Democrats Should Have NO Business with Corporations.

[Octafish]

The Democratic Party, since the time of Wilson and FDR, has been known as the Party of the People.

So, why the hell are we so tight with the Corporations all of a sudden?

Even when Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress, it seems that most everything significant done in Washington still benefits Big Business and War Inc.

Is the money that good?



A quote to keep in mind from someone we all should know:

"Corporatism has defeated communism.
It is now well on its way to defeating democracy."

- David Korten

Bottom Line...

Sucking up to corporations is what the Republicans are for -- it's not the Democrats' job.

[el_bryanto]

1. How many campaign contributions have "the people" managed to throw together?

Bryant

[Octafish]

6. More than a million dollars, I'd say...

Less than a trillion, probably.

The thing is, the monetary value of the "contributions" of Rush Limbaugh and the rest of Corporate McPravda total annually, let alone during election years, must be worth a trillion or more in advertising costs -- gained through unpaid editorial coverage. That's a lot of RW pro-corporate propaganda America experiences.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. considerably less today than they used to, before the

corporations decimated the unions.

Which is, of course, WHY they destroyed the labor movement.

[Uncle Joe]

30. If our democratic republic is to be based on money as the guiding principle,

then any "self evident truth that all men (people) are created equal" is a tragic joke even in this day and age in spite of the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage and the Civil Rights Movement's progress.

[tbyg52]

31. Well, if we had public campaign financing, the answer would be "all of them." nt

[readmoreoften]

32. They'd have more if "The Man" didn't suck the profits out the stuff they create and services they

provide.

Sorry: stockbroking and hustling banks ain't work. And "investing" the money they steal from the working class isn't the production of a needed social service: it's theft.

[WI_DEM]

2. Yes, the dem party has been known as the "party of the people" but that doesn't mean that they never

dealt with big business for contributions, etc--even Wilson and FDR. Heck, Kennedy and Johnson had something called "The President's Club" which was mainly big $ donations from businessmen.

[Octafish]

12. JFK understood the part Corps play in Democracy. That's why he stood up to them...

Big Steel raised prices after President Kennedy asked for restraint during a time of economic recovery. After meeting face-to-face with the industry's leaders, JFK said:

"My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches, but I never believed it until now."

[Blue Owl]

3. Corporations have been treated as "persons"

And boy do they care about certain "persons" as opposed to "we the people" in general.

[Octafish]

13. The FBI profiler in the documentary called 'The Corporation' pegged their behavior as 'Psychotic.'

...no concern for other's welfare; no concern for other's interests; disregard of safety at the expense of personal gain...



I gave The DVD to a friend at the last one I worked at...

Corporation as Psychopath

[nightrain]

4. knr. As so many of us here on DU have said, "we need campaign finance reform" --at all levels.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. That can go on the "Fat Chance" shelf. They aren't about to kill their payoff machine.

[Peacetrain]

8. Lord have mercy.. you are kidding right..

Who do you think people work for.. the tooth fairy?

Who do you think the unions deal with?

Corporations need to be reigned in just like banks..but private industry will never be done away with like the old soviet union.

That was dictatorship by committee.

[Octafish]

10. No. I want the Democrats to represent the People -- not the Corporation.

On the whole, corporations are not democratic. In every one I've worked, the boss' word was not up for a vote by anybody but the Board of Directors.

Certainly, we need businesses -- even Big Business, like petroleum. The thing is, I don't want my Party putting corporate interests ahead of what's best for the community.

Sorry if that's not the impression I conveyed.

[treestar]

27. Why are they absolutely separate and opposed?

The people who work for any given huge corporation, or indeed for smaller ones, don't hate that corporation with the passion DU works up against them. They in fact want that company to be successful and keep paying them. They want it to keep selling what it is selling.

[Occulus]

33. legal reasons

Publicly-held corporations are legally obliged to work to increase shareholder value, and can in fact be sued by shareholders if they're putting that money for other uses- like employee pay and benefits, which IIRC Ford was sued over in the early 20th century. In fact, I believe that lawsuit formed part of the basis of this mentality.

