Maybe it’s time to separate business and state, too

"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."

— Thomas Jefferson

"The dream of every leader, whether a tyrannical despot or a benign prophet, is to regulate the behavior of his people."

— Colin Blakemore

"The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

— Alex Carey, Taking the Risk Out of Democracy

All my life I've been a die-hard, good old-fashioned capitalist. I was raised to be a capitalist, and I still firmly believe in the system, even if I haven't managed to flourish under it (yet).

Now, I'm no economist, but I'm beginning to realize why the gap between rich and poor in this country continues to grow, despite the "war on poverty" we've been waging for 30-some-odd years.

Big businesses, with few exceptions, protect each others' interests. Thanks to the fact that we continue to allow corporate influence to control politics, government protects those interests as well. Big business thus subverts government policy to serve its own ends, playing along with whichever political philosophy happens to be currently in power.

That's a thought which has been kicking around in my head for some time, spurred by a famous observation by Abraham Lincoln concerning what he termed the takeover of the nation by "the moneyed interests."

Then I stumbled across the following quote from the most famous Marine of all time, Maj.Gen. Smedley D. Butler, a two-time Medal of Honor winner, made in 1935:

"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in the country's most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all ranks from second lieutenant to major general. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

"I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups.

"Thus I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to revenue in. I helped in the raping of half-a-dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers and Co. in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras 'right' for American fruit companies in 1903. In China 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

"During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals and promotion. Looking back on it, I feel that I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was operate a racket in three city districts. The Marines operated on three continents."

I won't venture any opinions about our military being used for current capitalistic ventures, but I do think Butler's words illustrate chillingly how Lincoln's fears were borne out.

Fast-forwarding to 1997, look at programs like School-to-Work. They're not designed to create individualistic, entrepreneuring capitalists; they're designed to create a feeder system for the lower-end positions in the same corporate entities which fund them.

The separation of church and state is spelled out by our Founding Fathers;  perhaps it's time we did something about the separation of business and state.