The Corporate State......in quotes

[marmar]

"This is the fundamental debate in our society: Are we a nation of citizens or a nation of
consumers? Are we a democracy run by citizens, or are we a corporatocracy that holds consumers locked in dependency by virtue of their consumption?"

- Thom Hartmann

......

"They had their cynical code worked out. The public are swine; advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill-bucket."

- George Orwell

......

"Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal—that there is no human relation between master and slave."

- Tolstoi

......

"The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite."

- Dr. Lawrence Britt

......

"Thus corporations finally claimed the full rights enjoyed by individual citizens while being exempted from many of the responsibilities and liabilities of citizenship. Furthermore, in being guaranteed the same right to free speech as individual citizens, they achieved, in the words of Paul Hawken, 'precisely what the Bill of Rights was intended to prevent: domination of public thought and discourse.' The subsequent claim by corporations that they have the same right as any individual to influence the government in their own interest pits the individual citizen against the vast financial and communications resources of the corporation and mocks the constitutional intent that all citizens have an equal voice in the political debates surrounding important issues."

- David Korten

......

"This is the landscape of corporatism: a world not merely dominated by corporations, but one inhabited by people who have internalized corporate values as our own. And even now that corporations appear to be waning in their power, they are dragging us down with them; we seem utterly incapable of lifting ourselves out of their depression."

- Douglas Rushkoff

[90-percent]

1. Corporatism

Corporatism is the mother of all issues.

All the crap us averagers have had to endure for at least the last thirty years stems from unbalanced corporate influence on our political system.

the greedy fucks are so over the top they are killing their golden goose!

We the people want our fucking country back!

-90% Jimmy

[Kansas Wyatt]

2. Welcome to the 'Corporate Government Store'

Formerly known as the 'Company Store,' Corporate America decided to take over the U.S. Government. Inspired by how the 'New Deal' could track and levy everyone, Corporate America has used it to OWN & OPPRESS everyone in the 'Corporate Government Store.' They have your serial number, and they will decide when and if your account is paid off and what "freedoms" you will have.

[Daphne08]

3. K & R n/t

[starroute]

4. The corporations are going to be the major bad guys from now on

They're not going to go away easily, but they're never going to get their cred back.

As the quotes in the OP make clear, the corporations were the major beneficiaries and the major controllers of fascism -- but they never got the blame. The 20th century was too obsessed with the power of the State (as people like Michele Bachmann still are) to notice who was really benefiting from all that oppression.

The longer the current crisis goes on, the more people will notice that corporations are by nature incompatible with democracy. They won't immediately lose their power as a result, but the mask will have been ripped away, and -- like the current regime in Iran -- they will be left with only raw coercion to maintain their dominance.

[truedelphi]

5. It's trickier than that. The Corporations have

Co-opted Earth day and environmental issues, they have turned the recently House-passed Climate Bill HR 2998 into a piece of legislation that will allow them to continue to polute, just more politely, and they don't need to worry that they will be found out as most Americans want to support things so as to be politically correct.

Where the wolf used Sheep's clothing, Corporations are Eco-Clad.

[bertman]

6. Correct, truedelphi. The Green Revolution is Green in more ways than one.

[Odin2005]

7. Karl Popper warned about this 65 years ago.

If economic power is to not become a fascistic tyranny the power of the governments of the liberal democracies must protect freedom by putting economic power in its place.

[Joe the Liberal]

8. Good quotes, here's another.....

"corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln