LIBERAL DEMOCRACY IS DEAD IN AMERICA. MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS ARE IN CHARGE.

Sheldon S. Wolin, Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought, foreword by Wendy Brown (Princeton & Oxford:Princeton Classics/Princeton U. Press, 2016) ("What name, then, would be more suitable than 'the world's oldest, continuous written constitution' for describing the nature of 'the world's oldest democracy.' its powers, and its ways of being in the world? It seems so compounded with other institutional forms, such as those of capitalism and the market, that we can no longer intelligibly describe its form without acknowledging their influence and incorporating them in its nature. The resulting form is a hybrid; and along with it comes new conceptions of who is political in it, and of what constitutes the special virtues of the ruling class (e.g., those of the CEO and the professional political operative). The appearance of a new ruling class reflects capitalism's political coming-of-age and with it a new corporate aspiration, not just to exert political influence but to absorb and 'incorporate' the political and transform it, tacitly abandoning the ideal of commonality. It is not unusual to encounter the term 'the imperial CEO' applied to business executives." "In its most powerful forms the corporation is no longer describable solely by economic criteria (such as market share, profitability). The meaning of economic has expanded to include objects of exploitation hitherto considered 'outside' the pursuit of profits. Capitalism has transformed itself, from a system of activities analyzable through economic categories to one that's adopted political characteristics and the qualities of a new constitutional blend devoid of democratic substance. The new economies created by technologically advance societies provide equivalents for democracy's values of participation (mass consumption), inclusion (work force), and mass empowerment ('consumer sovereignty,' 'shareholder democracy"). Those sublimations accord with a 'virtual' way of being in a world transformed by the technological revolution in communications, electronic technologies (computers, video, Internet) epitomize the combination of the illusion of individual freedom/power with the encapsulation of the individual in a cocoon from which escape seems an incoherent idea." "The changes in capitalism has weaken the authority of the state as the supreme power in society, Globalization is the euphemism for continuous expansion abroad and the constriction of politics at home, narrowing the points of entry so that only the pressure of money can gain political access. As the privatization of public power continues and the authority of the state diminishes, its boundaries become props to waves of cheap labor, Although the state continues to play a far from negligible role in an increasingly globalized economy, the power wielded by multinational corporations has made their cooperation and acquiescence indispensable. The cooperation of corporate power is now a vital element of domestic, foreign, and military policies. Competition and rivalry occur less between states and corporations and more between corporations vying for influence over the state or subsidies from it." "It is not only that the state and the corporate have become partners; in the process, each has begun mimic functions historically identified with the other. How does one describe the 'power' of a corporation such as Lockheed that once was engaged solely in the manufacture of aircraft but now also operate publicly funded welfare programs? Old-fashioned economic power may have enabled Lockheed to offer politicians the inducement necessary to procure contacts/contracts for its welfare operations, but a new mix of power and authority results from it. Corporations are extensively engaged in administrating penal institutions and operating health-care systems, and they have assumed important roles at every level of public and private eduction, undertaking to operate primary school systems, establish universities, and collaborate in joint project with academic researcher. (Appropriately, corporate centers have exchanged the name of 'headquarters,' with its military connotations, for 'campus.')" Id at 587-589. NOTE: The point I want to make in providing this lengthy passage by Wolin is this: Trump and his administration will not be providing a radical "new" way of governance; they are merely the next step in the corporatist-government that is replacing American democracy. Take a close look at the billionaire boy's club that Trump is staffing his administration (or is, Trump just a tool of the corporatist-powers?) Yes, Trump has his own perverted domestic agenda; but, in the larger political game, the multinational corporations are the real powers-that-be. Democracy is dead in America. Until we the people wake up, if we every do, elections, liberty, democracy are just another virtual reality games.)