With the introduction of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Committee (FEC), many have again resurrected the old progressive mantra, “The big corporations are in bed with government!” And yes, it’s true. Through corporate welfare, megalo-giants like Monsanto, General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Bank of America and Chevron receive millions of your tax dollars despite making windfall profits! Not surprisingly, this has made the largest recipients of corporate tax breaks and subsidies also our biggest spenders in political elections. It seems big business is happy (and determined) to keep your tax dollars flowing in while paying nearly none themselves.
So now comes the difficult and most important question: How do we fix this?
The Democrats and President Obama have offered up a plan to strengthen regulations, disclose greater transparency and enact tougher, stricter penalties for those who would “hijack our political system.”
On the surface, these policies make sense. Regulations will limit corporate influence, audit campaigns suspected of being corrupt, keep the politicians who take corporate money accountable and punish those who break the law. Sounds good to me!
But wait, there’s an alternative enigma, and this is important: Have you ever asked yourself why corporations are in bed with government? Why big businesses spend so much on campaigns, on lobbyists, on ads and on “influencing” our political leaders and lawmakers?
The answer is simple: Because government is worth controlling.
Government, today, is an extremely valuable commodity. And corporations (like with any human-driven instinct) have every incentive to try to control something so worth having.
We have to understand that as we give government more power, its value rises accordingly. Hence, more corporations will want to control it. We’d be foolish to think that businesses, lobbyists and all sorts of (both Democratic and Republican) interest groups won’t be interested in owning such a potent luxury. To me, we’re almost asking for it.
So the solution isn’t to double down on the core of the problem. The solution isn’t giving government more regulatory powers – it isn’t about adding more value to an already gold-gilded, gem-encrusted institution. The solution is limiting government and in a sense, devaluing it. We limit government, and we take away the incentive for oil companies and banks to try to control it. We reduce the value of government, and instead focus on making better the few but vital things that government is suppose to do.
If we want to truly take the corporate money out of our politics, then we have to face the fact that the scope of our government is itself part of the problem, and that growing government is not going to be the solution.
Doo Lee is a College Freshman from Suwanee, Georgia.
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Decreasing the power of the government will inevitably lead to a power vacuum in the political sphere open to manipulation by any with the ability to do so, i.e. corporations. There’s obviously a problem of corporate political power, but reducing the government’s political power doesn’t seem to be the answer.