Call me a fool, but I don't feel we're going to win the over 230 year old Small Government vs. Big Government argument any time soon. But perhaps big corporate business's association with that historical ideological battle can be reframed to characterize them as an un-necessary and unconstitutional fourth branch of the US Government.
Yesterday I talked about the historical US struggle between the "Jeffersonian" weak government advocates -- for convenience let's just call them Conservatives -- and the Federalist strong federal government advocates -- for convenience we'll just call them Liberals.
As I mentioned, the passionate battle between the two ideologies has existed since before the US even formed. The notion that America is now, suddenly becoming more intrusive and over-reaching in its powers is a notion that Jeffersonian weak government types have screamed about...well...pretty much since day one. Well over two centuries.
I think what we're seeing now, however, is that corporate entities have either co-opted the Small Government argument to suit their fancies, or they always have done so but they're a lot more powerful now...because I feel now that these Corporate interests are tapping into a long held historical dispute to rally Americans to their cause under the guise of "government intrusion on private lives/entities"
That is to say...massive corporate entities, in pursuit of sinking government regulation and taxation, are drawing on a long held American conflict...Strong Federal Government Vs. Weak Federal Government.
Keep in mind, the conflict in question is over 230 years old and rages on to this day without resolution or sign of abatement.
Therefore, I feel it's reasonable to say that such a deeply entrenched part of the American psyche isn't going to be resolve any time soon. We're not going to crush the Jeffersonian mindset that Large Corporate Entities are tapping into.
I feel a better strategy, then, if progressives want to SPECIFICALLY fight corporate control over our Government, is to differentiate the TYPE of private enterprise we are in conflict with, and call them out as trying to REPLACE, not remove, Big Government.
As I said at the beginning of this diary, characterize the massive corporate entities as, in fact, an un-necessary and unconstitutional branch of the US Government.
I feel a clear distinction needs to be made between a "corporation" / "business" and the kind of Corporations and businesses we feel are a threat to our Democracy and way of life.
Right now, I feel, that lack of clear distinction allows the entities that threaten us to hide. It allows them to classify themselves along with the small businessman, even the individual. So when speaking of how corporations are endangering America and the middle class, the hundreds of thousands of benign, mom and pop "corporations" run by regular, and often moral people...it clouds the issue. Makes progressives seem "anti business." Which I don't feel is true.
Massive corporate entities can easily align themselves with "private individuals" as well, claiming that some regulations infringe on the Individual. Such was the case when a candidate here attempted to put ground water in the public trust. Companies like Nestle, who have a strong financial interest in pumping water from underground Great Lakes water basin aquifers, fought the proposal citing an infringement on private property rights...absurd since water is already in the public trust by common law, so any individuals would have no change in rights except a formalized law would give a farmer more leverage against, say, Nestle if Nestle started pumping so much from the aquifer that the farmer couldn't water his crops.
Ideally, I think it might be helpful to change how we speak about these large corporate entities and their need for regulation. I don't think it does much good to raise the specter of these businesses trying to Privatize America for Profit Motive. I think that only strengthens Conservative footsoldiers' ties to the companies, and fans the flames of a centuries old debate that won't end any time soon.
More useful, perhaps is to identify these companies as, again, an invasive and unconstitutional Fourth Branch of the US Government that needs to be extracted from Government. And they need a name that easily identifies them as that...something like Fourth Branch Corporations or something like that. Something that doesn't identify them as Private Businesses like you and me, something that denies them the ability to call on a ready Anti Government base.
And...I guess that's what I have to say about that.