(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Corporate Takeover of American Politics [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-21 The American political system has been taken over by major corporations. Many political scientists already do not consider the U.S. a full-blown democracy, rather they view it as an oligarchy . An oligarchy is a country ruled by the few, in America, that is a very small subset of wealthy citizens. Some might argue that the U.S. is turning into a corporatocracy as well, which is a country ruled by corporations. So when did the corporate takeover of America start? In 1971 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked Lewis Powell Jr., a corporate attorney, and a future Supreme Court justice to write a memo on the state of the country. Powell's memo argued that the American economic system was under attack by consumer, labor, and environmental groups. The U.S. was not under attack by these groups, in reality, these groups were just trying to enforce stakeholder capitalism. Stakeholder capitalism is “the idea that businesses have a responsibility that extends beyond their shareholders.” These groups wanted to make sure corporations were responsive to all their stakeholders, which include workers, consumers, and the environment. In Powell’s memo, he urged businesses to mobilize for political combat. He wrote, “Strength lies in organization… in the scale of financing available only through joint effort.” The Chamber of Commerce spread his memo to leading CEOs, large corporations, and trade associations in order to convince them that big business could dominate American politics. Tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists and political operatives went to Washington and state capitals across the country. Lobbyists, their allies in Congress, and eventually the Reagan Administration worked to limit the power of federal agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and staffed those agencies with officials who would overlook corporate misconduct. Former President Ronald Reagan Their influence led the FTC to stop enforcing anti-trust laws in the same way, which led to the formation of oligopolies. They also allowed massive corporations to merge, allowing them to concentrate their power even further. Powell eventually became Justice Powell, appointed to the Supreme Court by Former President Nixon. Powell used the Court to chip away at restrictions on corporations' power in politics. His rulings in the 1970s and 1980s, in cases such as Buckley v. Valeo, First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, and F.E.C. v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, laid the foundation for corporations to claim free speech rights. These free speech rights were in the form of financial contributions to political campaigns. Without Powell, there probably would have never been the famous Citizens United Supreme Court case, which found that restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations violates the First Amendment. So where are we today? Corporations massively outspend labor unions and public interest groups during election years in the form of lobbying. Too many politicians represent the interests of corporations rather than their constituents, given corporations are the entities that fund their campaigns. This has led to corporate taxes being cut, corporate loopholes widening, and deregulation. Corporate consolidation has also given corporations more market power, allowing them to price fix. Corporate profits are the highest they have been in 70 years. While the average worker's wage has barely grown when inflation is taken into account. But do not worry, CEO compensation has gone up 1167% since 1978. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, it would be $21.50 an hour if it had kept up with productivity. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/21/2200905/-The-Corporate-Takeover-of-American-Politics?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/