Government of, by, and for the Powerful |
![]() |
| Posted by Karen Traeger on Jan 30 2012 |
| Blog >> |
 By: Bob Lucore
Common wisdom tells us that corporations, the rich, and the conservative politician that serve them, are opposed to big government. Common wisdom also says that these same groups support something called the free market.
However, as is often the case, the real world is much different than common wisdom would have it. Certainly it is true that conservatives and their well-to-do backers rail against big government. It is also true that they continually attack many useful and highly effective government programs and policy. It is certainly true that these same folks hate it when the government intervenes in their affairs to protect consumers from fraudulent or unsafe business practices, to protect the environment from greenhouse gases and toxins, or to protect the right of workers to act in unison.
Yet, conservatives and the corporate-rich are often all too happy to support big government when it serves their purposes. The very same politicians who often say that the nation cannot promote green technologies—because the government should not pick winners and losers—can be relied on to support continuation of massive government subsidies for the big oil companies. Many conservatives seem to be astoundingly uncritical of government when it comes to the military-industrial complex, which moderate Republican Dwight Eisenhower famously warned us against. In defense of tax cuts for the rich, it is often argued that these are necessary to provide incentives for the investing classes and the so-called “job-creators.” With the next breath these same supporters of tax cuts for the rich will argue that we cannot afford to extend unemployment benefits and that food stamps rob the poor of initiative.
The real political debate in America today is not between those who believe in the unfettered free-enterprise system and those who support big government. The real debate is between those who believe that government should serve the interests of the people, as expressed through a truly democratic process and those who believe it should serve the interests of the powerful who can spend the most on elections.
Tax policy provides an almost ideal illustration of government of, by and for the powerful. A recent study, jointly conducted by Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, identified a “Dirty Thirty” tax avoiding corporations that spent more on federal lobbying than they did in income taxes over the last three years. The report found that 280 of the Fortune 500 corporations paid half the statutory corporate tax rate, while spending $2 billion to lobby Congress. The report, aptly named “Representation Without Taxation,” argues for reversal of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, full disclosure of political funding and empowering shareholders, so that they can hold corporate leadership accountable for political spending.
Our political discourse would be vastly improved if we were to rethink abstractions such as “big government,” vs. “free enterprise” and realize instead that the real choice we must make is between democracy, or rule by the rich and powerful.
Bob Lucore, a long-time ADA board member, is the former Director of Research and Policy for the United American Nurses and has worked for the Teamsters and the Department of Economic Research at the AFL-CIO. . He taught economics for several years at Centre College and Colorado State University and is currently a graduate student and research assistant in the School of Library and Information Science at San José State University.
Back
Comments
Add Comment
|
