One problem I have with Obama is that the means he used to become a state senator from Illinois, while legal, betrayed contempt for the kind of fair play that underpins the democratic electoral process. What was Obama so afraid of to lead him to invalidate the signatures of the petitions of his political rivals?
I have never been a fan of George W. Bush’s attempt to co-opt organized religion through governmental subsidies of faith-based programs. Now, Senator Obama seeks to expand this program. The essential problem I have with state subsidies for religion is that it tempts religious institutions to become subservient to the state. Religion is important as it often forms the conscience of a people. One of the reasons why religion has stayed so strong in America while it has withered elsewhere is because religion is left alone. In contrast, state religions are expected to support government policy no matter how immoral.
Benj, I took your advice and read Lawrence Goodwyn’s books about the Populist movement. He appears to have some understanding of the movement. In particular, I regard the “subtreasury” system to be a very interesting concept, although the idea itself is actually very old. According to the Bible, Joseph was involved in organizing a “subtreasury” system in Egypt, after all.
I see in Lawrence Goodwyn’s story of the silver lobby’s co-option of the Populist movement as a corollary to modern times. Beware the demagogue with a silver tongue. The Democratic Party aggressively attacked and defeated the Populists, only to be decisively defeated by openly pro-corporate imperialistic Republicans.
In contrast, the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation is an example of worker ownership. Given the early leadership of Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, it could also be seen as a premier example of clerical syndicalism that avoided the pitfalls of anarcho-syndicalism and national syndicalism. This example shows how worker ownership can become the prevalent mode of industrial organization to the point where corporations voluntarily become cooperatives. And yet, the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation started under the Franco regime.
According to conventional wisdom, one would think that the Franco regime would be infertile ground for any grassroots effort to build industry along the lines of worker ownership. The Omaha World-Herald is an employee-owned newspaper in a very conservative region. Please compare this to the power of George Soros, who generated his money by the most vicious speculation to the point of being credited with devaluing the British pound, and yet is now regarded as a great philanthropist by much of the American Left.
All too often, important reforms of labor standards and environmental protection have come from presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon (ironically enough!). Compare this against the actual record of the Democratic Party over the past century, and it becomes difficult to take anyone from the academic Left seriously when he says, “I am on your side.”
Over the past century, elitists have monopolized America’s political space, whether they have been academic elitists (usually on the Left) or corporate elitists (usually on the Right). Here comes Senator Obama, with his faith-based initiative, which ought to give the religiously devout the cold chills every bit as much (if not more than) George W. Bush’s programs. Among other things, churches that accept government money often tell volunteers to fill out paperwork on how many hours they donate. Some volunteers regard this as insulting. They are doing this work for God, not for Caesar; they help because it comes from their conscience, not because it is part of some politician’s social agenda.
All this makes one wonder if populists are better off with an ostensibly conservative regime that leaves cooperatives alone instead of a silver-tongued demagogue who does everything he can to take over the movement only to betray it to his corporate allies.
If there is anything underscored by my reading of Lawrence Goodwyn’s books, it is that false friends are no friends at all. Beware the well-dressed man with the silver tongue.
