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> Confronting the "Corporate Mystique"
>
> by Paul Kurtz
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> The following article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 19, Number 3.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> In the Fall 1998 issue of Free Inquiry, and in subsequent editorials, I
> recommended that we form a neohumanist coalition. I suggested that the secular
> humanist movement take a new turn, that it crystallize a neohumanist point of
> view in politics and make its views known to the broader public. [1] These
> editorials elicited a great number of letters from our readers, many warmly
> supportive of this position, some indignantly against it.
>
> It is clear that one can be a secular humanist and not accept the
> social-political agenda that I propose below. It is apparent that from belief in
> God, one can be a monarchist, slaveholder, authoritarian, totalitarian,
> libertarian, conservative, liberal, or social democrat. Theists have espoused
> all of the above positions and more historically.
>
> Similarly, one can be an agnostic or atheist and vote Republican or Democrat,
> Libertarian or Socialist, Green Party, left-wing or right-wing. There is no
> necessary connection between being a theist or nontheist and supporting a
> specific political party. The same thing is not necessarily true, however, of
> modern secular humanism; for although secular humanists are skeptical about
> theism, humanism involves a distinct set of ethical principles that put it into
> opposition to certain political ideologies. Humanists have held that each
> individual has inherent dignity and value - or at least ought to be so treated.
> Humanist ethics concentrates on the individual, and the actualization of his or
> her highest values, but it is also concerned with the social good, and this
> implies that it is essential to develop just societies that will maximize both
> individual happiness and social well-being under conditions of fairness and
> equity. As a consequence, contemporary humanists generally have maintained that
> the best way to realize happiness is by means of free, open, and democratic
> societies (I have in mind here John Dewey, Karl Popper, Sidney Hook, Bertrand
> Russell, etc.); and they have been foes of repressive institutions, whether
> political, ecclesiastical, or economic. Humanists thus have fought for human
> rights as essential safeguards of democracy. They have defended freedom on many
> fronts - free thought and free inquiry and some degree of moral and sexual
> freedom. And they have defended also the democratic principle of equality; for
> example, equality before the law, equal opportunity, etc.. Some humanists have
> argued that humanism also entails some measure of economic freedom - though the
> degree of regulation of free markets is open to serious debate.
>
> The humanist battle historically was against the Church and its repressive
> institutions, and also against authoritarian governments and totalitarian
> states. Today, I submit, a new battle for freedom is emerging, i.e., the battle
> to be liberated from "the corporate mystique" that now dominates the United
> States and other economies of the free world. [2] I realize that to say this is
> akin to a sacrilege, for the corporate mystique is almost never questioned.
> Indeed, the corporate mystique assumes the characteristics of a sacred religion.
> Powerful corporations now dominate our culture; they are largely unchallenged
> and are given free rein to do what they want. Any effort to restrain corporate
> power is today virtually nonexistent. At the beginning of the twentieth century
> there was a popular outcry against the excessive power of trusts and monopolies,
> and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was enacted. This effort has largely been muted
> in the United States, where merger mania reigns supreme. Interestingly, mergers
> and acquisitions have flourished under both Democratic and Republican
> administrations. The Microsoft and Intel cases are exceptions, for very few
> corporate conglomerates in recent years have been challenged by the government.
> Corporate-merger mania now is also rampant in Europe and other parts of the
> world, though not on the same scale as in the United States.
>
> We are all familiar with the Marxist challenge that confronted capitalism for
> almost a century. Nationalization of major industries in so-called socialist
> countries was offered as a panacea. This has been discredited. Communism could
> neither deliver the goods nor feed its people. Moreover, it denied them
> democracy and cultural freedom. As a result, the free-market ideology now reigns
> supreme. The libertarian view is that free markets should be left unregulated;
> for these are the best engines for economic growth. The free-market libertarian
> believes that this will in the long run maximize the happiness of society. Even
> China has been able to grow by unleashing the power of the free market. Milton
> Friedman argued "that the only social responsibility of business is to increase
> profits." [3] We may ask, Does business have any responsibilities for the
> commonweal beyond that?
>
> America is enjoying unparalleled prosperity. The stock market seems to be
> experiencing a never-ending speculative boom. Forty percent of American
> households are now invested in equities, either directly or through retirement
> plans and mutual funds, and they applaud the great corporations that succeed.
> These companies are judged by their bottom lines, earnings, dividends, and
> potential growth. The president of General Motors, Charles Wilson, many years
> ago said that "What was good for our country was good for General Motors, and
> vice versa." Most Americans are impressed by what corporations like IBM, AT&T,
> Exxon, GE, Coca-Cola, and Intel are able to deliver. America has become the
> world's only superpower. Its standard of living is rising; cheaper prices and
> better services are available-and this is a result, we are told, of the
> corporate culture in which we live. The budget has been balanced, and there is
> even a surplus. Hallelujah to the free market! the choruses chant.
