A Winnable Fight?

          The central thesis is that Business owns Washington. Is it possible to change this? Doubtful. Why? I would simply point out that the means are determined by the outcome. What is a clear picture of the end result? With suffrage you had granny standing in the voting booth. With abolitionism, the slave was free. What does this movement outcome look like? Without a clearly envisioned outcome, popular support is unlikely. Like all emotions, simply being frustrated and pissed off can dissipate over time or be hijacked by the powers that be.

          In addition, the fight must be waged on three fronts simultaneously….corporate policy, Washington reform and changing the Law. This is a daunting but not unprecedented task. A combination of Federal and State incentives, as well as wide-spread public ire, could coerce or entice corporations to change policies. The core problem with corporations is they are forced BY LAW to maximize profit for their shareholders. The Free Market is not the Savior the Republicans worship because the Market’s objectives are not to produce what is in the interest of the public good or even their customers good. You would have to enact major changes to Articles of Incorporation and corporate mandates to change this. The Free Market just pursues making a buck, wherever that buck may be found. Our country is broke and people aren’t buying. So the Fortune 500, which employs 1/5 of our population, cut 2.9 million jobs in the US last year and created 2.4 million jobs elsewhere. What will it take to get their profits and jobs back on our shores and their hands off the levers of Government? Please insert this answer in the Comment section below.

          Congress spends over ¾ of their waking moments struggling to stay employed. Like Cain’s message, these cats are insulated and out of touch with reality. Career politicians are not likely to make any changes to the System (term limits; campaign finance reform, etc) when they spend most of their time trying to sustain their career.

          Listen up! This is their greatest weakness. They have a job and the People hired them. If the People adopted the view that Congress works for them, what kind of behavior would you need to see in an employee? If you want innovative thinking and solutions and they trot out business as usual, fire them and hire somebody else. Impress on the new hires that clear mandate. If you need Congress to work together rather than pouting like a kindergarten class, fire them and hire people that will work together. If you need policy makers to craft policies for the public good rather than for their “Party” which empowers and enriches themselves and their buddies, fire their butts and hire people who will work for the good of the People.

          This is the key and path forward for the Manhattan movement, the soft underbelly of the System. The central thesis of the movement is that authentic choice is out of our hands, that the game is rigged, and corporate pulls the strings. Bullshit. It’s true that they do, but by default. The People have abdicated their social responsibility as employers and subcontracted running the country to corporations, just as Government has contracted national security and running prisons to corporations.

          Legal precedent going back hundreds of years supports corporate control of the System. But the People could stand up on their hind legs, get behind one or two clear messages and objectives, and change the the rules of the Game.

          How do you change the system? Corporations chase the dollar. Politicians chase the vote. Deny dollars to all business that doesn’t comply with “the message” of the movement. Form co-ops and do for yourself if you have to. Deny those dollars.

          Deny those votes. Fire whoever opposes “the message”. Keep firing them. Tell them what you want. Dude, you have the telephone, Internet and televised town hall meetings. Send “the message” for free.

          People will work to change the system only when changing the System becomes more important than maintaining personal business as usual. Otherwise, people will be in thrall to the tyranny of the immediate, the pleasurable, and the convenient. People will change the System if the System will take a check. Sorry, until the pain is so great that the average Joe and Jane take to the street, change to the System is unlikely. The good news is that change to the system is possible. Even the Death Star on Star Wars had that one stupid little hole into the reactor core that could destroy it. Worse contracting shortcut ever.