Beyond the Issues
Lately, you might have heard the term bantied about: economic freedom. That’s the new code word for free trade. As though trade is a human, or anything other than an act that happens between people. Trade does not need freedom. And, to be honest, if you think this economic freedom has anything to do with you, it’s time to educate you on some things.
First, “economic freedom” is being pushed from the top down. If you think it’s your original idea, think again. That was put in your head through repetition and more repetition. Just like the completely fabricated Tea Party, there are invisible strings pulling on the threads. Just like PragerU, you have bought into subterfuge. Maybe you’ve read a convincing paper? Probably. There are a lot of those. More subterfuge.
Look. Economic freedom is what you see Trump doing right now, pulling the federal government out of everything he can think of. The EPA? Who needs that. The NIH? Who needs that? Let me ask you this though: do you, in your heart-of-hearts, believe that Amazon or …well, pick an oil company…care about the air you breathe? No. They care about the air they breathe, and they make enough money to have someone follow them around carrying an air purifier. You don’t. But choice, right?
And what about that bird flu thing? Is it over? Well, no, not really. It isn’t over by a long shot. It’s worsening in fact. Who’s going to tell you about how bad it gets so you can protect yourself? Think Big Farm is going to do it?
You don’t know the half of it. So for years, the leading mantra was that corporations shouldn’t care about social responsibilities. That, they argued, was the government’s job. Then, corporate leaders working together won Citizens United (which had nothing to do with actual citizens, but that’s they way they do it). And they figured out how to start a movement and use it to political advantage (Tea Party, MAGA). Finally, they figured out how to take over a country (recent election). And guess what? Now it’s not the responsibility of the government to make sure companies are good stewards of the environment, for example. The NIH? The EPA? Now the brakes are off, and I’m sure, I’m 100% positive, that corporations will rake in money hand-over-fist as they start eliminating things that they were forced to do because they wouldn’t do it themselves. Like, for instane, DEI, or as I like to call it, keeping inept, unqualified people who know somebody out of jobs that nearly anybody else could do better. You really only need to look to our new Secretary of Defense, in order to figure out what I mean by that (Hegseth, gross).
So here we are. In a society that has completely shifted to worship money. But it’s astroturf. Most Americans still care that the world they leave for their children will be one racked by climate change. Most Americans care that civility has been sacrificed on the altar of “sick burns” and “living rent-free” and other stupidity. Most Americans want America to wiggle out from under the oppression, but they can’t tell where the oppression is coming from.
And so I go back to Adam Smith, who, in the same year our country was born, warned us all. He said that the farmers (today, would likely be all workers) were the people who should govern, as they are the ones the laws impact most. But he warned that the trade conglomerates were better at planning and had more time for it, and more resources besides, with which to co-opt the state to work for themselves. And now, two-hundred years later, we see the truth of this.
But Jefferson was right, and Payne was right, to lean on our founders a bit more than they likely deserve: the power is in the people. We Americans have forgotten this. But I’m hopeful, and the signs I’m seeing are encouraging, that we’re finally getting it.
One final vent: Corporations aren’t people. Corporations are contracts. I can’t believe smart people who make and judge laws couldn’t see the difference.
Looking at you Supreme Court.
