We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Political Corruption and Capitalism

Click here to access article by Richard D Wolff from TruthOut.
Corruption is endemic to the capitalist system and has not been successfully regulated away. Perhaps a system change is warranted?
Of course capitalist corruption is endemic in a government that pretends to be "democratic", that is, run by and for the people. Capitalism, by permitting one segment of the population to "own" the economy, gives capitalists enormous power over the rest of society--so much so that they constitute a ruling class. A ruling class is one, by definition, rules society. Thus, they must rule by corrupting government operations that pretend to serve the public. What is arguably even worse, is that they have thoroughly corrupted all the ideological centers of our society--education, media including the internet, and even entertainment. This ruling class essentially "own" the thoughts and opinions of the vast majority.

Wolff ends this essay with some interesting ideas about how a legitimate government serving all of the people could be organized.
at
Labels: , , ,