(1) But aren’t corporations supposed to serve the national interest ?
(2) How can you assume responsible proportionality among, as you say, “corporate interests, the general public interest, university and school interests, etc” when big corporations have the most sway over politicians thru campaign finance, lobbying, and regulatory capture? They outspend public interest lobbyists by about a ratio of 30 to 1, last I checked.
(3) Do the corporate elite give all that money to politicians expecting nothing in return?
(4) Are giant multinationals genuinely serving our country’s best interests if they pour vast sums of money into campaigns with no disclosure of origins? Originally the federal and state governments required corporate charters which could be revoked if they were found to be in conflict with the common interest of the populace.
(5) What effect does lobbying and campaign finance have on democracy in terms of politicians’ responsiveness to the broad electorate?
(6) Isn’t democracy (one person, one vote) in the national interest?
(7) How might corporate-elite-driven ‘financialization’ and speculation (which comes at the expense of public and private R&D and productive investments) affect the national interest?
(8) What does COVID-19 tell us about US manufacturing capacity (both in terms of plant and machinery and workforce know-how) and our supply chains?
(9) How might hundreds of billions, if not trillions, in off-shore tax havens, billions in corporate subsidies and trillions in tax cuts affect the national interest in terms of US debt and in terms of sorely needed revenue for public investments into education, infrastructure, healthcare, renewable energy, poverty alleviation …etc?
(10) How can you, as an educated person, say over the phone “It looks like we’re heading toward something like a banana republic” yet not look at the root cause of our national decline?
(11) I’m trying not to judge people, but I don’t understand how educated, relatively well-off liberals such as yourself can denounce Trump for his mendacity, sexism, xenophobia, racism…etc yet not identify the crux of his dangerous con: American cannot be great (again) if we continue to allow big money to undermine our democracy and to prevent critically needed investments in education, renewable energy, infrastructure, housing, healthcare…etc.
(12) Far right, isolationalist nationalism is accelerating US decline and China will seize the opportunity. We don’t compete with China by talking trash or by being racist or by conjuring COVID conspiracy theories against them. We compete by investing in our people and our public institutions, while taking care of our natural environment.
(13) I’m a regular guy. Yet where are the Democratic leaders that are saying this? Maybe they can’t because big money runs both parties?
(14) How does anti-racism, anti-colonialism, and feminism and anti-speciesism connect with all of the above?
Leave a Reply