Thoughts on the Financial Crisis, Campaign Finance and Echoes of Jefferson, Lincoln and Eisenhower.
Jefferson and Lincoln warned of finance and banking "corporatization" during their times. Such prescience from these guys way back when. These now threaten the very roots of the democracy still so early in its development.
Combine these warnings w/ what Eisenhower said more recently about the military/ industrial complex, and you begin to see that learned people of common sense have cautioned about these dangers for more than 200 years. Why can't these wisdoms prevail in a more governmentally regulized industry today, where human nature itself is the most likely culprit to fall into moral hazard? Why is it that more regulation can't occur w/out it being feared as "socialism," or worse, "communism?" When will the specter of Joseph McCarthy finally go away?
These regulating measures, in light of what has happened over the last 10 years, should only be seen as baseline pragmatism devoid of ideology. If left to their own devices, it is these corporatized/ finance industries that are at most risk of moral hazard because they deal in the pure commerce of money itself. Legislators become legislators because they first learn the arts of politicking. And the art of politicking today depends on money coming from large vested interests. Large vested interests care more for the machinery that generates their profits, not the social good for the greatest number. And it follows that slowly, over time, the corporate ologarchy buys the democracy. And when the democracy is totally bought, it ceases to be a democracy. We are rapidly approaching this terminus in my mind.
Publically funded political forums, equally distributed among competing politicians, of course, would be the ideal forum in the best of all possible worlds. And it is precisely this model that will have to happen at some point in order to save the liberal democracies everywhere. The problem is the titanic inertia of the staus quo corporate and big money lobbies. It has become intractably entrenched in our system of government.
We need a soft revolution in thought to occur. It will take a transcended sense of self -seeing for the democracy to see that this is happening right now. Not enough people are seeing it and therefore it continues unchecked.Maybe one day there will come a principled cadre of legislators, dems and republicans alike, who will be willing to sacrifice their personal careers in the short run by passing laws that prohibit any kind of private funding for political candidates. It would take a totally non-partisan revolution in the house and senate to accomplish this though. Can this, will this ever happen? Are we near the point of no return? Is the fat lady clearing her throat? And,of course, this legislative revolution would be seen as a socialist coup to stifle free enterprise and all that. Can you imagine the kind of leadership and the open commerce of new ideas that would come from such a radical and righting course change like this?
To me,the single most dangerous factor thretening the liberal democracies today, is the slowly seeping, insidiouis and relentlessly creeping malaise of the corporate/ finance mind.It, like Rome in its demise, is a narrow oligarchy of the few who are passively subjugating the many. This American experiment will be over in 50 years if this corporate mind continues unchecked.
Jefferson and Lincoln warned of finance and banking "corporatization" during their times. Such prescience from these guys way back when. These now threaten the very roots of the democracy still so early in its development.
Combine these warnings w/ what Eisenhower said more recently about the military/ industrial complex, and you begin to see that learned people of common sense have cautioned about these dangers for more than 200 years. Why can't these wisdoms prevail in a more governmentally regulized industry today, where human nature itself is the most likely culprit to fall into moral hazard? Why is it that more regulation can't occur w/out it being feared as "socialism," or worse, "communism?" When will the specter of Joseph McCarthy finally go away?
These regulating measures, in light of what has happened over the last 10 years, should only be seen as baseline pragmatism devoid of ideology. If left to their own devices, it is these corporatized/ finance industries that are at most risk of moral hazard because they deal in the pure commerce of money itself. Legislators become legislators because they first learn the arts of politicking. And the art of politicking today depends on money coming from large vested interests. Large vested interests care more for the machinery that generates their profits, not the social good for the greatest number. And it follows that slowly, over time, the corporate ologarchy buys the democracy. And when the democracy is totally bought, it ceases to be a democracy. We are rapidly approaching this terminus in my mind.
Publically funded political forums, equally distributed among competing politicians, of course, would be the ideal forum in the best of all possible worlds. And it is precisely this model that will have to happen at some point in order to save the liberal democracies everywhere. The problem is the titanic inertia of the staus quo corporate and big money lobbies. It has become intractably entrenched in our system of government.
We need a soft revolution in thought to occur. It will take a transcended sense of self -seeing for the democracy to see that this is happening right now. Not enough people are seeing it and therefore it continues unchecked.Maybe one day there will come a principled cadre of legislators, dems and republicans alike, who will be willing to sacrifice their personal careers in the short run by passing laws that prohibit any kind of private funding for political candidates. It would take a totally non-partisan revolution in the house and senate to accomplish this though. Can this, will this ever happen? Are we near the point of no return? Is the fat lady clearing her throat? And,of course, this legislative revolution would be seen as a socialist coup to stifle free enterprise and all that. Can you imagine the kind of leadership and the open commerce of new ideas that would come from such a radical and righting course change like this?
To me,the single most dangerous factor thretening the liberal democracies today, is the slowly seeping, insidiouis and relentlessly creeping malaise of the corporate/ finance mind.It, like Rome in its demise, is a narrow oligarchy of the few who are passively subjugating the many. This American experiment will be over in 50 years if this corporate mind continues unchecked.
posted by dave warren at 7:50 AM
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