Corporations Are as Powerful as the Money We Give Them

by Larry Behnke

Consider this quote from a United States president: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands."

That was written in 1864 by Abraham Lincoln. What he feared is now standard practice in our government and we, the people, are worse off for it.

During most of the nineteenth century, corporate charters were granted by our government to serve the public interest and necessity. They were strictly controlled and required to benefit the community. Corporations that acted irresponsibly had their charters revoked.

Nowadays corporations have become more powerful than the governments that grant them charters.

General Motors has a bigger economy than Denmark or Thailand. Ford's is larger than South Africa. Many corporations have located their addresses offshore, moving beyond national boundaries and leaving us to pay more taxes while they pay none.

Sending American jobs overseas helps them, but it hurts us.

How did corporations get so immense? Why are they more powerful than many countries?

Money is the answer. It costs a lot to run for public office and corporations are happy to help fund our representatives, in exchange for having them pass a few corporate-favoring laws, of course. And politicians are a lot cheaper to buy, compared with current CEO salaries.

Back when a corporation got redefined as a person, major power shifted from we, the people to the corporation. A corporation operates beyond morals. Their god is the bottom line.

If a corporate product causes cancer, it is often cheaper to pay off paltry lawsuits than to change the product. Lawsuits from that car ignition that started fires or the exploding Mustang gas tanks of a few years back were paid off more cheaply than the costs of retooling the assembly lines.

During Hitler's reign our country united to stop him, but Coca-Cola kept making Fanta orange drink for the Nazis to keep their German factories operating. IBM made punch cards to keep track of concentration camp inmates and our president's grandfather's company helped supply the Third Reich with arms. Sure, fascism is bad, but profit is good for a corporation.

It is no wonder the PR budget of corporations is so huge. Image is all-important when it helps the profit margin. Product placement in movies, sponsoring sporting events, teams and stadiums and plastering logos on kids' clothing keep corporations visible and appearing benevolent.

Did Vice President Cheney take a cut in pay so he could guide our country, or was it more profitable to have him in the white house than as head of Halliburton?

And speaking of no-bid contracts and closed-door energy policy, did you really think the Iraq war was about supplying our country with more oil? Why haven't we seen an increase in oil supply since nearly 3,000 American deaths ago?

Because, it is more profitable for oil corporations to keep that Iraqi oil in the ground. It's all about supply and demand. Look how many more trillions in profits oil companies have made since the price of a barrel of oil tripled from the pre-war days.

Corporations are not above war profiteering, poisoning our environment, manipulating school children, buying news sources and brainwashing us into thinking we really need what they want to sell us. So what can we do?

Don't look to our politicians. When we were taught that Americans are a free people, it didn't mean we were free to choose pawns of corporations in elections that can be electronically manipulated.

We are free to decide how we live our life. We are free to buy what we want. In this way we truly have the ability to limit corporate power.

Boycott companies that do harm.

Buy locally from members of your community when possible. Live a more sustainable lifestyle. Drive your present car twice as many years (unless it's a gas-guzzler).

Remember the motto of another war era: Use it up, wear it out, make it last.

Using less and buying less means having more money. Or it could mean having to earn less money, and having more free time.

What do you really need to be happy? Listen to your needs, not devious ads and commercials.

Greed is the flaw in corporate policy. Democracy can still live with the people.

Vote with the power of your purchases.