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see the problem here is the most of the posters on this board who like this post will be considered to be on the left and those that will disagree will be considered to be on the right.
but it's pretty spot on.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09...-corporations/
Every generation or so, a major secular shift takes place that shakes up the existing paradigm. It happens in industry, finance, literature, sports, manufacturing, technology, entertainment, travel, communication, etc.
I would like to discuss the paradigm shift that is occurring in politics.
For a long time, American politics has been defined by a Left/Right dynamic. It was Liberals versus Conservatives on a variety of issues. Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice, Tax Cuts vs. More Spending, Pro-War vs Peaceniks, Environmental Protections vs. Economic Growth, Pro-Union vs. Union-Free, Gay Marriage vs. Family Values, School Choice vs. Public Schools, Regulation vs. Free Markets.
The new dynamic, however, has moved past the old Left Right paradigm. We now live in an era defined by increasing Corporate influence and authority over the individual. These two “interest groups” – I can barely suppress snorting derisively over that phrase – have been on a headlong collision course for decades, which came to a head with the financial collapse and bailouts. Where there is massive concentrations of wealth and influence, there will be abuse of power. The Individual has been supplanted in the political process nearly entirely by corporate money, legislative influence, campaign contributions, even free speech rights.
This may not be a brilliant insight, but it is surely an overlooked one. It is now an Individual vs. Corporate debate – and the Humans are losing.
Consider:
• Many of the regulations that govern energy and banking sector were written by Corporations;None of these are Democrat/Republican conflicts, but rather, are corporate vs. individual issues.
• The biggest influence on legislative votes is often Corporate Lobbying;
• Corporate ability to extend copyright far beyond what original protections amounts to a taking of public works for private corporate usage;
• PAC and campaign finance by Corporations has supplanted individual donations to elections;
• The individuals’ right to seek redress in court has been under attack for decades, limiting their options.
• DRM and content protection undercuts the individual’s ability to use purchased content as they see fit;
• Patent protections are continually weakened. Deep pocketed corporations can usurp inventions almost at will;
• The Supreme Court has ruled that Corporations have Free Speech rights equivalent to people; (So much for original intent!)
For those of you who are stuck in the old Left/Right debate, you are missing the bigger picture. Consider this about the Bailouts: It was a right-winger who bailed out all of the big banks, Fannie Mae, and AIG in the first place; then his left winger successor continued to pour more money into the fire pit.
What difference did the Left/Right dynamic make? Almost none whatsoever.
How about government spending? The past two presidents are regarded as representative of the Left Right paradigm – yet they each spent excessively, sponsored unfunded tax cuts, plowed money into military adventures and ran enormous deficits. Does Left Right really make a difference when it comes to deficits and fiscal responsibility? (Apparently not).
What does it mean when we can no longer distinguish between the actions of the left and the right? If that dynamic no longer accurately distinguishes what occurs, why are so many of our policy debates framed in Left/Right terms?
In many ways, American society is increasingly less married to this dynamic: Party Affiliation continues to fall, approval of Congress is at record lows, and voter participation hovers at very low rates.
There is some pushback already taking place against the concentration of corporate power: Mainstream corporate media has been increasingly replaced with user created content – YouTube and Blogs are increasingly important to news consumers (especially younger users). Independent voters are an increasingly larger share of the US electorate. And I suspect that much of the pushback against the Elizabeth Warren’s concept of a Financial Consumer Protection Agency plays directly into this Corporate vs. Individual fight.
But the battle lines between the two groups have barely been drawn. I expect this fight will define American politics over the next decade.
Keynes vs Hayek? Friedman vs Krugman? Those are the wrong intellectual debates. Its you vs. Tony Hayward, BP CEO, You vs. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO. And you are losing . . .
~~~
This short commentary was conceived not to be an exhaustive research, but rather, to stimulate debate. There are many more examples and discussions we can have about this, and I hope readers do so in comments.
But my bottom line is this: If you see the world in terms of Left & Right, you really aren’t seeing the world at all . . .
see the problem here is the most of the posters on this board who like this post will be considered to be on the left and those that will disagree will be considered to be on the right.
but it's pretty spot on.
No real for/against as far as I'm concerned. It was just a radical oversimplification of the issues.
"corporate vs. individual issues"
... and there's no way to fix that. America is .... ?
Actually, every time I read one of the repug reposts from Fox news, I tend to think the exact same thing...what a blind oversimplification.
Fox's tendency to blame most everything on Obama, muslims, liberals, illegals, Nancy Pelosi and terrorists doesnt even come close to telling the story of our demise.
How ed are we until blind supporters of both the left/right wake up and stop insisting on the party line on every issue.
The Right contingent on this board consists of the some of the most blindly-loyal brainwashed posters on ST politics forum.
Right and left is a bad lens with which to view the world through, as is a giant fluoride conspiracy put on by the government and the ultra rich to poison it's inhabitants.
Just sayin'
Eh, I see the distinction shifting along other lines, mostly, whether or not preemptive military attack is justified, and whether or not you approve of strong executive power. If you agree with those things above, you're part of the new conservative block. If you disagree, you're a liberal/progressive.
I can tell by this post you glazed over most of the posts in that thread and refused to read any of the links. I never mentioned a conspiracy by the ultra elite in that thread.
What I mentioned was lobbying by the aluminum industry to convince municipalities to dose the public on a grand scale. Pretty consistent with this OP.
Seems you have no trouble putting together straw conspiracies of your own.
You're right, my bad, I just make a habit of mistaking one massive crackpot theory for other. Oops.
because corps never do insidious through lobbyists...something so far fetched would have to be a massive crackpot theory!
again, here's your cup o' fail:
So the problem isn't ideological division like you suggested to start with... as usual, one side of the political spectrum gets most of the blame for gullibility/intellectual dishonesty.
You pick sides like everyone else, Parker.
at how quickly your bs disintegrated this time, Parker. What's even funnier is the way you exposed yourself.
There is a segment of the conservative right that I completely respect and identify with on many issues...just not the Fox news cronies, and just not the wing nuts in this forum.
whats funnier is how you come gunning for me at every turn.
I suppose that makes this a fail also...
heres your sign...
You earn it every time.whats funnier is how you come gunning for me at every turn.
This thread has given me a craving for Burger King.again, here's your cup o' fail:
and cellulite.
What's funnier is that your primary method to making a rational point is to post a huge jpeg of a sign saying FAIL, since we all know you can't actually do it with your words and intellectual discourse.whats funnier is how you come gunning for me at every turn.
The signs only come out when the opposition sucks, ie. opposition lies, misrepresents, fails to read, makes conclusory assumptions, resorts to racist arguments, etc.
If you see funny pics, consider the argument to be on auto-pilot and my interest to be at near-zero.
smilies also.
lol @ you talking about "rational points" and starting this entire exchange with a complete misrep of 13 pages of thread.
Heres a pic of a cat:
UUHow marvelously this works out, then! I have no interest in hearing your ridiculous, nearly fact-free manifestos masquerading as conspiracy theories, and you have no desire to provide any supporting evidence! You have utterly failed to convince/infect a single poster on spurstalk with your special brand of crazy, and failed to convince even one person that you are worth having discourse with (except at your expense). I wonder if you enjoyed wasting so much of your breath and time posting on people who do nothing laugh at your inanity? You want this to be a courtroom, and thats fine, because the burden of proof is something that you are bearing miserably.
For all the pictures of fail you're posting, you are likely an expert in it now. Do continue to troll/spam/derail your own thread though, its amusing that you don't understand that you're owning yourself.
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