>
> Now, perhaps it is a sacrilege to find chinks in the armor of the corporate
> mystique; but I think that a more balanced appraisal would be helpful. The
> current economic boom (How long will it last?) is due to many factors, including
> scientific research and technological innovation. Industry is able to invest in
> new companies and bring new products to the marketplace; but institutions of
> higher education, in training the scientific-technological elite and encouraging
> basic research, have played a key role here. Moreover, the labor movement and
> the democratization of our institution have also contributed to our prosperity.
>
> Yet if we take a closer look at American prosperity, disturbing trends appear.
>
> First, many members of our society have not shared in the affluence. Indeed, the
> disparity in income between rich and poor is greater than it has ever been. The
> top 1% of the population own $4 trillion in assets, the bottom 80% only 6% of
> total assets. Bill Gates's $70 billion is equal to the net worth of 40% of
> Americans.
>
> Second, as corporations become more global in reach, they find it cheaper to
> produce goods abroad - in Asia and Latin America. Thus, jobs are exported, and
> American wage rates must compete with those of underdeveloped countries. The
> working person faces the threat of job insecurity due to downsizing and
> outsourcing. Temporary and contingent workers replace permanent personnel, with
> a decline of benefits, seniority, and security - there are still no health or
> retirement provisions for 40 million citizens.
>
> Third, merger mania continues. In 1998 the total number of merger deals
> announced rose 76% to $1.6 trillion, the highest on record ($2.41 trillion
> worldwide). These include the Exxon/Mobil merger, Citicorp/Travelers, AT&T/TCI.
> Some believe that every industry will end up with two or three oligopolies
> dominating the market. Many people uncritically applaud these tendencies. The
> sheer growth in size in corporations is astounding. Several global corporations
> are more powerful than most of the countries in which they do business. One has
> to ask the question: What will this enormous concentration of economic power do
> to democracy?
>
> Fourth, the corporate mystique is such that many people believe that all areas
> of social life should be privatized. We have seen this happen in the
> pharmaceuticals industry, hospitals and healthcare, and it is beginning in
> schools and prisons. Are we willing to allow all of our institutions to be
> judged by considerations of profit alone? Business is more efficient than
> government, it is said. Why not? Because there are, I submit, other values in
> society besides profit that need to be encouraged.
>
> Fifth, I have previously written in Free Inquiry about the takeover of the media
> by conglomerates. Media moguls and merchants - Rupert Murdoch's News
> Corporation, Disney, Time-Warner, etc. - now dominate what Americans see, read,
> and hear. Included in this equation are foreign companies - such as the German
> corporation Bertelsmann, now the largest trade publisher in the United States,
> and the British company Pearson PLC, the dominant educational publisher. If
> American democracy presupposes a free market of ideas, what guarantees do we
> have that the global conglomerates will allow diversity and not squeeze out
> dissent? This is already happening at a rapid rate, as independent publishers,
> newspapers, magazines, radio and television companies are being gobbled up.
>
> I believe that the media must be open to diversity, and there are certain
> practical remedies that I would recommend, such as the repeal of the infamous
> Telecommunications Act of 1996. The 1996 act allowed major media companies to
> expand their radio and television market share, with disastrous consequences.
> There is, I submit, a need to limit ownership in a market by media companies. I
> submit that the Fairness Doctrine, which was repealed during the Reagan
> administration, needs to be restored, for it would require stations to give an
> opportunity for diverse opinions to be heard in a community. I also think that
> anti-trust laws should be enforced, especially when oligopolies intrude on the
> realm of ideas. I think that there is an urgent need to create a second
> nonprofit television and radio corporation with complete integrity and
> independence. This might be financed by either a tax on commercial broadcasters
> and/or the creation of an endowment fund.
>
> The American Constitution is based upon a system of checks and balances between
> the three branches of government. This system has prevented the emergence of one
> branch of government with overweening power. I submit that we need some checks
> and balances on the emergence of excessive corporate power. This had been held
> in check in the past by the existence of countervailing centers of power - which
> are being seriously weakened today:
>
>
>
> •The labor movement in the 1930s played a key role. But the influence of labor
> has been reduced from 34% of the workforce in 1954 to 15% today. (It is 80% in
> Sweden, 35% in Germany.) With corporations becoming international, how can labor
> play a role when it is at the mercy of threats of international conglomerates to
> export jobs to Thailand or Mexico, India or China?
>
> •Since the Reagan revolution, the countervailing role of the government has been
> diminished. The Reaganites considered government to be a major problem, and they
> ignored the increased power of corporations at the same time that they sought to
> emasculate labor unions. Clinton has moved his administration to the center of
> the political spectrum. Embroiled in constant combat against efforts to throw
> him out of office, his domestic policies are impotent; he has been unable to
> achieve many of his programs. The anti-trust division is weak. Moreover,
> corporations have spent $2 billion (in 1996) in financing campaigns, which tend
> to subvert the political process and prevent anti-trust action from being
> effectively applied.
