I'd rather have my hair on fire than my head in the sand, when it comes to Corporate Power [View all]

[Armstead]

I've been accused by a few of the more conservative (centrist) posters here recently of being a "hair on fire" alarmist, a knee-jerk hater of corporations and a malcontent who demands that everything be my way.

I'm not alone on that. Those kind of things are regularly flung at many others who dare to question or challenge our esteemed leaders who have D's after their names. That's one of the recurring themes on DU, as elsewhere, and has been for years.

Perhaps it is flaring up again now because there are some items on the agenda that are once again putting that to the test -- Net Neutraity and Comcast, TPP etc.

I don't mind people who disagree my my opinions. But it gets annoying when people are condescending in an attempt to impose blind unquestioning loyalty in the wisdom and actions of our Democratic leaders and their friends in the Upper Echelons of wealth and power. So here's my blanket response:

I am not spouting off utopian idealism or knee-jerk alarmism. I am not against capitalism or corporations -- I'm not even against big corporations, to a point. But I also believe that there needs to be restraints placed on them, and that NO company or small group of individuals should swallow up too much -- and especially not ALL OF IT -- at the expense of everyone else.

I don't think the Democratic Party should be supporting such power grabs. If you think that is a wonderful direction. then the GOP would be happy to have you aboard.

Those wit their hair-on-fire currently re trying to avoid yet another economic-political-policy trainwreck that is totally avoidable. We are witnessing yet another repeat of a pattern that has become all-too-familiar over the last 35 years. The attitude of "Let's just give the Wealthy and Powerful all the unregulated power they want, and hope for the best"

That approach has been eroding the economy and social values and well being of the majority of the United States for decades. That's also how we ended up with the Pirate Corporate Capitalism that led to the crash of 2008, and continues to decimate the middle class.

That's how we ended up with a handful of Media Monopolies controlling all of broadcasting and much of print. And now they have their eyes on the Internet. Regarding Net Neutrality -- If you can possibly believe it is a good thing to hand over our basic electronic information infrastructure completely to Monopolist Corporations who have already proven what bastards they are ....Well, I've got several bridges I'll be happy to sell you.

That kind of "don't worry, be happy" attitude is what brought us financial deregulation and the Crash of 08, and all of the other problems your benevolent Corporations and Wall St. Oligarchs -- and yes they are oligarchs -- have inflicted on us while you were sleeping.

It represents the thinking that doesn't want to shut the barn door until after the horse is well out of it. And who insults those people who warned "Maybe we should close the barn door before the horse gets out."

The same shortsighted myopic attitude that back in the 90's said "Why are you spreading alarmist crap about Deregulation of the Broadcast Media? It's just allowing the broadcasters to utilize technological change to create a more competitive environment." ..... Now, 15 years later. a tiny handful of Media Monopolies have swallowed up almost every radio and TV station in the country and have almost no responsibility to serve the public interest.

It is the same stubborn refusal to acknowledge reality as those who said in the 90's: "Don't worry about deregulation of the financial sector. Those nice banks and Wall St. investment houses just want a little more freedom from outdated regulations to adapt to modern economic realities. Trust them. They promise they'll behave themselves. And the Markets will ensure that banking remains competitive and no bank will get too big or powerful."

We all know how that one worked out.