Another Rant on Corporatism

I was checking out Kos, and there was a comment about how "corporatism" was an empty word, an undergraduate's jargonese. I felt, of course, compelled to explain:

"Corporatism seems to be a somewhat obvious concept, but it does refer to something very specific: The merger of corporate and government power in to an all powerful plutocracy. Governmental policy, in effect, is dictated by corporations for their benefit.

This seed was planted when corporations became virtual persons, with the same civil rights as you or I, but not the same ethical or moral responsibilities: A corporate "person" has civil rights, but cannot be held accountable for any crimes it might commit. The Ford Motor Company was indicted and convicted of murder, but the Ford Motor Company, obviously, was not sent to prison.

The effect of this is a badly titled game. When folks talk of a unregulated free market, it is a misnomer, for their is no such thing. The unregulated market will regulate itself, so it becomes a question of who does the regulation: Do we allow the government, which is supposed to look out for everybody, to handle the regulation, or the Capitalists, who would regulate it to their interests. Under the Corporatist paradigm, this point is, of course, moot.

Corporatism, with its "free market" apologists, make it possible that any meaningful or moral approach to health care, organized labor, and rule of law pointless, for the plutocracy already has set itself above these concerns: They have the best health care because they can afford it. They are have no reason to worry about workers' rights, the working class, or the poor since they control all the capital, and rule of law is a joke because they are the law. This, friends, is trickle down economics.

Finally, and most disturbingly, is the idea of Bush as a CEO President, and this administration, as a Corporate one: These words are not meaningless, but point instead to real intent, for what has been increasingly in the works since WWII is solidifying: The Hegemony of Capitalists and the cotillion of America (tm) aka the funeral of a United States. Mussolini, notably, saw this as step ladder to Fascism.

The import of this cannot be understated, because a failure to get some progressive/liberal/leftist/rationalist voices back into our government will result in an ostensible show democracy.

I do not believe that it is too late, but I definately fear we are running short on time to get our shit together."