>
> •Countervailing forces, we are told, are often other corporations, that can
> compete in financial markets. Often this is based on new technologies that
> emerge to challenge older companies. There is some truth to this, but I have two
> caveats. First, in some industries there are only three, two, or even one player
> - witness Boeing in the United States, which competes primarily with Airbus on
> the international scale, or cable companies, which dominate regional markets and
> raise prices with impunity. Second, increasingly these corporations have worked
> out partnership arrangements (as in the airline and telecommunication
> industries), which weaken competition and leads to the development of de facto
> monopolies.
>
> •We need a new countervailing force, namely voluntary nonprofit movements to
> influence public opinion, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Sierra
> Club, the National Organization of Women, the universities, and new political
> alliances such as the neohumanist coalition. Many people agree. The free-market
> economy has increased the wealth of nations enormously. It has led to more
> efficient industries, lower prices, and increased consumer goods. Economies of
> scale that reduce prices are important. Similarly, it has contributed to the
> economic development and prosperity of the Third World by investing in new
> industries.
>
>
>
>
>
> But, I ask, at what price? Enormous centers of power, such as Exxon/Mobil on a
> global scale, have emerged with no regulation or restraint, except from the
> bottom line and the demand for earnings increases by Wall Street investors. I
> ask, Will this mean a corruption of the political system, even the castration of
> democracy? If one believes in individual liberty and a free society - as
> liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and social democrats do - and if one
> opposes totalitarian control, then one must worry about what the enormous
> concentration of wealth and power do to our democratic institutions. Perhaps it
> is time for neohumanists to raise questions about the corporate mystique. In the
> past the predominant motto was pro ecclesia et patria, for church and state. The
> motto today, at least in the United States, is pro ecclesia et commercia (for
> church and corporation). Interestingly, Europe is now controlled by socialist or
> social-democratic parties in all but two of the fifteen countries. These
> governments are willing to regulate these corporations for the common good;
> although they believe in free markets, they also believe that there are other
> social purposes that society needs to fulfill.
>
> I think that there are remedies within the free-market democratic system to
> restrain and limit corporate control. Such remedies would not be antagonistic to
> our economic system, but may help to strengthen it by leading to a genuine
> capitalism with a human face. I can only touch briefly on some of these. (1) We
> can continue to extend employee ownership of the stock in the corporations in
> which they work. (2) Moreover, employee representatives could sit on the boards
> of directors of corporations - as they do in Germany and other European
> countries. (3) Shareholders' rights should be encouraged and protected, and the
> elections of officers and the voting on important policy issues should be
> submitted to shareholders' approval. (In order to be most effective, perhaps
> this should apply only to those stockholders who have owned their shares for a
> year or more.) Another problem here is that so many shares are held by powerful
> mutual funds. (4) Before a company can arbitrarily move out of a city or state,
> adequate notice and consultation with representatives in the area should be
> mandated; perhaps even their approval and/or exit fees should be required. (5)
> On the international level additional rules and regulations should be enacted
> and enforced by the World Court and other international agencies. (6) Of vital
> importance would be the prohibition of corporate lobbies contributing to
> campaigns - this may do more than anything else to limit undue corporate
> influence on the democratic process. No doubt there are many other remedies
> beyond the above that can be suggested.
>
> Now I readily grant that many humanists - who will accept other aspects of the
> humanist agenda - will demur at what I have said. At the very least, I submit,
> we need an open discussion in America about the enormous concentration of
> corporate power and possible ways of dealing with it. Unfortunately, because of
> corporate control of the media this is now difficult to do. There are too few
> voices of dissent. Only Ralph Nader in the 1996 presidential campaign sought to
> raise this issue, and George Gerbner of the University of Pennsylvania and the
> Cultural Environment Movement have focused on corporate domination of the media.
> Pat Buchanan from the other end of the political spectrum has expressed populist
> misgivings about the impact on American industry and workers of the North
> American Free Trade Agreement and other regional and global trade treaties.
> Eisenhower warned years ago of the military-industrial complex; this has today
> become the "corporate conglomerate complex."
>
> In any case, I reiterate that we need to begin a national debate on the role of
> the corporation in democratic societies. We need, I submit, a new grass-roots
> citizens' movement to deal with "the corporate mystique."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Notes
>
> 1.I argued that if the Christian Coalition and Vatican supporters in the United
> States could advocate a social-political agenda, why not humanists? (See
> "Humanist Politics: The Need for a New Coalition," Free Inquiry, Fall 1998.)
> 2.For a responsible discussion of this, see the book by Charles Derber,
> Corporation Nation: How Corporations Are Taking Over Our Lives and What We Can
> Do About It (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998), pp. x, 374. For a discussion
> on corporate control of the media, see Ben H. Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly
> (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997). 3.The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Paul Kurtz is Editor-in-Chief of Free Inquiry magazine.
Free Inquiry @
http://www.secularhumanism.org/fi/
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