A PROGRAM FOR THE LEFT
By Douglas Korty
1 PROBLEMS
1) powerful special interests, especially corporations, that corrupt our politics
2) extremely unequal income and wealth
3) racial and ethnic discrimination and injustice, racist politics
4) serious economic and financial instability
5) major threats to our environment, including global warming
6) globalization that destroys jobs and lowers wages
7) wars, a large part of world output goes for military goods and services
To solve these problems, our choice is not socialism vs. capitalism. Almost every country in the world has developed a mixed economy, with large private and public sectors. The issue of which activities should be public or private is something we need to resolve on the basis of objective analysis and experience not ideology. We now have a mixed economy in which both the private and public sectors are dominated by large corporations and the upper class. We need a mixed economy where public power is controlled democratically and the private sector is competitive and adequately regulated. The excessive power of large corporations explains why the US does not have rational environmental, energy or transportation policies or a good universal health care program.
2 RISE OF THE RIGHT “Republican ascendancy...can be summed up in just five words: Southern whites started voting Republican...The Southern switch accounts for all of the conservative triumph--and then some…from1954 to 2004, Democrats actually gained House seats outside the South.”[1]
“In the 1970s the GOP became, once again, a party defined by its opposition to taxes on the rich and benefits for the poor and middle class, and willing to do whatever it takes to promote that agenda.”[2] Bush drastically cut taxes on the rich while running deficits of more than $500 billion a year.
“The Right enjoys an enormous resource advantage. The 1970s saw the creation of a constellation of institutions to support the corporate agenda, including foundations, think tanks, litigation centers, publications and increasingly sophisticated public relations and lobbying agencies...”[3]
The Presidential and congressional election campaigns now cost well over three billion dollars. More than eighty percent of all money in federal elections is donated by only one percent of the population. There are over 14,000 lobbyists in DC and thousands more in State capitols.
3 DECLINE OF UNIONS In the seventies and eighties America 's political shift to the right empowered businesses to confront and, to a large extent, crush the union movement, with huge consequences for both wage inequality and the political balance of power.”[4] Union membership has declined greatly in the US unlike other developed countries where unions remained strong. Workers who attempt to organize are often fired and corporations can ignore the results of union elections with little or no penalty. Unlike the US , Europe has had “swift and efficient administration and enforcement of labor laws, instant recognition of unions, and protections for workers who are in disputes or on strike.”[5]
4 CORPORATE POWER Supreme Court decisions have given the rights of living persons to corporations. “First, the Court interpreted very broadly the connection between corporate political spending and free speech. Second, the Court interpreted very narrowly the issue of corruption, excluding systemic corruption…as an acceptable justification for restricting corporate political contributions.”[6] Recently the Court again expanded the rights of corporations to affect the political process (Citizens United case).
“The largest 300 corporations control about one fourth of all the goods producing assets in the world. Seventy percent of all international trade is directed by 500 corporations.”[7] Because of their vast economic power, they have acquired political power to match, which they use to protect their economic interests.
5 DISTRIBUTION Since about 1979, power and income have become more concentrated. We have seen this with respect to unions, trade, taxes, budget, minimum wage, Fed policy, privatization. This power shift was not the result of free markets; it resulted from violations of free markets – monopolies, oligopolies, corporate welfare, lobbying, campaign donations, social connections, inheritance. “The richest 1% of US households own 40%% of financial wealth; the richest 10% own 80%.” Since 1979, the share of after tax income going to the top 5% has gone from 18% to 28.5%.
Americans now have the widest income inequality in the developed world. Average real wages have stagnated for 30 years. Markets are supposed to maintain equilibrium. However, higher unemployment, downsizing, outsourcing, decline of unions, globalization, decline of manufacturing, the expansion of temporary and contingent work, increasing participation for women, people seeking second jobs etc. all have had the effect of decreasing the bargaining power of workers. Increased immigration also depressed wages in some occupations.
Social program spending in the US has been quite low compared to other countries since the 30s. Bruce Jansson documents $16 trillion of failed national priorities from 1931 to 2004 – excessive military spending, excessive corporate welfare, under-taxation of private wealth, excessive tax concessions to affluent individuals, excessive pork barrel spending and excessive interest on the national debt.[8] Tax rates on capital have decreased; tax rates on labor increased since early 1980's. There were very large tax cuts for the rich by both Reagan and Bush II. Tax breaks and subsidies (welfare) for the rich were more than $800 billion in 2006 compared to less than $200 billion a year for social programs for the poor.[9] Many States gave away massive tax breaks to corporations in a fiscal race to the bottom. State and local taxes are in general highly regressive. Low taxes on the rich mean that State and local services are desperately in need of funds.
6 INSTABILITY The increasing inequality led to increasing borrowing by both consumers and government to maintain spending. This “compensatory” consumer and government borrowing is a distortion of markets. In a competitive free market system, economic actors are supposed to be able to spend out of income. Excessive debt leads to bankruptcies, foreclosures, and the disruption of credit and financial markets and recession as we have seen lately. These are problems beyond the normal business cycle.
7 ENVIRONMENT Our environmental problems include global warming, water pollution, air pollution, toxics, degraded land, destruction of the ozone layer, depleted agricultural land, endangered species, hazardous wastes, solid waste. Powerful opposition to environmental legislation and enforcement is financed by large corporations.
