I agree in theory but frequently we have little or no choice but to buy from a corporation. I'm not a fan of big government either but we can elect new people if we don't like their policies. True the election process weeds out the best people prior to the elections but we can still elect new people. We just did. We never get a vote in the corporate world except in cases where we buy from a different company. Many, if not most, of the things we really need we get from mega-corps over which we have no control at all. We don't get to vote for oil company executives, or set their salaries, and it doesn't matter much if I guy from one station or another they are all mega corps.
I'd like to be able to vote for both government offices and corporate officers. My main point is not that I prefer big government but rather that I dislike, and fear, the ruthless avarice of big corporations. Until Bush I never felt that the government would kill me just for some private agenda. I don't think it would happen now unless I do something really criminal or stupid. I do think that a corporate board would murder me and sell my pieces on ebay if they could make a buck and not get caught.
Response
I think I am becoming less of a fan of government as I get older, I have become considerably more cynical since first voting in 1980.
Would you prefer business to be state owned or controlled? Has that worked well for Russia or China? Did it work out well in Cambodia? Can you give me an example of something that I need that I have to buy from one company? It seems I may choose from several different oil companies or even choose to live close enough to work that I could ride a bicycle or walk. With computer operating systems I can choose Microsoft, Mac or Linux with 20 or 30 others having at least a little market share. If I don't like Super Value I can buy from Econo foods or Wal Mart or even grow my own. Will I trade some inconvenience for moral peace yes. No one is forcing me to live 60 miles from a job market that will pay me what I want to earn, I choose to. Should Brian be required by democratic vote to hire me and pay me the 28.00 an hour and health insurance I think I am worth? What if his business model won't support that? Or worse what if it could but he wants to keep that profit for himself so he can save expand his business or for his retirement? Is that fair of him, should he be forced to?
Your wanting to vote for corp officers confuses me a little bit, if you are a shareholder you can vote for the officers and have at least as much of an affect as your individual vote does in a general election. If you aren't isn't it kinda like wanting to vote in Canadian elections because they share a border with us?
I guess I think the greed of corporations is moderated by their need to sell product which makes them conform to the morals of the society they sell to. Several examples of this are at this link http://www.ethicalconsumer.
I don't think there is much other that will curb the bad behavior of government. Again a local example I wrote congressman Kind in October to state my opposition to any Wall Street bailout, he wrote back saying "although the district is overwhelmingly against the bailout I voted for it..." yippee that's exactly what I want in an elected official, someone who ignores the will of the people in his district. We should also remember when discussing the election process the incumbent has a huge advantage which has only grown with every campaign finance law that is passed. An incumbent is almost guaranteed to be re-elected unless found in bed with a dead girl or live boy.
I agree Bush/Cheney sucked big donkey dick as did McCain that doesn't mean I am giving a pass to Democrats or President Obama (as cool as I think it is we elected a guy who proves the promise and ideals of America and I think it is really damn cool). Government won't kill us over a private agenda, it will kill out of indifference to the individual or bureaucratic mistake or because it has a plan to improve lives and you are in the way or don't want to get with the program. Witness the 35 million Mao killed to fulfill his dreams. Or what of the millions of educators and the middle class killed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge chasing an collectivist agrarian utopia.
Sure we could shrink government too far and end up with a Somalia but on the whole I am more a proponent of privatizing government functions, I am of the opinion (I know every one has one and they all smell) that it would cost me way less in the long run and I may even get a kiss or two first.
Oh no I'm going anarchist,
Scott
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