President Bush says we need to move to an Ownership Society

If you are not in the Democratic camp now, you should think long and hard about getting there. Too lefty for you, consider the libby camp or maybe just independant for this next go around.

The nice warm fuzzy sales pitch is that everyone has a stake in everything. Sounds good doesn't it? What happens when your stake is small, like most everybodys is going to be? The answer to that is simple; namely, those with a big stake are going to call the shots and the rest of us just deal.

Does that sound American to you? It sure doesn't to me.

Increased corporate ownership of America is simply setting up fiefdoms for each area of our lives. Those that own the fief will get to set policy as a matter of corporate operation, not legislative policy in the traditional sense. It's an end run around the inherent limits the Founding Fathers built in to our government to keep this sort of thing from happening.

We will be accountable to non-elected people, who are not statesmen, but businessmen looking to make a quick buck to finish the quarter, not serve the public interest.

Big business is not your friend. Ever disagree with a large company over matters of policy? Have any success waiting hours on the phone only to talk with a lacky delivering the bare minimum lip service? Companies exist to make money. Competition exists as a check on abuses, but what happens when the government grants monopoloies? What happens to the incentive to act in our interests instead of the shareholders?

When you hear the word "privatize", think "work outside the rules".

When you hear the words "free market" , think "just let business do what it wants to make more money at your expense".

When you hear your own government refer to you as a "consumer" instead of citizen, know you are being exploited.

When you hear our President say, "Promote Freedom" , think "help the other nations to start hosing people just like we are doing here".

When you hear spend political capital, know the Republican party is doing what it wants to, despite the will of the American People.

When you hear values, know they are trying to legislate morality.

When you hear culture of life, know thats code for a nation living under a growing theocracy.

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