Corporate interests are thus very often opposed to the public good. Consider a polluting corporation- Shell, for example- that has a choice between one of two cleanup methods, one of which costs less but leaves more pollution, the other the reverse. Because of Shell's need to increase profit, it will choose the cheaper of the two alternatives, for purely financial reasons. This is why we should not, ever, under any circumstances, privatize government services. Corporatization eventually means a race to the bottom.

Corporations are amoral to the point that their amorality makes them sociopathic (remember, a corporation cannot be 'moral' or 'immoral' because a corporoation is not a person). They have one and only one goal- to make money. Private corporations are often different, and there are indeed many that are devoted to the public good, but I don't think very many of them have shareholders and publicly traded shares. That said, it is for the above reasons that corporate campaign contributions need to be outlawed, full stop. They have far more money at their immediate disposal than any segment of the politically active public. Strictly publicly-funded campaigns are the only way the political playing field can possibly be leveled. Eliminating the concept of "corporate personhood" from our laws would go a long, long way toward that goal.

People who work for corporations just do not consider these aspects of the company they are working for. This sort of material would be covered in our social studies courses, of course, but for crap such as reported in this DU thread.

It's all tied together into a knot of such complexity it can only be called a snarl. I think, metaphorically speaking, scissors are the answer.

[fascisthunter]

15. the OP said nothing about doing away with private industry as the Soviet Union did

why did you make that leap?

[Ignis]

22. Sure, but it's more fun to joust with a strawman.

:crazy:

[treestar]

28. OP does seem to be demonizing it

As if people have nothing to do with it and "the people" are some superior set who don't have to deal with or work for private businesses.

"the corporations" seem to have become this demon that is always evil and always tries to screw over "the little guy" and life is not that simple.

[Octafish]

38. The devil's in the details: Corporations owe allegiance to shareholders, not to Democracy.

That's why Bush, for example, said: "Money trumps peace."

[ljm2002]

11. "Is the money that good?"

Why yes, it is. Not only do they get the bulk of campaign contributions from corporate sources, even better, they get to go and work for those corporations when they resign or are voted out of office.

What we have now is a government by, for, and of the elites. They like to tell us that all of our fates are intertwined with The Corporations, From Whom All Good Things Flow.

The Democratic party has long since waved good-bye to its populist roots. Nowadays they're scared stiff of being seen as "populist" because that would be equated with rabble rousing. In the meantime, the Republicans go ahead and rabble rouse all they want, and are starting to play the populist card.

What we will see going forward is a conservative populist movement, which will be jingoist, protectionist, racist, and faux-Christian. And the Democrats will be tarred as out-of-touch elitists, "limousine liberals", effette progressives, people who don't know how the "real people" live. Of course the "real people" will be defined as rural, "salt-of-the-earth" types, even though these represent a small fraction of the population.

That is my dystopian vision of the near future.

[invictus]

14. +1

[salguine]

39. My dystopian vision of the future involves those very same "salt-of-the-earth" types

feeding those elites into the guillotines.

[Xenotime]

16. Agreed 100%. Their greed has ruined this country.

[slipslidingaway]

17. knr - things change :( n/t

[Hannah Bell]

18. when 10% take half of all income, outcome is foreordained.

bottom 90% uses majority of its income to meet living expenses.

[begin_within]

19. Publicly financed elections are desperately needed in the U.S.

That would remove some of the influence of big money and corporations.

[Vidar]

20. K&R.

[Odin2005]

21. A-FUCKING-MEN!!!

:yourock:

[Ignis]

23. K&R. Damn, Mr. Fish--keep it UP!

:patriot:

[G_j]

24. Kick

[Union Yes]

25. K-N-F'n-R! nt

[treestar]

26. Corporations are made up of people

People work for them. They aren't all huge. People buy things from them.

I don't see a complete divide between these things and the term is starting to get thrown around on DU mindlessly. The corporate boogieman.

[TheKentuckian]

29. Sure they should. Regulating them, breaking them up, providing oversight

taxing them, etc.

[B Calm]

34. I like what Hartmann says, they should all be forced to wear advertisements

for the companies their working for. Just like NASCAR drivers!

[glitch]

35. Why do you think the Republicans are now obsolete, and so angry?

Dems can do the corps without the crazy, and probably cheaper.

[Wilms]

36. For The Love Of Money

Some people got to have it
Hey, some people really need it

The O'Jays

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrxkDVRCjwg&fmt=18

[leftstreet]

37. K&R