The eighth truth of the relationship between morality and capitalism is that the legal recognition of corporations as persons is used by their officers and shareholders, to shield them from personal responsibility. When corporations settle lawsuits out of court, they invariably admit no wrongdoing, and demand that the records be sealed as a condition of the settlement. I believe that this protection violates the spirit if not the letter of the Constitution.
This attitude has carried into George W. Bush's business-driven White House. This avoidance of accepting responsibility by the Bush Administration (as demonstrated by President Bush's inability to think of a single mistake he made while President) is identical to the way large corporations work. Only those who have demonstrated a "lack of loyalty" to the CEO (John O'Neill and Richard Clarke for example) are asked to resign. Mistakes are spun by these plutocrats with massive public relation campaigns including the use of "tame" reporters, newspapers and media outlets to write positive stories about the corporation, while at the same time attacking critics. Unpopular actions by the corporation are sold to the public using lies and half-truths every bit as much as the corporation's products.
This philosophy also makes indoctrination and public relations in the form of propaganda a vital part of the corporation's (and the Bush Administration's) operations. The gathering of employees for the daily pep rally/sales meeting at companies like Wal-Mart, has echoes in highly emotional sporting events like a Red Sox-Yankees baseball game, a Michigan-Ohio State football game, or an English soccer match, as well as the Nazi rallies at Nuremberg in the 1930's. It is an attempt to divorce reason from the mind of the participant, and replace it with an intense instinctive emotional response in favor of the corporation, the sports team, or the party.
I believe it was Carl Jung who stated that the difference between a neurotic and a psychotic is that neurotics believe everything is their fault, and psychotics believe nothing is their fault. This leads to the psychotic's inability to learn from his mistakes. It also leads to a disinterest and distrust of facts, especially those facts that draws the attention of the psychotic to his mistakes. President Bush's refusal to admit mistakes, or to hear and accept bad news, sends a chill down my spine. This is due to the similarities with the attitude Adolf Hitler had in the last two-and-a-half years of his life, as described by Heinz Guderian in his book Panzer Leader, and Albert Speer in his book Inside the Third Reich.
What was wrong for Nazi Germany, is equally wrong for modern America or its corporations. Surrendering our reason to any creation of humanity is morally repugnant. It must be opposed by everyone who loves liberty, regardless of our political, religious, social, or racial background.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that the tree of liberty must periodically be fertilized by the blood of patriots and tyrants. Like Jefferson, I believe in the necessity of periodic, albeit, non-violent revolutions for the sake of liberty. I think that the time has come for us to turn back the tide of unbridled corporatism that Benito Mussolini said was another name for fascism. It is time for us to act like Americans again.
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