8 GLOBALIZATION, “Globalization policies increase the power of giant corporations to bargain down wages, put pressure on governments to slash spending for the poor, destroy natural resources and undermine democracy.”[10] “World growth rates were actually lower in 1980-2000 than in previous two decades (in spite of the substantial actions of the World Bank and IMF)”[11] “Globalization has weakened the power of American workers to fight for better wages and working conditions.”[12]
9 WAR One of the causes of war, documented by David Schmitz is the pro-corporate, anti-democratic US foreign policy in The United States and Right Wing Dictatorships, 1965-1989, New York and an earlier work, Thank God They're On Our Side: The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921-1965 [13] The US has supported over 65 right wing dictatorships since 1921.
10 A PROGRAM FOR THE LEFT The Left needs a comprehensive and coherent program. The central issue should be eliminating class power and establishing democracy and equal opportunity and competitive markets. Competitive free markets demand level playing fields and the destruction of concentrated economic power and all barriers to competition. We need to take money out of politics, enact a fair progressive tax system, full employment policies, a comprehensive anti-trust policy and a program of worker and union protection.
Unions will be important to this program. “The labor movement is the richest, best organized, most effective voice speaking for the average American...Organized labor will need to...democratize and decentralize decision making, commit more resources to organizing.”[14] Polls have shown that a majority of American workers favor union representation. Of course, we need to go beyond unions, to organize citizens generally.
We need to unite forces, consolidate organizations and publications, around a basic program. There is a large mass base for serious reform. “There are far more independent voters than there once were…only 65% of Americans consider themselves Republican or Democrat.”[15] There are many coalitions with community based organizations and progressive movements. The environmental movement has helped to build the anti-globalization movement.
11 ORGANIZING We need a national organizing strategy with trained organizers in every part of the country. One of the secrets of the Nazi success in Germany was that they sent organizers to every village, town and urban neighborhood in the country (mostly unemployed WWI veterans). Technology can give us better access to information and more effective means of communicating with each other. “Racism and social intolerance are on the decline, and the Iraq debacle has gone a long way toward discrediting the GOP on national security.”[16] The Hispanic population has gone from 6.4% in 1980 to 12.5% in 2000…Asians from 1.5% to 3.8%. Blacks constitute 12.8% of the population. A third party could be called “The Independent Alliance”. It could also attract Independents, people who do not now vote at all, progressive Democrats and even some Republicans.
We have over two thousand progressive organizations and publications staffed by many talented and committed people, concerned with hundreds of different issues, based mainly in New York City and Washington DC
12 IMPROVING THE MIXED ECONOMY The choice between capitalist and socialist models involved three major issues -- 1) Private ownership vs. public ownership of the means of production, 2) markets vs. planning, and 3) the concentration of wealth and power vs. an equalitarian society. The widespread development of mixed economies brought compromise on the first two issues. It is unlikely that the relative sizes of the public and private sectors or the extent of economic planning will change very much. The third issue – concentrated wealth and power vs. equality is now key. Our choice now is not capitalism vs. socialism, but a mixed economy dominated by corporations and the wealthy vs. a competitive private economy with equal opportunity and an independent and democratic government. Plutocracy and oligopoly vs. democracy and competition.
13 COMPETITION There are now many barriers to competition and accumulations of market power. Monopoly, oligopoly, corporate welfare, corruption, privileges, exemptions, rights, advantages proliferate. We need to destroy market power. Big Government and Big Business both can be oppressive; we need to decentralize both private and public institutions as much as possible. People should have the choice of buying from or working for private, public or cooperative institutions. This would be a democratic way to determine the mix of the mixed economy.
14 REVOKING CORPORATE RIGHTS We need to abolish the rights acquired by corporations as a result of Supreme Court decisions. “We need federal chartering of corporations…with uniform disclosure and accountability standards. The Alliance for Democracy has formed a national committee to prepare a model federal law.”[17] “This could be use to change state constitutions and state corporation codes. This would prevent corporate abuse of power.
15 DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS “A federal statute could remove corporate campaign contributions…stop corporate political lobbying, corporate media blitzes on referendums, and corporate influence machines...Most EU countries provide free time on the public airways to political parties. All EU countries provide public financing in national legislative elections.”[18] Full public financing of federal elections may be the only way to eliminate problems. Changing the electoral system so that citizens could direct their votes to first and second choices would give third party independent candidates more of a chance, e.g., proportional representation or preferential voting (instant runoff).
16 EMPLOYMENT High levels of unemployment depress wages. We need to guarantee job opportunities. We need guaranteed health care, disability and life insurance. Full employment would increase workers’ bargaining power. Robust competition would prevent full employment from causing serious inflation. There should be equal access to all jobs and to business credit, based on qualifications and merit, rather than connections, or class. Labor laws to protect worker and union rights should be strictly enforced. Shorter hours, longer vacations, earlier retirement are methods of sharing work to avoid unemployment. We can increase employment with direct employment programs like the Civilian Conservation Corp of the 30’s. To have a better distribution of income, we must have more widespread ownership as well as full employment. A major expansion of employment in worker owned businesses should be a major part of this change. We need to make cooperative and small business formation easier, with less red tape. Universal health care etc. would help a great deal.
17 PROBLEMS OF LEFT There are over 2000 organizations and publications on the Left. We would be better served by a small number of more significant organizations. