A Political Syllogism

A person can run for congress.

A corporation is a person.

A corporation can run for congress.

A Train Wreck in Slow Motion

Harvey Wasserman: Weimar Democrats

Because the modern global corporation has human rights (as defined by the 14th Amendment) but no human responsibilities, it is history's most powerful institution. It is above the law, shielded from debt, not accountable for damage to the public, to the people who work for them, or to the planet.

The Democratic Party is itself a corporation. Its principle business is to retain political office and to DEFER public attacks on the corporations that provide much of its cash flow.
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Some liberals point confidently to disarray among the Republicans as a saving grace. This desperate delusion requires we forget Germany’s Weimar regime, which made the same fatal mistake in the lead-up to World War II. Never underestimate the "outsiders" in a nation where millions are desperate.

Having scales removed from one's eyes must be a painful operation. I feel sorry for all those poor deluded fools who so desperately needed to believe in the candidate of Hope and Change that they ignored his actual words, and adjusted their blinders to marvel in self-congratulations at the immense cultural symbology of a skin's pigment attaining such stature, while studiously ignoring the tungsten umbilical cord connecting him to Wall Street's teat. Magicians call this misdirection.

There's a reason people open their hearts & wallets (but not their minds, no, never their minds) to the Elmer Gantry's of the world: their want is so deep, their need so intense, that they willingly cloud their own minds and shout their hosannahs to the salesman with the best pitch to deliver them to the promised land. The public made it too easy for them the last presidential election: the perception managers played the public like a virtuoso practicing his scales. As E O Wilson so perfectly says, "in the midst of absurdity the trumpet is certain". Or, You can't go broke selling the customer what he wants.

I appreciate Mr. Wasserman's articulateness in describing the structural problem faced by humanity — when you get right down to it, it's nothing more than an insane socially constructed reality (a religion, really, if we want to be technical about it) that has created these amoral corporate Gods without knowing how to rein them in. We have, as a species, created these imaginary institutions that we permit to rule the world to our peril. That's quite an achievement, when you think about it, and speaks very ill of our species.

I also appreciate Mr. Wasserman's astute (if easy) comparison of modern democrats with Weimar Germany. It's almost as if empires can't help but follow the same historical algorithm. A couple more chapters further into this depressing and tragic farce will be most unpleasant as the electorate, in their fury, confusion and stupidity, elect back into office the very troglodytes that brought them to this brink in the first place, giving them the opportunity to finally give the country just that tiny nudge to send it hurtling into the abyss once and for all. America's suicidal decline cannot be stopped at this point; but America won't go down alone — it'll bring lots of other countries down with it.

I'm so glad I left a few years ago. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion: though undoubtedly horrific for everyone, I'd rather watch it than be on it.