Mike McCracken

From this freakonomics blog post, I discovered a story where, in a speech of Al Gore’s that was closed to the press (but a member of the press came in as a civilian, and reported on it), he describes the behavior corporations exhibit, in which they pursue short term profits at the expense of keeping our world livable with a healthy population as “functionally insane, but that is the dominant reality in the world today”.

This is not a new concept. In Grunch of Giants, Buckminster Fuller speaks of an army of invisible giants girding the planet earth. More recently, the movie “The Corporation” does a psychological analysis on the corporations (which is legally a person), determining it (/ them) to be psychopathic. (Obviously it’s a blanket statement toward a type of entity, but the point is well made.)

But Bucky and the makers of The Corporation are intelligent people at liberty to call out a horrendous (and steadily growing over recent decades) flaw in our system. Politicians don’t have this liberty. There are too many organizations that are too powerful that provide too much support (or crippling blows) to any politician that stands a chance.

I’ve been a long time Edwards supporter because I see him as the most viable candidate who has actually brought up issues that subvert the standard corporate-placation that is typical of most candidates. Remember in 2004 (before he was on the Kerry ticket, of course) when he said in a debate that we need to break down the wall of money around Washington? Beautiful. But with this, and especially if Gore stands by this (which he might almost have enough credibility to do… maybe?) he is my new hero.

Freakonomics points out that his statement does not sound like something that a presidential candidate (or someone thinking of becoming one) would say, but the sentiment may be describing the biggest thing wrong with America today (beyond just environmentally: socially, culturally and in other ways as well). Capitalism (which helped this country become as great as it is, and certainly has plenty more value to offer) has run amok at the expense of democracy and many other ideals that are also responsible for the greatness our country has achieved.