Playwright David Mamet once said something to the effect of, "When somebody says "collaboration," what they really mean is bend over."
I'm reminded of this quote every time I hear the phony populism of Republican politicians. When Republicans say, "Fight for the middle class," what they really mean is "bend over."
I wish some member of the Democratic Party had the nerve to say that in public. I think it might resonate with a lot of voters.
In California, we are witnessing the spectacle of two incredibly rich women buying themselves a senate seat and a governorship. How anyone can believe that they are motivated by their devotion to the interests of working-class and middle-class Americans is a great mystery to me. Has no one been paying attention to how our nation's business leaders treat the people who work for their companies?
Fortune columnist Stanley Bing pretty much nails it this morning.
Beyond money, which is asset #1, #2, and #3 in politics at this point, business executives have other attributes that all but ensure success in the big arena, including:
- The ability to feign sincerity;
- The capacity to do anything necessary to achieve short-term success;
- Great powers of rationalization when odious acts are called for;
- Flexible concepts of loyalty, along with the willingness to sacrifice friends and allies when necessary;
- Access to great wells of narcissism;
- Well spoken, with excellent presentation skills.
As a group, the captains of industry do have weaknesses, however, failings inherent to their profession that must be watched carefully and guarded against, including:
- No problem utilizing power for personal gain;
- Willingness to yell at people, sometimes in public;
- Flabby recognition of need for consensus on difficult issues;
- Stubborn when wrong;
- Impatient with process;
- Sometimes quite boring when not intoxicated
What he left out is the general level of incompetence and stupidity demonstrated by our nation's highly-paid and overly-revered business leaders.
After all, the politicians didn't get the nation into its present mess on their own. They did it in large part by kowtowing to the wishes of the nation's business leaders, who have been wrong about almost everything yet continue to make the ridiculous claim that their alleged business acumen qualifies them to run a government and a nation.
Why voters continue to swallow this hooey is beyond me. But as someone once said, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."