Crony Capitalism and the Media/Government Complex

Posted as a comment over at Big Government[*1]

There is a Media-Government Complex, even more dangerous and corrosive of liberty as Eisenhower’s “military/industrial complex” (which, if you actually go back and read Eisenhower’s speech–he’s warning against much the same crony capitalism that Palin highlighted once again in Indianola, Iowa.

Eisenhower:[*2]

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military/industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

“We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. “

Palin::[*3]

“Ever notice how so many of them arrive in Washington, D.C. of modest means and then miraculously throughout the years they end up becoming very, very wealthy? Well, it’s because they derive power and their wealth from their access to our money – to taxpayer dollars. They use it to bail out their friends on Wall Street and their corporate cronies, and to reward campaign contributors, and to buy votes via earmarks. There is so much waste. And there is a name for this: It’s called corporate crony capitalism. This is not the capitalism of free men and free markets, of innovation and hard work and ethics, of sacrifice and of risk. No, this is the capitalism of connections and government bailouts and handouts, of waste and influence peddling and corporate welfare. This is the crony capitalism that destroyed Europe’s economies. It’s the collusion of big government and big business and big finance to the detriment of all the rest – to the little guys. It’s a slap in the face to our small business owners – the true entrepreneurs, the job creators accounting for 70% of the jobs in America, it’s you who own these small businesses, you’re the economic engine, but you don’t grease the wheels of government power.”

Me again:

We need to start HAMMERING the message of the Media/Government Complex. They are a single entity, working for a single goal: bigger, more intrusive, “more caring” government. He who has the gold, makes the rules isn’t democracy or a republic–it’s plutocracy. That’s what the Media/Government Complex wants. Plutocracy.

It’s not the conservatives and the Tea Parties who are defending “the rich.” (“The Rich” aren’t those hard-working entrepreneurs who have built businesses from nothing to something–it’s those parasites who have used their connections and old boys’ networks and the power of government to get an unfair advantage over the hard-working entrepreneurs, by the way–that’s another distinction we need to start making: between “The Rich” and “The Entrepreneurs.”) It’s the Media/Government Complex who are defending that parasitic kind of “The Rich.” Dismantle that unholy alliance, starve the beast of its food (money)–that’s the path to restoring liberty.

Don’t defend “our rich”– the entrepreneurs. Attack their “rich”–the parasitic crony capitalist plutocrats.

The problem is that much of the Republican Party is in fact in bed with the plutocrats. Not as much as the Democrats, but enough to let the Media/Government Complex demagogue the issue.