more from Katha

Lisa & Ian Murray seamus at accessone.com
Wed Nov 8 09:50:36 PST 2000


Wojtek>>I also thought how easily Gore could defuse that rant if only his spin doctors read John Kenneth Galbraith's _The Affluent Society_ and reiterate its main message that corporations can be a progressive force (Brad deLong, where have you been?). That would create a positive message with broader popular appeal without alienating the business community, and at the same time it would addresss much of the concerns that now find its only outlet in the goofy idea that "small is beautiful". ********************* Yeah right. Go work at Amazon.com or my personal favorite FedEx, if not just for anthropological insights on how rampant authoritarianism is in our economy. Better yet, try 7-11. Even better, see if you can replicate Barbara Ehrenreich's fieldwork [which will be in her upcoming book]


>>Galbraith's message that civic-minded corporations can be a progressive
force against the tyranny of the market and the tyranny of the government would create a vision for the future - much more powerful than looking back and bitching and moaning that the "new economy left someone behind." But I guess that political consultants nowadays are a rather myopic and unimaginative crowd - they prefer to do things by the book and spin focus groups instead of taking on a difficult task of creating a new vision. But, hey, one cannot expect pigs to fly like eagles....

************************

You mean Archers Daniels Midland? All the corporations that have given us cancer alley? Shell's use of post-modern Pinkertons in Nigeria? Big Tobacco? Exxon? And on and on.... The fact is the only institutions capable of rendering corps. into a "progressive force" are themselves held captive by corporate $$$. Seems to be a vicious feedback loop, no? Small may not be beautiful, but bigness doesn't win any beauty contests either, especially when it comes to the enabling of liberty and democratically driven collective action.


>>So the bottom line is that while Nader failed to achieve its objective, it
will be blamed (rightly or wrongly) for "spoiling" the election. The imminent backlash will drive a wedge between "green" and unionists / NAACP crowd and bury the idea of ajn alternative to the dem/repug monopoly for a long time to come. *******

Ah yes, the defeatist aesthetic. Your co-workers must love you for that.

Ian



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