>From Robert Louis Stevenson: "I have trod the upward and the downward slope I have endured and done as in days of yore, I have longed for all and bid farewell to hope, And I have lived and loved and shut the door."
REH -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of pete Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 10:23 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [CC] America's Deepening Moral Crisis On Wed, 6 Oct 2010, Keith Hudson wrote: > Unfortunately, Jeremy Sachs cannot tell us what practical policies he would > adopt if he were in a position of power. His final paragraph is a real peach: > > <<<< > The world should beware. Unless we break the ugly trends of big money in > politics and rampant consumerism, we risk winning economic productivity at > the price of our humanity. > >>>> > > "The world should beware". Half the world's population are already living > in a state of misery, despair and semi-starvation. Why should they care > about America's moral decline? It would make no difference to them whatever > condition America's economy or moral economy was in. > > "Unless we break the ugly trends of big money in politics . . ." I agree, > but what specific proposal does Sachs have in mind? Is it too much to ask > an experienced professor of economics? > The answer of course is easy and obvious, and the fact that no one ever comes out and says it any more is a good indication of how far beyond hope the US situation is: election finance reform, which breaks the connection beween corporate funding and campaigning politicians. There are plenty of models out there, used in more sensible countries where the danger of corporate takeover of government is guarded against more vigourously. Limiting donations by individuals and corporations to a small amount, $5k or less, coupled with a tax-based campaign fund fully decoupled from financial interests, and provided to campaigners based on a demonstration of popular interest in the candidates, or some such scheme. Obviously details need to be worked out, but there are lots of solutions which would guarantee to healthier political climate in the country than there is now. Unfortunately, I believe it is already too far gone. Any attempt to end the wholesale purchase of politicians by corporate interests will just result in intercession by the same forces that first established the corporation as an entity with all the rights and none of the responsibilities of a person. All that could be hoped for now is that things get so broken that it precipitates a real revolution to overthrow the plutocracy by violence. It would be nice if it were only as unpleasant as the process of the Magna Carta, a relatively bloodless adjustment at swordpoint. -Pete _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
