BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

Some would argue (as would David Sirota in his wonderful soon-to-be released book we will shortly be caring, "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--and How We Take It Back") that the real political battle is not between Democrats and Republicans, but between corporate control of the government vs. control of government by the citizens of the United States.

This is the split that also characterizes the main schism in the Democratic Party: the Washington-based, corporate money dependent DLC Dems in one corner and the rank-and-file, grassroots Democrats in the other. Obviously, if you are a BuzzFlash reader you know which corner we're in -- and it's not the first.

"Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom" is an excellent overview of how the basic political purchase of government by corporations impacts us as citizens.

It's extremely important to remember that one can promote the free market system and oppose "corporateering." Indeed, "corporateering" is antithetical to the free market system. Its goal is to rig the market for a few large conglomerates. At its roots, "corporateering" is anti-competitive. Through large contributions to political campaigns, it gets laws passed by thankful legislators -- of both parties (although certainly the Republicans are the more egregious of the two) -- that help foster the creation of de facto monopoly franchises. "Corporateering," as Cheney and Halliburton exemplify, is also represented by anti-competitive, no-bid contracts.

In short, with "corporateering," it's not the quality of your product or its low price that determines your likelihood of succeeding; it's who you know in the government and how much your company does for them -- in campaign contributions and other favors.

To be for a free market system with a level playing field is to be anti-"corporateering."

The Cheneys of the world love to make it seem if you oppose the unfair, anti-small business favors and legal advantages curried by the corporate behemoths, then you are anti-competition. But really what the Cheneys of the world are promoting are monopolies and big corporate control of the media, because the veritable monopolies own the media (and television and radio are public airwaves, but the private corporate giants get the billions in profits) -- and must continue to curry favor with the Washington elites.

James Court, author of "Corporateering," concludes this book with several suggestions on how to counter "corporateering." He wrote this book a couple of years back, but everything he said is still relevant and much too needed, alas.

Michael Moore penned the introduction to "Corporateering," writing, "If you want to understand the influence of corporate culture on American culture, and the growing power of the corporation to impose its goals on every other sector of society, this is the book to read."

And we should add, we will be offering David Sirota's take on the corporate control of government in a day or two. Read that book too. Then you will better understand how we got to the situation that we are in: where we have a faux cultural "values" populist Republican Party, whose real allegiance is to corporate America, which funds the party. It's a smoke and mirrors game worthy of the best magician.

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS