Great Minds

"Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are, in principle, under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist, that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level... Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I am opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy".

Noam Chomsky

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy".

Montesquieu

I can't approach the eloquence of Montesquieu or Chomsky, but there is a connection between these two thoughts that I don't think speaks for itself.

There is in America today an unprecedented amount of economic freedom. I can buy shares in a corporation, claiming a bit of their profits. But more importantly, I can start my own corporation - with incredible ease. All I need do is apply for a business loan. (There are definitely complexities and difficulties involved in that, and I have little knowledge of them, but I would be absolutely shocked if they were not fewer and less severe than those of my forebears.) If our liberal, progressive ideas are so great, put them in to action! And I do not mean to say that our ideas are not great - I mean that we should put them into action. The corporate system is deeply flawed, what is unique about today's situation is that we have the opportunity to participate in it. And thus the connection: in as much as commerce has been democratized, along with politics, the onus lies on the citizen. If we find the status quo repulsive, how can we blame its authors when we hold in our hands the pen and in our guts the ink?

Brevity will, I hope, leave the artistry of those two scholars somewhat intact. The issue is complex - corporations hold power, government may play for the status quo, the profit rule itself raises serious considerations. But consider those two thoughts, and the space between them.