Corporate Body Snatchers vs Democratic Socialism

What's Wrong  With Corporatecrocy?

Corporate Body Snatchers vs Democratic Socialism

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10 Nov 2015

Written by Leonard Isenberg

CONSIDER THIS--There is a certain irony to the fact that a word like “socialism” has been historically vilified. It’s been pounded into the American psyche that socialism is an alien deprivation of an individual's rights. But one only need to look at the history of how corporations were originally organized here and elsewhere to realize why it’s not democratic socialism that has hijacked the American body politic. 

You could argue that democratic “socialist” programs have actually saved free enterprise capitalism in America and around the world by cleaning up the cyclical ravages caused by unrestrained corporate greed. Consider events like the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and the Great Depression in the 30’s all the way to the more recent crashes due to the credit default swap, sub-prime crisis and Euro-Zone financial fiascos. 

To understand why corporations -- and not democratic socialism -- are so toxic to the American economy and body politic, one only need examine the relatively recent history of the corporation and its structure. Most Americans might be surprised to learn that corporations once existed at the will of the sovereign and could have their charters revoked at will by the government if they crossed certain legal lines. This served to keep their enormous power in check throughout the first part of the 19th century. 

This came to an end with the advent of “corporate personhood” which began with a justifiable motivation: to get people to invest in corporations and have their liability limited to the amount of their investment. Otherwise, nobody would have invested in entities that opened them up to unlimited liability. Some entity had to be held liable for wrongdoing under the law in order to give those hurt by corporations a remedy. 

But this “corporate personhood” was never anticipated as giving these entities the ability they now have to act as legal fictional “humans” that can exercise control over the political process by infusing the system with huge amounts of money. This has turned things around in politics 180 degrees. The no-longer sovereign government now exists at the will of the Corporation. 

So now, irrespective of whether Democrats or Republicans are in the White House and Congress, a corporate political party line, reminiscent of the old Communist Soviet Union, is blindly followed by the vast majority of American politicians. Rather than find themselves out a job, they rubber stamp a corporate agenda that includes the funding of endless trillion dollar wars in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where corporate interests have obscenely profited. Or, they find themselves supporting a Trans-Pacific Partnership that further erodes the interests of the American worker in favor of corporations that pledge allegiance to whatever country gives them the best deal. 



Corporate Body Snatchers vs Democratic Socialism: "Corporate Body Snatchers vs Democratic Socialism

10 Nov 2015
Written by Leonard Isenberg
CONSIDER THIS--There is a certain irony to the fact that a word like “socialism” has been historically vilified. It’s been pounded into the American psyche that socialism is an alien deprivation of an individual's rights. But one only need to look at the history of how corporations were originally organized here and elsewhere to realize why it’s not democratic socialism that has hijacked the American body politic. 

You could argue that democratic “socialist” programs have actually saved free enterprise capitalism in America and around the world by cleaning up the cyclical ravages caused by unrestrained corporate greed. Consider events like the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and the Great Depression in the 30’s all the way to the more recent crashes due to the credit default swap, sub-prime crisis and Euro-Zone financial fiascos. 

To understand why corporations -- and not democratic socialism -- are so toxic to the American economy and body politic, one only need examine the relatively recent history of the corporation and its structure. Most Americans might be surprised to learn that corporations once existed at the will of the sovereign and could have their charters revoked at will by the government if they crossed certain legal lines. This served to keep their enormous power in check throughout the first part of the 19th century. 

This came to an end with the advent of “corporate personhood” which began with a justifiable motivation: to get people to invest in corporations and have their liability limited to the amount of their investment. Otherwise, nobody would have invested in entities that opened them up to unlimited liability. Some entity had to be held liable for wrongdoing under the law in order to give those hurt by corporations a remedy. 

But this “corporate personhood” was never anticipated as giving these entities the ability they now have to act as legal fictional “humans” that can exercise control over the political process by infusing the system with huge amounts of money. This has turned things around in politics 180 degrees. The no-longer sovereign government now exists at the will of the Corporation. 

So now, irrespective of whether Democrats or Republicans are in the White House and Congress, a corporate political party line, reminiscent of the old Communist Soviet Union, is blindly followed by the vast majority of American politicians. Rather than find themselves out a job, they rubber stamp a corporate agenda that includes the funding of endless trillion dollar wars in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where corporate interests have obscenely profited. Or, they find themselves supporting a Trans-Pacific Partnership that further erodes the interests of the American worker in favor of corporations that pledge allegiance to whatever country gives them the best deal. "



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