Start with democracy

David Akadjian of Daily Kos wrote a perceptive essay on capitalism and democracy. Corporate special interests have been pushing a particular frame for understanding capitalism. It straightforward and familiar.

It looks like capitalists (good) vs. socialists (bad). Some of the features of this story include:

We need to let markets “work”
Success is defined by individual achievement
Regulations “hold back” the economy
The private sector is better at everything
Government should stay out of the way

You know the story.

So how to avoid that trap? Commenter shrike warns us that if we use the corporate frame and try to defend socialism we’ve lost the argument.

Akadjian says it is better to replace the frame, redefine the argument. Start with democracy. This is when “an economy is run for the broad benefit of people in the country.” It is not feudalism where the country is run for the benefit of a few people. In feudalism the king owns everything. Will things work out if we stay out of the way of that system?

Ask people about the biggest problem in Washington and they might say it is money in politics. So under the idea that money is power we have the power of corporations over government and from there over the people. When government is removed or made ineffective then the power of corporations is directly over the people.

But our founding fathers defined it this way: The power comes from the people. The people empower government over the corporations.

Our Revolutionary War was against the British East India Company as much as it was against the British monarch. That original tea party was about monopoly tea.

For the first 100 years of our country our democracy chartered corporations. They couldn’t engage in activities outside the charter and were terminated if they caused public harm. That’s power that flows from the people.

Corporations have been pushing the idea that the private sector always can do things better than the public sector. So let’s ask what what the private sector does well and what the public sector does well. You’re not used to that question? The private sector is good at consumer products. Good. What about providing a service to everyone in the country? Consider roads – in rural areas it would be much harder to make roads profitable, so likely roads wouldn’t get built. What’s a good way to make a profit? Deliver the least amount of service. As I’ve mentioned several times there are things that the public sector does better – health care, education (profit goes to the least education), justice, law enforcement (if you can pay), public utilities, national defense.

When starting with democracy it make sense to: repeal Citizens United, have a non-partisan election process with strong voting rights, strong public education, and regulations and standards for corporations.

So work to replace capitalism v. socialism frame with democracy first.