Wisconsin Goes Corporate in Madison

 Update: The following quotes offered by the governor of Montana expresses why citizens should be very concerned with his view of how to govern and how to problem solve in a crisis situation, contrived or otherwise. Brian Schweitzer (D-Mont) reveals not only the myopic vision of Walker (R-Wisc), but also of Brian Schweitzer and the general rule of governance being shaped today.

"If you are a successful CEO of a company or of a state, the most important thing you can do is to build morale of the people who work for you," said Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-Mont.), citing his experience bargaining with Montana's public-employee unions, which agreed to forgo a salary increase two and a half years ago to avoid layoffs. "It is the people that work for you that make you successful, and when you do that to morale, you are cutting your own throat."
As for Walker's management style, "Every governor has to use his own model. But I don't know how this one ends in a good way," Schweitzer said. "How long do you think that CEO would keep his job and how successful do you think that business will be?" From an article at the Huffington Post.

 While Brian Schweitzer  believes he is offering words of wisdom in governance, he is starting from a very skewed perspective, that a country should be run as if it were a business or corporation.

That is the error of the late 20th century. This is the inherited political myopia infecting the beginning of the 21st century and halting the real progress we could make at this historical time.

A country is not a corporation. The purpose of a corporation is to make a profit, and in our current profit-seeking climate, to do so regardless of whose body, health, soul, mind, or children you step on to do get it.  Okay, okay, we all know the goals of a corporation, that profits shape and determine how and why decisions are made, how workers are treated, how management conducts itself, how consumers are treated, how research is conducted, how advertisement is shaped, and how governments are considered. A country, on the other hand, is not in the business of making a profit. It is not selling a commodity. It is not for sale on Wall Street to stockholders. A country is an organized body of citizens. The main purpose of a country is to collectively live together in a balanced manner so that the least amount of strife and greatest amount of freedom is possible for everyone. Its issues are outside profit making.

So why should we stock our political offices with those who are trained to run a corporation, are funded by those running a corporation, or believe that a country should be run like a corporation?

I can't see why it isn't obvious that if you turn the country over to the corporate mindset, the rules of governance will be those that satisfy the corporate mindset, even the liberal corporate mindset, which tends to pat itself on the back for not being as cruel to citizens as those on the conservative side. From a distance (in a future era), our limiting ourselves to a corporate worldview will probably appear stupid because of its limitations on the imagination of the entire country--of any country. You get what you vote for.

UPDATE: I find it disheartening that workers in Wisconsin so easily agreed to take on the burden of their pensions and benefits in order to keep bargaining rights as if doing so shows their willingness to pitch in is somehow in the best interests of the country. While I support their steadfastness to stay in the streets, I can't help but feel compassion and disappointment. They seem to be following the lead of Obama, who continues to, in a business-like manner, offer up the better life for the majority, whether in health care or taxes, in order to meet with Congress as if they are board members in some corporate entity whose main goal is to get along so that the corporation can maximize its profits. Meanwhile, he pushes himself into some imaginary higher realm (bringing democrats and republicans together kind of but not really) while millions of people continue to suffer and fall short of their potential.  Wouldn't a country filled with people provided arenas to reach their fullest potential be a better country?

Now that's the appearance. Whether it's intentional or not, Obama's presence is raising the consciousness of the American working people. Alinksy would be on the ground standing with the people if alive.

How come we're not talking about how running America as if it were a corporation is a slap in the face of  the American imagination, which keeps getting buried into advertising slogans and sound bites--and shoved or stored in the pockets of the greedy?

The very wealthy have always stepped on and over the working people in order to secure their wealth and power.  The working people have always been expected to drop their hard earned labor on the doorsteps of the wealthy. This whole idea of the working classes having to carry the corporations on their labor and time is not only an outdated idea, but a tragic one that comes partly from internalizing the ideology of the wealthy and powerful, who see the common person as a tool for money making or in the way of money making.

What is particularly disturbing to me is the vast numbers of women affected by tho loss of these benefits in Wisconsin. Many single women and mothers need those benefits without having to cut into their pay.  Why aren't people speaking out, demanding they not only keep their benefits and pensions as is but get a raise in salary?   Where aren't the workers in the private sector demanding higher pay, pensions, benefits?  Why aren't people in the streets demanding the state tax the profits of the rich to pay for universal health care and pensions? Why would anyone in Wisconsin ever leave the streets until the state changes its corporate agenda and mindset?  And yet, they will. They will get a few crumbs and take their snappy shoes and go home.


The majority of Americas might want to insist they CATCH UP not PITCH IN.