What is our core problem? An invitation for discussion.
What problem should be our main concern? I’m truly conflicted, and I've been thinking about this a lot.
We obviously have myriad problems in this country, the list could go on and on, but if you were to put your energies into a real core issue, what would it be?
For me, corporate control of our government, especially legislation, policy and regulation, is one of the root problems. We could tackle climate change and other environment concerns, lack of job creation, an out of control military industrial complex, failure to expand renewable energy, rebuilding our infrastructure, and many other issues if we could kick the lobbyists out of Congress, and the corporate lackeys out of the government.
However, we’re never going to get the corporations out of government until we take the money out of politics.
We cannot get our current Congress or the SCOTUS to get the money out of politics, in fact, they are making the problem worse on an almost daily basis. Electing one or two or twenty more Democrats won’t change this; they are all beholden to big money. Citizens United was the straw that broke our political backs.
So in my thinking, the underlying, core, root problem is overturning Citizens United, which means we need to first define a “person” in our constitution as a living, breathing human being (without getting wrapped up in a debate about embryos and fetuses).
So should we be directing most, if not all, of our energies at getting a Constitutional amendment that corporations are not people? A very simply worded amendment, I think, would be something even most right wing people would support, or at least not actively oppose. The corporations would howl bloody murder, but that’s to be expected. Am I missing an even deeper structural problem?
What do you all think?
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Wealthy private interests control both the media and the government. This makes changing things substantially more difficult. It cannot be accomplished through the existing system.
Can't. Cannot. It is impossible.
"So should we be directing most, if not all, of our energies at getting a Constitutional amendment that corporations are not people? A very simply worded amendment, I think, would be something even most right wing people would support, or at least not actively oppose. The corporations would howl bloody murder, but that’s to be expected. Am I missing an even deeper structural problem?"
Amendments may be proposed by either:
two-thirds of both houses of the United States Congress; or
by a national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the states.
To become part of the Constitution, amendments must then be ratified either by approval of:
the legislatures of three-fourths of the states; or
state ratifying conventions held in three-fourths of the states.
Congress has discretion as to which method of ratification should be used.
A government and media that is owned by wealthy private interests is never going to allow a constitutional amendment removing the power from their owners.
The only solution is world revolution.
where within structurally very similar economies you have, for instance,
Which shows that in the US, wealth concentrates on the top, where it does few any good, while in Sweden (for instance; most european countries are good examples) wealth is more evenly distributed. Everyone benefits to some extent.
One big factor is tax policies, which are more progressive in most developed countries. Capitalism is an economic structure that redistributes wealth from the whole to the few. Government is a balancing mechanism. Tax policies are necessarily progressive, and ours aren't sufficiently so. The rise in taxes on the wealthy and capital gains last year was an excellent measure, but more is needed.
As far as "what can I do", there are also corporations that are better than others. Some pay their employees fairly in comparison the their management, others don't. If you patronize those that favor income equity, you are voting with your wallet in a very powerful way. If you don't buy from those that treat their workers badly, and that lobby against tax and wage reforms, then you are voting loudly for improvement and change.
If you doubt that corporations are concerned with sales and profits and their reputations, then you don't know much about corporations!
