Government and Corporations Fail For the Same Reason

Screen Shot 2013-11-03 at 4.06.12 PM

It’s generally accepted that the left tends to blame corporations for our problems, while the right tends to blame government.

What’s interesting is that regardless of which is more true, both entities fail for the same reason, i.e., in both cases there is a group that each is supposedly beholden to, and then there is the group that actually controls them.

  • Corporations claim they serve their customers and employees, for example, but they really serve their shareholders

  • Government claims to serve the constituents, but it really serves the lobbyists that fund their ability to remain in office

Also identical is the fact that the group they’re supposed to be serving represents regular Americans, while the group that they’re actually serving represents a tiny elite.

These two dragons are not so dissimilar: both involve very few, immensely powerful individuals who are largely disconnected from regular American life, preventing potentially good organizations from doing what is in the best interest of our country.

We cannot fight the enemy if we cannot identify it, and this abstraction from the American struggle is the enemy. With respect to government, we must do two things:

  1. We must make it so that those who represent us live among the people they are serving (those that need the most help)

  2. We must make it so that the only people with influence over our representatives are their constituents

With corporations we must evaluate the degree to which the service being provided actually helps Americans, vs. simply enriching the few at the top of the organization.

In short, whether government or corporation: the primary question should be, “How pure is the link between this organization’s motivation and the improvement of the American poor and middle classes?”

Right now the answer is a terrible one: there is virtually no connection between these two things—for either government or corporations, and that’s why we’re sick.

Related posts: