It was interesting that Ray, Ed and Mike all responded to Keith's message with the same parallel to the corporate scandals. That was my impulse when I read the message but then I figured if Keith didn't already get it, he wouldn't get it.
The irony of the easy substitution of "corporate" for "welfare" in the criticisms may be good for more than a cheap chuckle. I would argue that there is a deeper kinship between the welfare state and the corporations than anyone will admit. Those twins were not just joined at the hip, they share vital organs. The conservative critique of welfare -- I'm thinking particularly of Bush Guru, Marvin Olasky's "Compassionate Conservativism" -- should be plumbed for its implications for corporations, just as the Anarchists' positions on MacDonald's and Starbucks need to be turned back on, say, the NHS and the organized labour. At the same time, however, we should look sympathetically on the apologetics for both corporations and public services, respectively for what they imply about each other. As we may readily learn from the Serbs and the Croats, the Irish Catholics and Protestants, the Palestinians and the Israelis, there is no animosity more savoured than that between "brothers".
