Few Americans understand just how thoroughly corporate interests have corrupted our government and destroyed its ability to be effective. Ninety-nine per cent of the Republicans in Congress and a third of the Democrats do their bidding. What we are left with in any particular sector of our economy is a structure shaped by a patchwork of corporate needs, a kind of public policy by band-aids. This has led to a terribly inefficient economy where products and services cost far more than necessary.
We pay twice as much per person, for example, to get the same quality healthcare as the Canadians, Europeans, and Japanese. Our taxes pay for some of this of course, but we pay for some of it out-of-pocket, and our employers also pay some portion of the cost. So money wasted in a corrupted system affects our taxes, but it also depletes our after tax income, and because the cost of healthcare to our employer is constantly increasing, we are much less likely to get that well-deserved raise.
I’ve been a Democrat for a long time, and have listened to the criticism about Democrats taking money from the individual through the tax structure only to give it to someone else. There may be some truth in that, but at least the intent is there in most cases to relieve human suffering and give people a chance to get on their feet and succeed.
What is almost never acknowledged however is what Republicans take from all of us. It stems from their merger friendly policies and aversion to regulation that has allowed the rise of the corporate giants who have made nearly every industry effectively into a monopoly or an oligopoly. Then they tack on tax breaks even for companies that ship jobs offshore. But in their zeal to “protect” business from regulation, they have also made it easy for them to go after our paychecks.
Every one who owns a home or pays rent feels the sting of constantly increasing costs from the largely unregulated and monopolistic utilities: electric, gas, cable television, telephone, cell telephone, internet, garbage, and more. There is little true competition for these critical services because government enabled corporate mergers and “acquisitions” have eliminated it. And we pay for it out of our after-tax-income.
Nearly every product or service offered to us enriches the giant corporations. Wealth and opportunity has been sucked out of small towns all over America, as the chance to build one’s own business has fallen prey to Wal-Mart or the giant fast food chains.
Clever campaigns designed to stir up hostility to regulation has allowed the Big Boys to successfully run over the consumer virtually unabated. Even small businesses that have the most to lose from non-competitive business climates seem to have been persuaded.
As a practical matter, Capitalism doesn’t exist anymore in many industries, because there is no true competition. The “customer is always right” mantra of your father’s generation is gone. Products and services are tailored to the needs of the corporate profit plan and for the rest of us it is “take it or leave it”.
Ever wonder why you have to waste the entire business day changing planes in Atlanta or Dallas or Chicago, for what should be a two or three hour flight? Or why you have to buy the premium cable package to get that one science or sports channel you want? Or why despite the ugly ubiquitous cell phone towers around every corner, if you’re five miles off the Interstate, your “emergency lifeline” doesn’t work?
It’s because complicit Republicans and some compliant Democrats have utterly failed to look out for our interests. A generation ago, state and local governments exercised some control over our cable and phone services for example, but the party that hates big government moved all those decisions to Washington (where the lobbyists are in charge) during the Reagan Administration.
Last month in Madison, the sinister face of the modern Republican Party finally began to emerge, and it wasn't pretty. In Lansing, Columbus, Harrisburg, and Tallahassee, and even in Washington DC the new GOP emboldened by the 2010 election came out of hiding. They truly believe the American people support their radical agenda, and they are prepared to act on it. In their zeal to support the wealthiest most privileged Americans, they have given up any pretense of caring about the Middle Class.
What happened in Wisconsin is about more than the salaries and benefits of public employees, or about collective bargaining and labor rights, or about government deficits. What happened in Wisconsin is a clarion call to the Middle Class to wake up and fight back before the American Dream becomes a myth. Don't tarry folks, there's a lot of work to be done, and not a lot of time.