Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

71.2. Part II. Politics: Galbraith,Chomsky, Niebuhr!

                                                                    American Capitalism

  1.   In his book American Capitalism (Houghton Mifflin 1952), economist John Kenneth Galbraith suggests how a strong correlation between wealth and conservatism in American government  prevents many social programs from becoming a reality. According to Galbraith, "The political destiny of the United States does not rest with those who seek or who are suspected of wishing to repeal laws, withdraw services and undo what has been done. This also is change and unwelcomed. But, given peace and prosperity, it no longer rests with those who advocate major social experiment. In a country where well-being is general, the astute politician will be the one who stalwartly promises to defend the status quo" (Galbraith 11). This selfish attitude toward social justice must change if the United States is to regain its integrity throughout the world. Complacency must not overcome social conscience. Galbraith furthermore suggests that the larger the corporation is, the greater is its responsibility to its constituents. He points out that size is not the true measure of the power that the company wields. In Galbraith's words, "With size goes the ultimate responsibility for the decisions affecting the largest number of employees, over prices that affect the largest number of customers, over investment policies which work the greatest change in the income, livelihood,or landscape of the community" (Galbraith 26).This same principles applies to nations, particularly the superpowers. For this reason,. the United States should accept its responsibilities toward the countries that are adversely affected by its policies, and make every effort to address their concerns with wisdom and compassion. A Palestinian woman cries out, "Who is going to help us? " Where is the United States, as she witnesses the deaths of those around her and the destruction of her community by Hamas soldiers. Although the United States cannot answer her appeal, she still looks to America as a humanitarian nation that comes to the aid of the suffering. The U. S. government has this moral obligation beyond other nations because of its capability and reputation, a reputation which must not be tarnished by the politics of materialism and economic growth. 

  2.         Today, more than ever, the U. S. economy relies upon oil and military production for its economic stability. America consumes one fourth of the world's oil supply. As in Galbraith's day, America's truly powerful corporations rely upon profits from military contracts which places their tanks and technology throughout the Middle East to sustain U. S. growth and contribute to the Gross National Product.   As both Niebuhr and Galbraith suggests, nations often employ fear as a tactic to gain public acceptance of wartime involvement. In American Capitalism, Galbraith suggests that the American government used the fear of creeping socialism to gain support for military production during the Cold War (3-4). The government used the fear of another Depression to persuade the public of the need for their own self-interest, at the taxpayer's expense.  These same protections contributed  to the rise of what Galbraith calls crypto-oligarchies in business  who wield enormous power over the public (5-8). These same mega-corporations when empowered with technology, united their goals with those of the federal government to become the military industrial complex, which today exists in the President's War on Terrorism. In essence, the fear of war creates an even greater demand for a strong military, as well as an inducement for additional military intervention, whether ample justification exists or not. Ironically, spending on military defense leads to inflation; however, reducing that same military  spending cannot check  inflation. Only taxation can (195).  Galbraith goes on to say, "The large corporation can have significant power over the prices it charges, over the prices it pays, even over the mind of the consumer whose wants and tastes it partly synthesizes. There is nothing in the American tradition of dissent so strong as the suspicion of private business power" (7). As  Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky observe in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Pantheon Books 2002), "In sum the mass media of the United States are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-censorship, and without significant coercion. This propaganda system has become even more efficient in recent decades with the rise of the national television networks, greater mass-media concentration, right-wing pressures on public radio and television, and the growth in scope and sophistication of public relations and news management" (Chomsky 306).  Ironically. the conservative notion that programs for the poor lead to creeping socialism or communism in essence should be reworded to say that poverty and a low standard of living "make communism and socialism feasible" (173).  No morals exist in business, or politics either, in most cases. The corporation's greatest fear is not from the public but from antitrust legislation which limits their capacity, in many cases, to exploit Third World countries . As Galbraith suggests, "No explanation, however, elaborate, could quite conceal the fact that the effect of antitrust enforcement, in this case, was to the disadvantage of the public" (143).  The U. S. could provide funding and technology for research and development  in those same poorer countries, instead of using the system of capitalism to create a culture similar to the corporate one in America based upon foreign oil. China currently is working to  achieve a similar goal in lesser developed countries, and it certainly would be to the the United States' advantages to do the same.

   3.         The price of corporate pervades American society in deleterious. Twentieth-century Americans has become obsessed with speed and convenience. Pioneer economists Malthus and Ricardo based their theories on "that grinding poverty was the fate of man" (102), but  in today's affluent society, wealth abounds; and corporations, through questionable advertising practices, have persuaded man  of his need for their particular products.  Tragically and ironically, the citizen is too preoccupied with with cost of  technological conveniences  in a country which faces overwhelming  problems associated with alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, and racial tension. The real test of a society and its corporate structure is whether or not the technology reduces the stress which causes these  devastating social conditions, whether or not the companies reduce the cost to the consumer. Today, however, as the cost of living, healthcare, and  education rise, the public suffers  to an even greater degree.  

                                                                                    Works Cited

Galbraith, John Kenneth. American Capitalism. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1952).

Herman, Edward S. and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the                 Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books, 2002.