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Tommy Douglas - we need you again.
Socialism helps people
Date: 8/3/2007 3:42:23 PM ( 17 y ) ... viewed 2039 times
"Socialism Struggles against corporate influence in government."
1944 - Tommy douglas is elected as head of the CCF in Saskatchewan Canada, North America's 1st socialist govt.
At the same time, the fascist dictator Hitler is in power in Germany, aligned with several American corporations, banks, and wealthy buisinessmen who have sold million of dollars worth of military equiptment and fuel, often from factories and corporations in Germany owned partly or wholey by Americans.
That comparison is to show that the range of governments in that era is the same as today. Also, the 'corporate-government', or even 'corporate-fascist dictator' , alliances that were alive and well in those days, and they still are today, "suspiciously conspiratorial".
The opponents to Douglas were the corporations, especially the ones who had connections to the farmers of Sask - BANKS were publically threatening [in the newspapers] to foreclose on every farmer in that province if Douglas won the election - that is a prime example of corporations having a direct effect on elections, albiet a failed on this time. There have been many elections-with-corporate-influence since that were NOT failures, where the corporations effectively influenced an election win for their favorite candidate.
Also, other corporate powers were working full time to defeat Tommy Douglas. [egs - google], by supporting candidates running against candidates from the CCF party. They would have more money for their campaigns, and wore better clothes than their competitors from the CCF. I think the people saw what was going on then - why can't we see it NOW?? *[1]
So, what makes a candidate a favorite of corporations in elections? Candidates that promise to give those corporations advantages through government money or legistlation. It happens all the time, the corporate pressures to vote a certain way have allways been a huge factor in every Canadian election, and in every capitalist nation's elections. It is that simple, it is historical, and it is occuring now more than ever.
In Saskatchewan in 1944, , EVERY newspaper during that election campaign was solidly, unabashedly, Liberal party supporters, or more accuratly, "on the side of the corporations". Corporations owned the newspapers, and other corporations are closely linked to the owners of newspapers - it is not legistlated that way, there is no rule, it is just that the wealthy all look out for each other's economic interests because they are all invested in each other's corporations. The "corporate coalition" is no less a cabal with political powers than any military coup that took over a nation, or a gang of organised criminals installing their people in political office. This is definately NOT "by the people", or "for the people", we have been set aside in favour of wealthier participants in our economy and society, which are represented by corporations.
Tommy Douglas was getting support from ordinary people with promises of health care for everyone with a job or retired from a job, social security, and family allowance for people with children. Socialism - good for people, especially the working poor who did not get enough income to live decently. That was an outrage to Tommy Douglas, and it was obviously a result of corporations taking advantage of economic conditions to hire people for a pittance just because the people are so desperate, and all the while those corporations are raking in good profits and creating millionaires amidst the poor. Outrageous, and damaging to any nations where good and decent individuals with a willingness to work would become disheartened by the lack of respect for their time and efforts. That would become a cancer upon the nation or province, and is a situation that denies the public's rights to live decently [even as corporations are doing well]. *[2]
Modern Medicare was born there in Saskatchewan, with the Tommy Douglas victory. He was eventually defeated by those same corporate powers, but while he did hold power in Sask, he made many postiive changes. Things have really gone downhill since the 1980s, but many of the Douglas changes were still helping Canadian people for many years. It spread from Sask to other provinces - the first of the "dominoe effect" that American blue bloods would come to spout fears about in the cold war, where when one nation turns socialist, the neighboring nations will soon follow. it was happening in Soouth America, in Asia, and it still is happening but the corporate powers have held socialist movements at bay in most parts of the world despite the public desires to have a more socialist system.
Socialist systems do not mean the end of corporations, just the end of the corporate political influence, which is completely un-democratic. Capitalism and Democracy are not good bedfellows. Democracy is the farce that capitalists win elections with, and the promise of freedom which is only ever lost when corporate influences are stronger than the public influence on political processes. The 1944 election of Douglas is the evidence.
Another factor existed in this mix - there was a WORLD WAR on in 1944. This was another huge obstacle for Douglas and the CCF, because the war makes corporations much stronger. Corporations and governments are never more closely linked than during wartime. However, the public gets weary of war, and were no longer swallowing the lies that keeps us at war, or the rhetoric that keeps us at war. When they say the economy improves with war, they mean certain corporations get wealthy, and that is reflected in the GDP of the nation, so politicians can point to that and say "see? - war is GOOD for the economy", even though everyone else is barely scraping by.
There was also the recent GREAT DEPRESSION of the 1930's, and politicians were saying that Canada could slip back into that recession if the war ended.... and even moreso if Tommy Douglas is elected!! It was not true - the province of Sask. had a great economic resurgance after the war, as did the rest of Canada and most the world.
Its just not true that war is good for the economy, other than for the wealthiest amongst us - the corporate humps involved in selling weapons and war supplies. We - the people - are in conflict with the corporate agenda on several fronts in today's world, even moreso than in Tommy Douglas' time.
People want peace, without war. We also want "a reasonable equality for all", where everyone can at least support themselves if they work, and that nobody accumulates so much wealth so as to create poverty elsewhere. We want our disadvanted to be taken care of, at least minimally. We have never said we want corporations to have more help than people get, but thats what we are seeing now. We want to stop pollution too, and of course we are seeing that corporations are getting in the way of the solutions to global warming.
It is high time for another socialist shake up - Tommy come back!!
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* [1]Corporate influence on our elections today is rampant. The corporate influence on politics is much stronger than the influence that you or I could have, despite that our constitution says we are a democracy where the will of the people shall prevail. Corporations are not people, although they do have a legal status as "persons", but they were never granted the same rights as you or I, they just took it.
*[2] I have heard the arguement that "if the corporations are doing well, it will trickle down", but when things are drying up there is no trickle down, and the first victims are allwsya the ordinary people who make up the majority of the nation. We must find a better way to organise our economic ways so that the majority is first.
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