Jun 11, 2016

Citizens' Weak Demand of Government Policy, Favored Interests' Strong Demand

 North Dakota Corporate Dairy and Swine Farming Referendum
There is a mission-critical defect in the United States democracy.

The problem is what economists, sociologists and political scientists call the "demand constraint."

The demand constraint is the ideologically-imposed inability of the great masses of the citizenry to demand social arrangements and governmental policies, in accordance with their rights, will, safety and happiness.

The corporate sector has no such constraint.

The corporate sector places its demands on the government and society, attacking any disparity between government policy and corporations' drive to maximize their own wealth as the measure on which the very legitimacy of the government depends.

If the corporate sector inflicts costs onto society, communities and governments are expected by the corporate sector to pay those costs and make policy which codifies this expectation.

Governmental subsidies are also demanded by the corporate sector.

Corporate decision makers don't care who carries out their policies. There is always a Scott Walker (Wisconsin's governor in title), a Brad Schimel, (Wisconsin's attorney general in title), or Robin Vos, (Wisconsin's state Assembly Speaker in title), a Republican on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for example, or a Hillary Clinton around.

What corporations do demand is 'public' officials who take orders. That say a Scott Walker holds delusions that metaphysical deities "call" Walker to work for corporate interests is of no concern.

Even as the corporations become ever more brazen and ambitious to transform America into a colonial entity in which the masses work as servants to corporate power, the demand constraint on many Americans persists. A related demand constraint exists among the professional class: Speaking for the masses is perceived as bad business.

When political candidates like Bernie Sanders, for example, start demanding that social and governmental institutions restructure for the common wealth of the great masses of people, corporate pay-masters, corporate media, and corporate servants become hostile to a Bernie Sanders.

They brand Sanders' platform some combination of unrealistic, unattainable, and unAmerican, even going to far as to red-bait Sanders.

Seen in this light, it becomes easier to understand why even water and air are treated as tools of corporate America to satisfy corporate interests. Unhealthy and dangerous water and air are costs that rightfully, in corporate America's view, society should pay.

That air and water are needed for citizens and other life to survive and thrive is of no importance.

North Dakota Corporate Dairy and Swine Farming Referendum

On Tuesday, June 14, North Dakota will hold a state referendum, the North Dakota Corporate Dairy and Swine Farming Referendum that if passed will facilitate corporate American agribusiness.

Stopping corporate factory farms would be a significant victory, as such a win would demonstrate North Dakota citizens need not internalize demand constraints. In sum, they are demanding North Dakota works for the people.

This is not a high-profile election. It should be.

Pro-family farmer, pro-sustainability, clean water and air, and responsible North Dakotans want a No vote. See the Dakota Resource Council, and the North Dakota Farmers Union.

Corporate and polluting ag operations want a Yes vote.

Stay tuned for the results of the June 14 North Dakota election, and how clean water and clean air guarantees, and community-based solutions are addressed in the general presidential election featuring Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton against Jill Stein, Gary Bauer, and Donald Trump.

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