and told themselves 'President Obama isn't getting the job done'.
I'm not going to try and change anyone's opinion, but if you think people are generally so stupid that they can't see for themselves the issues and make judgements based on what they see for themselves and around them in their communities and are just sheep being manipulated by corporations, then you are deranged beyond all measure.
Our country’s downward financial path as a started when liberals (FDR) redefining General Welfare to mean individuals (money from the taxpayers to an individual via the government) and not citizens as a whole where individuals are not distinguishable (money from taxpayers spent on items where no one individuals benefits such as roads or defense). I’m concerned that we have reached the point where many citizens are not even aware of the difference in thinking that occurred when FDR had to threaten the Supreme Court in order to get his way. The war on poverty has resulting in trillions of taxpayer casualties and to what end result?
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