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Health & Fitness

Politics From The Port Side

For Jim DeMint the universe is divided up into good and evil, black and white, government and business. In DeMint's manichean world view capitalist business is good and government is bad.

When observing your surroundings, it is critical to pay attention to everything. Let’s suppose you do a good job making your observation noting every little detail. Now you’re ready to make your analysis, draw some conclusions, and say something smart about what you have observed. 

But let’s suppose you don’t fully understand your environment. You think you do but you really don’t. Consider this, you are living on a perfectly flat surface and you are a perfectly flat person. One day while observing your surroundings, you notice a circle suddenly appear nearby. The circle grows larger and larger then gradually the circle gets smaller and smaller and just as suddenly it disappears. You explain this phenomena by saying it is a fact of nature. It is what it is... unalterable. 

Recently Jim DeMint, former South Carolina Republican Senator and present leader of the Republican Heritage Foundation wrote, "Today, more people than ever before -- 69.5 million Americans, from college students to retirees to welfare beneficiaries -- depend on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid, or other assistance once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions....The United States must reverse the direction of these trends or face economic and social collapse."

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For DeMint the universe is divided up into good and evil, black and white, government and business. In DeMint's manichean world view capitalist business is good and government is bad. Over his entire public career DeMint repeats the tired message that the government must get out of the way of capitalist entrepreneurs because government regulations hold back economic progress and that, according to him, hurts everyone. 

What DeMint fails to fully comprehend is the free market he adores is nothing more than a two dimensional rump representation of a far more complex three dimensional economic phenomena.

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DeMint parrots a false distinction between the government and business. It is generally agreed that the economy is the basis of all civil society, but DeMint fails to see that civil society includes government. Change the economy and you change the government. For example, reverting back to an agricultural economy would eliminate most industrial production wiping out the industrial working class, the middle class, factory owners, and the need for bankers, corporate lawyers, and stock markets. A government built on an agricultural economy would no longer need to manufacture consent but would rule by decree.

From DeMint’s flat world point of view he therefore becomes blind to the fact that the American government and big business (the oligopolies) are fraternal twins. Every branch of the American economy, and every market within each branch is dominated to the tune of at least 40% by a few corporations. These oligopolies profit from on again-off again government regulation because that regulatory flexibility guarantees their profits. These oligopolies compete in advertising only,  never competing over price. The remaining share of each market is fought over by many small and medium size businesses which must compete in the "free" market on price. Thus small business profit margins are slim because they do not benefit from the flexibility of government regulation. 

For DeMint’s free marketeers the wolf is always pacing back and forth before the front door. Government always bails out their oligopolistic brothers and, at the same time, disingenuously praises the virtues of free market competition where the small fry businessmen are forced to swim or sink. To put it another way, DeMint’s free marketeers (including Tea Party types) are drowning in the deep end of the swimming pool yelling for help while the government life guard is watching over the oligopolies sipping cocktails in the hot tub. 

Because flat-worlders, like Jim DeMint, have a two dimensional perception, that’s why they can’t see the appearing-disappearing circle is actually a sphere intersecting a plane in three dimensions. Moreover, DeMint’s two dimensional vision for the United States can never fully understand the problems facing small business in our nation. And if he can’t fully understand what he is seeing, then, at best, his proposed solutions might make sense on the flat world planet he lives on but on our spherical planet his solutions can never be anything but muddled headed.  

Then there are political implications, ominous political implications spreading out from DeMint's flat world ideology. In a republic the government is supposed to mediate disputes between contending parties in civil society. Otherwise the more powerful in civil society will exploit and dominate the weak and powerless. Instead of strengthening our republican government's mediation power, DeMint from his flat earth view wants to strengthen those civil institutions that are selfish and authoritarian ultimately destroying the republic. This is what DeMint and the right-wing Tea-baggers want. 

 

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