Slouching Towards Capitalistic Hegemony

There is no doubt that corporate capitalism has grown by epic proportions around the world and caused myriad problems. Recent articles in The Lancet suggest that countries that’ve seen economic growth rates of 7% or higher in the last thirty years are facing huge health crises mostly due to the stress humans develop through industrialization and urbanization. Uncontrolled capitalism has also contributed to upsetting the global economic balance between haves and have-nots, and in many instances crushed worker ability to work out of poverty.

It's also true that uncontrolled capitalism has strained national and international natural resources, the environment as a whole, and the almost complete destruction of small market farming in favor of giant agribusiness farms which have curtailed the production of wholesome foods over genetically modified 'franken-foods'. Many of these criticisms of capitalism are accurate. However, we believe that this uncontrolled capitalism is more a result of a passive electorate and uninspired leftist authorities who have posed no challenge to the policies that created the beast pundits write of.

American corporations began achieving the rights of individuals nearly 150 years ago during the Industrial Revolution, and since then those rights have grown largely because of inattentiveness of the American left. There’s no doubt that capitalists, and the conservative politicians who serve them, are pragmatists. They've used the courts through the years to gain more and more power and less accountability. They also understood the power of reaching the masses through churches, civic organizations and advertising. It's no accident that Christian churches have aligned themselves so tightly to conservative politicians who cater to corporations. People believe a myth that the churches are tied to those politicians because of some hegemonic morality or "values" from which they view the world. However, that is just the paint decorating the whore. The real truth is, churches, like corporations and conservative politicians, are interested in self-perpetuation, and the unholy alliance of church, state, and corporations serves the need for each of these groups to self-perpetuate and continually hold on to power.

Leftists tend to be more idealistic and hence, more artistic/event-oriented. They have the intelligence to see what's going on, but instead of trying to change laws or reach the masses, they hold events and rallies which mostly preach to the converted, giving their 'fellow travelers' comfort. Many of these rallies can be big and actually have temporary effects for the good. But in the current times of a 24-hour news cycle, which covers a myriad number of anti-news features, these events aren't remembered much by viewers. So while well-intentioned, these artistic events don't really do much to make other people think or change people's minds. They just don't stay long enough in the human conscience.

Article Author: Larry Sakin

Larry Sakin is a former music executive and non-profit medical organization administrator. He advocates for literacy issues and provides advocacy training for grassroots and non-profit groups around the country.

Visit Larry Sakin's author page — Larry Sakin's Blog