Ramblings

I'm taking a trip to New York in the next few weeks. B.'s suggestions for in-flight reading material triggered a rather long winded reply.

Hey M.,

I've got a great book to recommend for your plane journeys - two actually, by the same guy, Thom Hartmann

One is "Unequal Protection - The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights" (2002)

And

"What would Jefferson Do?" (2004)

Hartmann is very, very well researched and he puts corporatism into historical perspective starting with the Boston Tea Party, through the rise of the railroads and the use of the fourteenth amendment (originally intended to end slavery) to obtain corporate personhood, which gave Corporations the precedent to use the rest of the Bill of Rights to trample on the lives of actual people. Hartman explains this very well, he also makes proposals on how to END corporate personhood.

Then in What Would Tommy J. do? , he proceeds to talk constructively about Democracy vs. Fascism.

Both of these books are two of my favorites, and he is one of my favorite authors. He's got great style and obviously knows his stuff. I learned a lot from him, and whole heartedly recommend his work to you.

While I'm recommending books, you'd like this one too.

"When Corporations Rule the World" David C. Korten (Paperback)

This one gives you context for multi-national corporations scamming the planet, and the lurking threat posed by the "Bretton Woods Institutions" - The World Bank, The IRS and the WTO. (as well as NAFTA and GATT)

These books are marginally depressing, but very important. The Jefferson Book is the most uplifting of the 3.

B.


Hey B.,

I've always liked Jefferson. He was such a brilliant bundle of contradictions. For such a champion of human rights, it's certainly ironic that he owned slaves. Additionally, the phrase "all men are created equal" apparently didn't apply to women or any person in general not blessed with a White Anglo Saxon heritage. He was a scientist, musician, writer, scholar, chef and a true revolutionary. He was a firm believer that people should revolt against their government on a regular basis just to keep the powers that be on their toes. Pretty radical, though perhaps a tad too extremist. His eloquence was artistic. I happen to think that the Declaration Of Independence is one of the most beautifully written documents ever produced. Lincoln's Gettysburg address runs along those lines as well. I often think that as truly ass-backwards and open to corruption our system of government can be, we're still lucky to have the one we have. It's an experiment that has worked pretty well. I find it amazing how a bickering pack of intellectuals, business men, farmers and a criminal or two managed to hash out a system of government that has actually thrived. It's had its challenges along the way and still does but it always seems to bounce back. I'm trying hard to be optimistic in the face of our current presidential administration and the nitwitted decisions it's made thus far. I keep reminding myself that the system works and nimrods need not stay in power for long. It was set up specifically to give the nimrods a turn at bat and then sending them on their merry way when their time is up.

As far as corporate domination is concerned, the future should prove very interesting. Not that there isn't a degree of corporate manipulation of society right now (mostly through the mainstream media), the question is how long will it be tolerated. Is business going to gobble up government by infiltrating it so thoroughly and guiding its actions, thus eventually becoming the government? I don't know. Do I think it can happen? Sure, but only if we allow it as a society. Are we going to continue walking around blindly, content with owning all the trappings and status symbols so dutifully provided to us by the corporate marketing gurus? Are we going to continue to give our time our talent, our lives to meet the financial goals of our corporate employers and further empower them only to receive the lowest percentage of their profits for our efforts? As a society of free thinking people are we going to finally all get fed up? Hell, I hope so.

You're right, the other two books would probably depress the hell out of me, Jefferson is a better bet. However, when flying I prefer escapist entertainment. I'm going to bring along "Wiseguys" by Nicholas Pileggi. Sordid tales of brutal Mafia slayings tend to relax me during flights.

M.