On Fri, 12 Dec 1997, Ed Weick wrote:
> [..Big snip...]
> We do not need to get rid of capitalism. We could not do it in any event.
> What we do need, in my opinion, is a change in our values that moves us to a
> more caring global society. How this might be accomplished will, I believe,
> be one of the largest issues of the coming century.
>
-- Right now, business controls politics, leading to the castration of
politics, and a new system of corrupt Corporate Feudalism. We need to
recognize that it's in all our interests to rejuvenate politics,
castrate business through fiscal policy, and create a humane and human
civilization. There are 11 million businesses in the U.S., many owned by
a few people. the Fortune 1000 controls about 70 percent of the GNP. But
there are 260 million Americans, most of whom are workers, unemployed,
or homeless. (Of course, elsewhere in the world, many understand what's
happening, but so far are helpless, given the exalted position of the USA
in the world.) We all need to recognize that, while we need entrepreneurs,
we do not benefit from having them control our politics. Unfortunately,
such messages cannot get an airing on the national media, which business
controls. (E.g., you cannot get ads in newspapers, broadcast time on TV
or radio, etc., even to talk about this.) Interestingly, even
many businessmen work in a feudal environment through the franchise
system or the "chamber of commerce" hierarchical system. (In Santa Cruz,
CA, you cannot get a downtown business permit unless you join the
Chamber and pay a fee. This is the accepted policy of people who are
against unions.) In short, the American people, who are products of
their own irrational fantasies, exist in a state of denial. In the long
run, an environment like that existed just before the French or Russian
revolutions will emerge, and all hell will break loose. At the global
level. Something like Global National Socialism, with its police and
'global security' apparatus, undoubtedly will be the emergent state of
the system.
//CJR
