The Myth of Corporate Benignancy

I've been thinking a lot about how the Democrats and Republicans have been able to make the "debate" on health care so incredibly dumb. The Democrats have descended into "why do you hate poor people!!!111!!!" territory, whereas the Republicans have brandished their ignorance proudly, generating lots of heat, but no light.

Meanwhile, the true issues that need discussion are totally and completely obscured. And if anyone brings up the fact that Democrats are not doing what the public wants (a strong public option), or meeting their own stated objectives of cutting costs and expanding quality, affordable health care to cover those who don't have it (in fact, the House health care bill removes coverage from those who already have it!), or points out the insane misogyny of Stupak-Pitts and the not-much-better abortion policy of the new 2074-page Senate Bill O'Crap, or asks why all single-payer advocates have been shut out of the debate entirely, or wonders if the Democrats are really doing much of anything at all except trying to grab the public's cash and transfer it wholesale into the insurance company's pockets, well, you know what happens to those people: They are called Republicans. Or selfish. Or accused of wanting the Democrats to fail. Or, the worst name of all:

SOCIALISTS.

How the hell are our Congresscritters getting away with this dumbing down of the national debate? I believe it's because of the myth of corporate benignancy.

I hear tell that once, there was a time when corporations viewed their employees as family. (This is where the appellation "Ma Bell" came from, I suppose.) If I speak to my friends' parents, they will often say that they worked at the same company for their entire lives. They got pensions (not 401ks which could be lost in the stock market), great benefits, profit-sharing, and even had contracts which prevented their being fired without due process or good cause. Imagine the paradise we've missed!

But alas, those halcyon days of yore are no more. Deregulation and corruption have turned corporations into rapacious, greedy monsters who shovel huge amounts of money into our political system in order to make sure the Parties pass laws that give them a giant, guaranteed ROI. With Bush II at the helm, they were able to game the system to a degree not seen since the robber baron days, and they weren't about to give that up any time soon. Hence, their $800 billion investment in our DINO, corporatist Preznit.

And now, the Reaganite free-market worship of corporations has gotten so pervasive, that people use the word "socialist" as a "booga-booga" technique to scare people of all political beliefs and monetary status into not accepting the fact that capitalism is not a political system - it's a financial system. And it's never, ever worked without some other system to balance it. In America, and in every other civilized country, our standard of living has never been so high as when socialism was allowed to mix with and improve capitalism. Just think of the most liberal member of Congress, and who is it? Bernie Sanders, an Independent who calls himself...a socialist. (Gotta love Vermont!)

If America is ever going to become a functional nation again, we will have let go of the myths that poison our national discourse. One of the most toxic is the idea that business is somehow inherently good, and government is somehow inherently bad. It's a simplistic frame that Reagan pushed very hard, and it's become so difficult to dislodge. But we've got to try, or social justice will never be allowed to prevail in our country. And women will, now and forever, be under that corporate bus.