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Nov. 3, 2005 Nothing has been more talked about in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and nationwide oil shortages and energy price hikes than how we should treat our largest corporations. From Exxon to Eli Lilly, these big businesses control large amounts of the national life, provide us with essential goods and services and employ tens of thousands of people. However, as Enron and WorldCom have shown, they are not wholly benevolent creations. Like anything made by humans, corporations are ultimately at the will of fallible humans. However, people can only seem to focus on the pessimistic side or the rose-colored utopia of corporate America. Like so much else in politics today, there is no in between. Democrats in 2004, egged on by the very-liberal fringe of their party, pushed forward a position that seemed to condemn big businesses and corporations. Words like ?Enron? and ?Halliburton? were thrown around to symbolize corruption and fat-cat greed at its apex. What image was better at mobilizing voters leaning anti-war than that of Halliburton overcharging the troops in Iraq on oil? Democrats took this abuse of influence as a sign of how corporations use the average American. If only it could be believed. A vehemently anti-corporation, anti-big business position will not advance the Democratic Party in 2006 any more than it did in 2004. On the same coin, a blindly pro-tax cut, pro-corporate message as espoused by the Republican Party will no longer hold water as the middle class sees its spending power and annual income stagnate against a higher cost of living. The answer, surprisingly enough, comes in a position that temperate, moderate men since the early 20th Century have espoused, from Theodore Roosevelt on. Instead of vilifying corporations as demagogues and greedy robber-barons simply because of their size, Democrats ought to adopt a more restrained position. It is only fair to extend the virtue of American principles to corporations just as Democrats have done to the common folk. Corporations that are successful and employ thousands of workers within the United States ought to be rewarded for their success with programs like limited tax rebates and growth-fostering programs. So long as the corporations in question achieved their success by legal means and resisted the short-term economic benefit of outsourcing to stand by American workers, every effort must be made to let those corporations know that the American government appreciates their loyalty. This idea is not a rubber stamp to dole out billions in tax cuts and rebates to companies that brazenly flout government laws and ship tens of thousands of American jobs overseas to places like India and Korea. Companies that act illegally and harm the interests of the American people ought to be rightly punished, not just slapped on the wrist while executives are allowed to funnel pilfered money to offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Corporations have a fundamental responsibility to their shareholders, and, indirectly, to the people. It is time for the government to reassert its authority as the supreme force in America: powerful enough to dispense justice to even the biggest Enron, but benevolent enough to provide a helping hand to a small business that has operated with integrity and enhanced the community it is in. By once again becoming the strict but loving father, the government can gain the respect of average Americans once more. ------------ About the author: Max Burns is an 18 year old moderate Democrat and student at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va, where he is a Government and International Relations major. He is a political columnist for the George Mason Broadside and author of the novel Alcardia, as well as several short stories. Email: centristdonkey@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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