Comments on: Yup, really cleaning up that swamp… https://habitablezone.com/2020/05/19/yup-really-cleaning-up-that-swamp/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:03:37 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2020/05/19/yup-really-cleaning-up-that-swamp/#comment-44617 hank Wed, 20 May 2020 15:55:22 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=81926#comment-44617 ...is that Conservatives aren't going to be outraged by finding out this sort of thing is going on. They believe this is the way things SHOULD be. In their world, the people who own or run businesses are the only ones who actually know how things work, or how to make them work, and the only ones who deserve to really benefit from them. Business executives and owners are the generalists. Workers (like customers) are, at best, a specialist resource to be bought and sold. At worst, they are lazy and larcenous drones that have no ambition, no creativity, no desire to own and control and build. They simply don't deserve to share in the profits of free enterprise. They may have skills and a very few of them may even be honest and conscientious. But as a rule, they are just a commodity and deserve to be consumed just like any other. The business class have always been like that, they just have been smart enough to keep it to themselves...until about 1980. Now they're not ashamed to say it out loud. And now, not only do they accept it without question, they're not even afraid to expect that everyone else believes it too; or at least, everyone who really matters. …is that Conservatives aren’t going to be outraged by finding out this sort of thing is going on. They believe this is the way things SHOULD be. In their world, the people who own or run businesses are the only ones who actually know how things work, or how to make them work, and the only ones who deserve to really benefit from them. Business executives and owners are the generalists. Workers (like customers) are, at best, a specialist resource to be bought and sold. At worst, they are lazy and larcenous drones that have no ambition, no creativity, no desire to own and control and build. They simply don’t deserve to share in the profits of free enterprise. They may have skills and a very few of them may even be honest and conscientious. But as a rule, they are just a commodity and deserve to be consumed just like any other.

The business class have always been like that, they just have been smart enough to keep it to themselves…until about 1980.
Now they’re not ashamed to say it out loud. And now, not only do they accept it without question, they’re not even afraid to expect that everyone else believes it too; or at least, everyone who really matters.

]]> By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2020/05/19/yup-really-cleaning-up-that-swamp/#comment-44616 hank Wed, 20 May 2020 13:50:30 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=81926#comment-44616 Pointing out how an ambitious Deep Republican is quietly assembling a cadre of influential right wing leaders from government, the media, industry and other power centers (using public funds and facilities) for political purposes is simply not a crime for Conservatives. For them, these are not only people that matter, they are the ONLY people that matter. After all, the stockholders elect the board, not the employees. And the board appoints the managers. The workers never get a vote, they just get to work. Designating and maintaining forums and associations where special interests can interface directly with government officials, both elected and appointed, is precisely how class interests are transformed into government policy. Private power centers have always exerted great control over government institutions using subtle variations of these methods. Its not necessary to employ direct bribes, kickbacks and payoffs under the table to suborn politicians, and simply declaring corruption, illegal contributions etc as crimes will not stop this, nor will investigating and prosecuting these crimes vigorously. But the influence exercised through legal and constitutional methods can also be used to manipulate and control just what is illegal and how corruption is defined. With this mind-set on the ascendant, why not use a little public funding to help grease the wheels of private commerce? After all, helping business creates jobs, doesn't it? And having a job is all the workers really care about. As far as the Right is concerned, this is not corruption or cronyism, this is exactly what political heavyweights SHOULD be doing with public funds. If senior government officials were instead inviting scientists, community leaders, consumer advocates, academics, social commentators, critics, journalists, writers, scholars and artists, who would be representing corporate interests and the agenda of the propertied class? For the Right, and even for those of their victims who have been deluded into thinking they are part of the Right, none of those other people count. They are just threats, motivated by envy and greed. They feel morally justified, if not obligated, in persecuting these takers and undermining their interests. Read your Rand. For Conservatives, the whole purpose of government is to communicate the desires of the people who own things to the people who run things. As for the rest of that bunch of do-gooders and troublemakers the Libs invite to their soirees, well, they don't really matter, do they? They aren't real people, they don't actually own anything. The business class and corporate leadership and their agents are influential and important people, they have a legitimate role and they should be consulted and kept informed on what government is up to. But in our new regime, they are quickly becoming the<em> only </em>ones who need be consulted and informed. The rest of those people simply don't matter, and they certainly shouldn't matter. Pointing out how an ambitious Deep Republican is quietly assembling a cadre of influential right wing leaders from government, the media, industry and other power centers (using public funds and facilities) for political purposes is simply not a crime for Conservatives. For them, these are not only people that matter, they are the ONLY people that matter. After all, the stockholders elect the board, not the employees. And the board appoints the managers. The workers never get a vote, they just get to work.

Designating and maintaining forums and associations where special interests can interface directly with government officials, both elected and appointed, is precisely how class interests are transformed into government policy. Private power centers have always exerted great control over government institutions using subtle variations of these methods. Its not necessary to employ direct bribes, kickbacks and payoffs under the table to suborn politicians, and simply declaring corruption, illegal contributions etc as crimes will not stop this, nor will investigating and prosecuting these crimes vigorously. But the influence exercised through legal and constitutional methods can also be used to manipulate and control just what is illegal and how corruption is defined. With this mind-set on the ascendant, why not use a little public funding to help grease the wheels of private commerce? After all, helping business creates jobs, doesn’t it? And having a job is all the workers really care about.

As far as the Right is concerned, this is not corruption or cronyism, this is exactly what political heavyweights SHOULD be doing with public funds. If senior government officials were instead inviting scientists, community leaders, consumer advocates, academics, social commentators, critics, journalists, writers, scholars and artists, who would be representing corporate interests and the agenda of the propertied class? For the Right, and even for those of their victims who have been deluded into thinking they are part of the Right, none of those other people count. They are just threats, motivated by envy and greed. They feel morally justified, if not obligated, in persecuting these takers and undermining their interests. Read your Rand.

For Conservatives, the whole purpose of government is to communicate the desires of the people who own things to the people who run things. As for the rest of that bunch of do-gooders and troublemakers the Libs invite to their soirees, well, they don’t really matter, do they? They aren’t real people, they don’t actually own anything.

The business class and corporate leadership and their agents are influential and important people, they have a legitimate role and they should be consulted and kept informed on what government is up to. But in our new regime, they are quickly becoming the only ones who need be consulted and informed. The rest of those people simply don’t matter, and they certainly shouldn’t matter.

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