Daniel Webster quote

I have a friend who has some strange political opinions that I sometimes agree with, but sometimes, just can't relate to.

Perhaps you have a friend, or friends, like that, as well. In fact, I have a number of them. But few, if any of them, are quite as passionate about their politics as this guy is.

Don't get me wrong: I agree with much of what he says. Most, even. He rails against the attacks on unions in the United States, and correctly faults the conservative icon, President Ronald Reagan, for beginning not only the union-busting spirit that has swept the United States, but for the de facto corporate supremacy that has persisted since (including through two Democratic administrations, I should point out), and which has proven to be to the detriment of the American people at large.

He hates the corporate mentality, and the emphasis of instinctively placing profits over people.

I completely agree with him on these things.

Yet, his emphasis seems strongly coincide with that of the Tea Party. he denies being a Tea Party sympathizer, but sometimes, he sounds just like a soundboard for them.

His viewpoints can be challenging. Again, this is not a dumb or mindless guy. He is extremely passionate, and a bit of a conspiracy theorist (he even admits to this).

But his skepticism lies almost solely with the government.

Take this quote, which he recently posted on Facebook:

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
~Daniel Webster, American diplomat, lawyer, orator, and politician (1782 - 1852)

Very interesting quote, and very well said, I think. Also, true.

The problem is that when excessive focus on controlling the government becomes almost the exclusive viewpoint, we allow other huge entities - namely, corporations - to enjoy carte blanche with widespread abuses. We see that now in West Virginia where, due to a spirit of corporate entitlement, around 300,000 people found that their water supply was unbelievably polluted and unsafe to use for bathing, drinking, or using in any manner whatsoever, really. I heard Erin Brockovich rightly refer to it as a "safety last, profits first" approach that far too many corporations systematically take.

These are not minor problems, either. Corporate abuses are running out of control. They are ruining the environment, as well as the economy, and these abuses not only continue, but continue to grow in severity, as well.

And the problem with focusing almost exclusively on controlling the government is that weakening the government's ability to keep corporations in check is simply a means of allowing corporations to continue to get away with murder - sometimes literally.

Daniel Webster's quote is very persuasive, indeed. it was also obviously well thought out, by a concerned and intelligent citizen who remains influential to this day. But the thing is, Webster was also a man who lived in an entirely different era, when corporations were not quite as monstrous in their scope as they are now while governments posed the biggest threat to their people.

Nowadays, whether we like it or not, we need government to reign in abuses that threaten the people, whether we like it or not. And the obvious point that Webster makes, that they mean to govern, should be obvious, since this is the government that we are talking about. But, as Jefferson also rightly pointed out, it is controlled by the consent of the people that elect it, or at least should be. The problem is that Americans have almost systematically allowed powerful and persuasive people to do their thinking for them, and essentially, trusting them to do the right thing.

They haven't. And that, my friends, is the fault of the American people, more than anyone else. You can blame Reagan (I already did), or other prominent politicians who seem conniving and secretive and committed to doing damaging while working in the background (Dick Cheney comes to mind), all while making jokes and getting laughs by making fun of dumb old George W. Bush.

But the simple fact of the matter is that it is the American people who have themselves failed, because that is not how a government is supposed to be run. The abuses that corporations have systematically gotten away with are due to a system of governance that we all know exists, although many people choose not to think about it too much. We hear cries of "They're all crooks!" when government, particularly Congress, is mentioned.

Yet, many people seem to think that it's other representatives, not their own. They elect the one guy that's decent and honest, it's those others that are a problem.

Part of the problem is that we would rather vote for who gets kicked off an island on some reality show, or who gets to be America's next big star, than focus on issues that matter. Our headlines could easily scream in horror at the abuses of corporations that deface rainforests, that have poisoned people, that steal from or lie to the people, or from government officials that have sold out to special interests, at the expense of the people that they are supposed to represent.

In short, there should be no shortage of reminders that our true national priorities today put profits over people. But instead, the headlines are dominated by fluff, by celebrities. Justin Bieber is arrested in Florida, and everyone pays attention and has an opinion on that. Last year, it was Miley Cyrus acting very provocatively. Years ago, it was Britney Spears doing some crazy things to her hair. And you better believe that later this year, and next year, and the year after that, and so on and so forth, there will be no shortage of such fluff headlines again, with "news" one celebs that we will all have to hear about.

But who cares? How does that affect your life, really?

It is an obvious attempt at distracting people from what really matters. And it keeps happening, because it clearly works. The American people can't get enough of it. That kind of mentality makes it difficult for people in the rest of the world to take American politics seriously. Indeed, Johnny Depp was right to refer to the American political climate as a "dumb puppy".

Things like that do not just happen. People are getting rich off of it, somewhere along the line. Celebrities are made famous and rich by corporations. Then, they are relentlessly pursued by papparrazi, who make a career, quite literally, from following them around and snapping the juiciest, trashiest bits that they can find. Some of the most prized photos can be bought for tens of thousands of dollars, and are often leaked on the net somewhere down the line. As a country, we Americans just love celebrities. And why not? After all, these celebrities truly are "living the American Dream". They are living embodiments, proof if you will, that the dream is not literally dead, that there are indeed people who suddenly explode into fame and fortune.

Yet, it is precisely this fixation that makes certain that the American Dream really is, in fact, dead, to most of us. We are told that we should work hard, save money, make sacrifices, and eventually, work our way towards a stable existence, where we own our own home, our own car, and have a spouse and kids and save for their college education.

But more and more corporations are not offering a living wage. The price of everything is going up, and the only thing that remains stagnant is the average household income over the last few years and decades.

What we are doing, simply stated, is not working.

The fixation on celebrities is seen by more and more people for what it is: escapism. Day dreaming. Not facing a reality that is, in fact, growing grimmer with every passing day. And it is clear that, by and large, as a nation, we really are not paying attention, when we obviously should be. Then, we wonder why and how it is that everything seems to have gotten so bad, so damn fast!

Life used to be so much better, back in the day! We hear this all of the time. But it is getting worse for reasons, and those reasons are being lost on a generation of Americans that simply do not care enough about them, or their country, or themselves, to even pay attention. Waving flags and claiming that the United States is the greatest country in the world is also not enough to prove your patriotism. It requires more, much more. At the very least, it means we need to pay attention, and that itself requires some focus and thinking - things that seem somehow old-fashioned and not in vogue in this highly technological world.

There are threats indeed facing the United States. Daniel Webster's quote posed some challenges as to which we should find more dangerous, potentially: the government, or corporations. I know, I know, what some of you reading this might be thinking right now: he did not actually say corporations. But if you don't think that corporations polluting the drinking water of 300,000 people in West Virginia, because they were looking for some short cut to making bigger profits, and then getting away with it means that they hold some kind of power, or rule over us, then I might feel justified in saying that you are living in some kind of sheltered cocoon, or are dreaming.

The questions that we face are many, and the one that I have been discussing here comes down, simply, to picking your poison. Who do you trust? Or, rather, which do you distrust the least: corporations, or government? They both have lorded their power over the people for far too long, and neither of them have proven trustworthy to simply rein themselves in.

So, although I love that quote and found it challenging to my own beliefs on some level, the question remains: should we try and protect ourselves more from corporate power and influence, or from government power and influence. Is there even a difference?

Personally, I am not certain that I have the right answers. I welcome any opinions on the subject.