For as long as their has been a government in America there have been naysayers about the effectiveness and efficiency of government to do things. From the jokes about Army toilet seat and hammer prices to the number of government workers standing along a roadside watching one of their number work, Americans have loved to belittle government and poke fun at the seeming intractability of government to react quickly or effectively to a need. Pres. Reagan was famous for his ridicule of government (Government is not the solution to the problem; it is the problem).
For my part, I am not so sure that business is the solution either. We love to complain about the Post Office, for example, but tell me who and how much business would charge me to send a birthday card to my 90 year old mother in a small town in northeastern Nebraska? I know what UPS charges me to ship something there (with added fees for fuel and a remote, residential location). So if we abandoned the Post Office I am pretty sure it would cost $25 to send her a card. Maybe some would love that but I am not in favor of turning things over to business.
More than this, however, is the whole idea that business gets to decide what is in our national interest or in the interest of locals. That is certainly the direction we are heading in. Of course, business with its deep pockets has always had access to politicians but that access was tempered by others competing for the ear of our elected officials. Now, business is bypassing the access and meeting on its own to determine what is best for America and for you and me. They have adopted positions on the social issues facing America, targeted their advertising to change the minds of people, used the media to promote ideas and ideals not necessarily universally endorsed by Americans, and now their leaders are weighing in on everything from access to ballot boxes to police tactics to social unrest to dissidents (like Republicans and Trump allies). Is this what we want or need?
As most of us know only too well, business has no conscience constrained by a Bill of Rights or an ethical identity rooted in constitutional provisions. It acts on its own for its own purposes. That is not necessarily bad but it is definitely different from the role and purpose of government (no matter if you are in a political minority or majority). Furthermore, with the move of religion to the fringes of the public square, business has taken up residence as one of the authoritative voices to determine right and wrong, expediency and waste, as well as what is prudent and beneficial. Here we are not talking about privatization of anything but the replacement of one voice (religious) with another (business) as faith leaders are further and further marginalized.
Politically, it was thought that business was in the pocket of the Republicans (or the other way around). Now it is just the opposite. Business has adopted a progressive and liberal posture to everything from climate change to racism to birth control to abortion to health care -- and the list goes on. Big government is surely a threat to our liberty (and to the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights) but no less a threat is an unelected branch of government -- big business -- acting as a political entity in determining what is best for us as a nation and our citizens. This comes as an increasing threat just as the voice of Christianity is more and more restricted to within the walls of churches during worship and less and less within the public square. We ought to be paying attention to this shift. It may already be too late to restrain the Amazons and Apples and Googles of this world who have the reach and the access to change our minds and tell us what we need to think, believe, and do. I, for one, am not encouraged by this state of affairs. I am not panicked but neither am unconcerned.
1 comment:
Make no mistake, you are not witnessing the free market in action here. What has actually happened is that political operatives have spent decades making threats to big business in the form of promises to severely regulate and levy punitive taxes on those who disagree with the Progressive agenda, while protecting big business and crowding out competition for those who advance the Progressive agenda. Big Business has responded to this carrot and stick approach in a predictable manner. This has become quite boldly transparent over the last ten years. What we are seeing is the fusion of government and big business, one of the core tenets of fascism. Your concern is justifiably placed. I don't like alarmism as much as the next guy, but this is not a good trend in Western democracy.
Post a Comment