Sunday, March 15, 2015

The Conundrum of Robert Reich's Remedy

Robert Reich's article, "The Conundrum of Corporation and Nation," begins by telling us that even though most American corporations are doing better, most Americans are not. The first reason he cites as an explanation for this situation is

First, American corporations exert far more political influence in the United States than their counterparts exert in their own countries.
In fact, most Americans have no influence at all. That’s the conclusion of Professors Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University, who analyzed 1,799 policy issues — and found that “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
Instead, American lawmakers respond to the demands of wealthy individuals (typically corporate executives and Wall Street moguls) and of big corporations – those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets.
Depressing news for those of us who didn't know it.  But what is his remedy?   He provides the answer at the end of his article: 
What’s the answer to this basic conundrum? Either we lessen the dominance of big American corporations over American politics. Or we increase their allegiance and responsibility to America.
It has to be one or the other. Americans can’t thrive within a political system run largely by big American corporations — organized to boost their share prices but not boost America.
Unfortunately, he neglects to inform us how people who have a near-zero impact on public policy can change  it.  Anyone out there have a clue? 


1 comment:

Evan Ravitz said...

“the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”" EXCEPT in 24 states with ballot initiatives! Here in Colorado that's how we got the first legal marijuana, the first renewable energy requirements for utilities, and the country's strongest ethics in government law, among other things . The whole list:
http://spryeye.blogspot.com/2012/01/case-for-ballot-initiatives-and.html?m=1 What we need are better and national ballot initiatives, for instance: http://vote.org