Can one be against rule of our country by corporations and still believe in capitalism?

Question

and democracy and a staunch opponent of communism, socialism and fascism?

Can one believe in free enterprise, but be against corporations owning our politicians and therefore owning our country?

Can one be against rule of our country by corporations and still believe in capitalism?
and (((((((democratic principles))))) as we were founded on.....and a staunch opponent of communism, socialism and fascism?

Answer 1

Absolutely! You can believe in capitalism as a positive "economic" principle while being against the influence capitalists have on elected officials who were elected to represent "the people". Many of us feel this way and are trying to push congress to prohibit "soft money" from fund-raising so that the candidates are beholden only to the people that elected them or donated money to their campaign.

Answer 2

Absolutely

Rule of a country by corporations would be a political theory. Capitalism is an economic theory, not a political theory.

One should be careful to realize this distinction. Even staunch free market countries attempt to hold back capitalist theory. Every western nation has competition or anti-trust departments to ensure the prevention of monopolies (the inevitable result of unchecked capitalism).

Unfortunately, these departments tend to be highly politically influenced, where governments accept payoffs (in the form of political contributions, lobbying etc..) and thus allow corporations to gain too much power.

A corporation has no moral basis. It is legally obliged to maximize short-term profit, even to the long-term detriment of its customers. If a corporation was a human being, they would be classed as phychotic in that in the quest to fulfill its goals, it ultimately destroys its basis for living. (see the excellent documentary entitled 'The Corporation' based on the book by the dean of the law school at the University of British Columbia, Joel Bakan)

Its also important to realize that socialism is not a bad word and is in no way similar to communism as the world knows it. Socialism and capitalism can and do work together in the world. There are many so-called socialist states (Canada, Sweden, France etc....) where socialist principles guide much of politics and capitalism the economy.

The saddest part is that it may already be too late being against corporations running the country. Politics has become so infused with money as power (completely the oppostie of what democracy attempts to do) that all politicians are becoming slaves to corporations if they actually want to become elected, achieve their goals etc...

We are in a bad way people, and its only getting worse.

Answer 3

Absolutely! Corporations can be the antithesis of free-market forces! The second half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th were marked by monopolistic, price-fixing juggernauts who, in the name of "free enterprise" oppressed the nation. Adam Smith probably spun in his grave the way those guys abused his theories.

I am, however, skeptical of the anti-corporate intellectual climate that has crept into our culture. I don't think the "corporate" business structure is a bad thing, and if Home Depot runs a more efficient operation than Billy Bob's Hardware, I don't think they should be penalized when Billy Bob can't make a buck. If there are legitimate concerns about unethical practices (anticompetitive practices, etc.) within a corporation, there should be an investigation, but not a presumption of guilt.

Campaign financing is a regulated activity, with public disclosure required for contributions above a certain amount. What we need is greater awareness of who is getting money from who. The information is largely public, but I'll admit I don't know where to find it.

Answer 4

I have nothing to add to CJ's answer but a thumbs up, and this thought for you.

You seem to equate free capitalism with the economy we live under today. We do not have a true capitalist state. The very corporations you seem to admire so much are a) subsidized by our tax dollars, b) buy the votes of our representatives, and c) are so vertical and monopolistic that they have in effect destroyed true capitalism.

If we lived in a free market system, we would have gotten over our oil addiction forty years ago, using the ingenuity that is the hallmark of true capitalism.

Yours, friend is a world of misguided idealism.

Capitalism died when the businesses bought the government,
somewhere between 1955, and 1980. It was in 1980 that they had their greatest in your face triumph, installing a man who a corporate spokesperson as our president.

Answer 5

Absolutely. Corporations do an incredible amount of good for society. The key is to limit their ability to get a politician re-elected.

The solution, real campaign finance reform. It's real simple. Make it law that only people can donate money or services to politicians or parties. Any other entity may not do anything to promote the election of a particular candidate or party.

That's it.

Answer 6

This is a very important question. And almost impossible to answer.

A lot of people complain about lobbyists and their influence. But people forget that this is a natural bi-product of the economic foundation that we all love. Money IS influence, that's the way it works in this country, and most wouldn't have it any other way. Yet, we're surprised when Washington works the same way.

There really is no way to stop corporations from owning politicians other that NOT putting up with it as voters.

A tall task I'm afraid. They're very good at what they do.

Answer 7

Rule by corporations isn't capitalism. It is fascism, as fascism is properly defined as the union of corporation and government, causing a few "elite" to have all the power and therefore, tyranny, destruction, and murder. Rule by corporations is evil.

Anyway this isn't a democracy. It is a constitutional republic.

Answer 8

Yes, we have let the corporation buy our representatives in congress. We were not watching. I believe in free enterprise but the enterprise should not be making our laws.

Answer 9

Of course.

Capitalism relies on competition to maximize efficiency of business and maximize benefits to consumers. To fully succeed, the competition has to be fair. And business entities should pay for the full cost of producing their products, including destruction of environment and infrastructure.

Government regulation of business is needed to ensure fair competition, resist monopolies, and prevent hiding of information and insider deals. Full costs of good produced includes environmental deterioration and governments are needed to make sure businesses pay for this instead of making someone else pay for it.

Corporate infiltration into government is all about undoing these regulatory things so that companies can run rampant and do whatever they want. Government is needed to keep companies in line so that capitalism can work to its fullest!

Answer 10

Capitalism has nothing to do with governmental corruption. You can have corruption in any form of government. Look at the Soviet Union. It had massive corruption. Look at Mexico and other Latin American countries which are far more corrupt.

WE vote for them and WE can vote them out if they are corrupt. Just vote no incumbents and change them all every two-four years. That will help stop corruption.