Logic

[avevale_intelligencer]

Watching The Secret State is an exercise in masochism for me, rather like reading Private Eye used to be. It has, however, clarified something for me that I hadn't clearly articulated, an unpalatable conclusion that I think needs to be faced. Now you may disagree with one or both of my premises, but I'd like to ask you if I may to accept them as a given for the sake of this argument and see if my conclusion follows logically therefrom.

PREMISE 1: the power of the global megacorporations has grown out of proportion, to the point where they are, right now in this real world, effectively above the law.

PREMISE 2: this is a bad thing and something should be done about it.

So, here's my chain of logic resulting from these two premises:

1. If any national government initiates action to reduce or curtail the power of global capitalism, the corporations will, as a matter of sheer self-defence, institute counter-measures which will cause widespread hardship and suffering among the population.

2. Therefore, in order for such action to succeed, the leader of such a government must be (a) strong enough to pursue such action to the end regardless of consequences, and (b) not dependent on public support to maintain his rule.

3. Therefore,the only kind of government capable of breaking the power of big business and restoring democracy is...a totalitarian dictatorship.

Am I wrong?

Comments

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

I hope so.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

You're right. And as long as the dictator in question is competent, ethical, and non-corruptible, this is probably a good thing.

[grey-lady.livejournal.com]

I've come to the reluctant conclusion that benevolent dictatorship is probably, in some ways, the "best" form of government.

The problem always comes down to *keeping* them competent, ethical, non-corruptible (and benevolent).

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

At this point I start to look at variations on monarchy - so much money they can't be bribed, trained to the job from birth. Add in the old Scottish system of choosing the next monarch from a fairly wide pool, not just in order of age, and it might well work.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

The trouble with "so much money they can't be bribed" is that it doesn't work, as has recently been proved with bankers, politicians and such scum. The old mystique of "noble blood" has been smashed (which is a good thing too; either we're all noble or nobody is) and there's nothing to take its place. "So much public scrutiny they can't be bribed" might be an alternative...

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

So long as I'm the dictator, I agree.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

I guess that's the difference between us--I would go to great lengths to avoid being the dictator, because I know I'm definitely corruptible. I can think of a few possible candidates, though...

[batyatoon]

I VOTE NOT IT

[pwilkinson.livejournal.com]

Where the argument goes at least partly wrong is in stage (2).

For instance, if one consequence turns out to be an all-out nuclear attack from another country still under the thumb of the global megacorporations - the government leader is probably not strong enough, whatever the basis of their power. (Of course, for this to happen, the other country has to have a lot of nuclear weapons - America, or just possibly China or Russia - and the incidental damage done to the rest of the planet might well destroy everyone else, whether natural, legal or above the law. That's probably one reason why this has not happened yet.) And even totalitarian dictators require quite a lot of support from subordinates, to keep the rest of the population in line. So the megacorporations will simply target key subordinates rather than the general population. The methods may be different (bribery, perhaps, rather than causing hardship) but the general idea is the same.

One other point - even if global megacorporations are effectively above the law, they are still not omnipotent. While all or most of them have a number of common interests, they are also in competition with each other. Indeed, when megacorporate interests do diverge, a megacorporation may well find that it is no longer completely above the law - at least when the law is being used by an opponent.