How the Democrats Can Once Again Become America's Dominant Political Party

Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus was a fascinating look at the nascent conservative movement. Perlstein is back again with an analysis of how we can adopt some of the tactics and techniques conservatives used to motivate their base and win nationally.

A majority of Americans tell pollsters they want more government intervention to reduce the gap between high- and lower-income citizens, and less than one-third consider high taxes to be a problem. Yet conservative Republicanism currently controls the political discourse. Why?

Rick Perlstein probes this central paradox of today's political scene in his penetrating pamphlet. Perlstein explains how the Democrats' obsessive short-term focus on winning "swing voters," instead of cultivating loyal party-liners, has relegated Democrats to political stagnation. Perlstein offers a vigorous critique and far-reaching vision that is a thirty-year plan for Democratic victory. [read more]

also The Corporation a film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott & Joel Bakan; Zeitgeist Video, 2005 DVD format

A review by Bob Fizzell

A favorite scifi theme is of robots who take on a life of their own and then take over their masters. Inherent in this is the irony that the masters wrote the program. Of course, herein always lies the solution.

Today this scenario has become real. The only question is whether we are astute enough to rewrite the program before our creation destroys us.

The evil program is called “The Corporation” and it resides in the memory of our legal system.

Joel Bakan, in a brief book and a well filled pair of DVDs, reveals the origin and true nature of this program, showing how and why it represents a real threat to our future. Far greater than the threat offered by even a few thousand terrorists, a handful of large corporations are poised, capable of and directed toward the ultimate conquest and destruction of our democracy.

Sound over dramatic? What would you think of our turning over huge power to a few individuals who are irresponsible, highly manipulative, grandiose, lacking in empathy, characterized by asocial tendencies and completely superficial in their relations to others? These characteristics of a psychopath are also necessary descriptors of a modern corporation.

Bakan begins with the historical origins of the corporation as a means to acquire sufficient capital and control liability in the 17th century. Early on it was a highly suspect structure and was generally banned in England from 1720 until 1825. By that time, significant frauds had already become notorious. In the later half of the 19th Century, corporations evolved into legal entities that were gradually freed of social controls and responsibilities while taking on the legal status of a person.

The last serious effort to rein in the corporation occurred at the start of the 20th century. Confronted with rapid growth through mergers, the public demanded restraints. Teddy Roosevelt and the “trust busters” created regulations to control the “robber barons.” The corporate response was to begin a sophisticated public relations campaign to change their image. From being monstrosities that rode rough shod over the public, they portrayed themselves as “friendly neighbors,” “helping hands,” and “pillars of the community.” Today they transcend regulation by nations and write their own rules in trade agreements over which signatory nations have no real control. Assets of individual corporations often exceed the GNPs of most nations. Corporate interests, through their financial power and their trade agreements now supersede the interests of any nation.

To hear the media, however, these huge powers are tempered by a “social consciousness” in our best corporations. Today we hear constantly of “green” corporations, “socially responsible” corporations. Bakan notes that there is a fundamental problem with this concept, however. Since the Dodge vs Ford decision 90 years ago, the courts have been consistent in their rulings that the only responsibility of every corporation is a profit for its owners. In fact, this responsibility is so predominant that a board of directors can be held liable for any action that conflicts with profit maximization. Thus we return to the corporation as a psychopath. It can be nothing else if it is a person. Its only interest is self interest.

In the second half of the book and in several hours of interviews on the DVDs, Bakan develops and supports these ideas. But his thesis is simple: corporations are in direct conflict with democracy and nationalism. He develops this thesis with an abundance of evidence and makes clear the implications for our future. If you care about our future, you definitely must become familiar with either the book or the DVDs. I recommend both.

We must either rewrite the program for “the corporation” or be prepared for the robots to follow their course. [read more]

Ed Schultz is here to slay the "right-wing radio dragon" and revitalize the charge against Bush-era "conservative cruelty" with his own bold, irreverent truth-talk. When the self-described "gun-toting, meat-eating, drug-free liberal" from America's heartland came out swinging with his syndicated radio program, The Ed Schultz Show, listeners realized right away that this was no cookie-cutter liberal, but a tough-talking advocate for everything that's right about the left. "A free press is all that stands between you and a dictatorship," warns Schultz, in defiance of the Bush administration and ultra-conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, whom he blames for quashing political debate just when America needs it most. While Big Ed has what it takes to "go bare-knuckle brawling" with his staunchest detractors, it is with a deep compassion and impeccable common sense that he describes how our "government by the rich and for the rich" is imperiling the lives of average hard-working Americans. [read more]

Author: Tom Franks An insightful book on how Kansas switched from being a hotbed of progressive populism to a captive of the radical right. Discusses backlash culture, the takeover of the state Republican Party by anti-choice precinct committee officers, and how rich and poor alike all vote Republican. Fascinating read, and I left with some ideas on how we can apply some of these lessons locally. [read more]

John Perkins tells the gripping tale of the years he spent working for an international consulting firm where his job was to convince underdeveloped countries to accept enormous loans, much bigger than they really needed, for infrastructure development — and to make sure that the development projects were contracted to U. S. multinationals. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the American government and the international aid agencies allied with it were able, by dictating repayment terms, to essentially control their economies. It was not unlike the way a loan shark operates — and Perkins and his colleagues didn't shun this kind of unsavory association. They referred to themselves as "economic hit men." [read more]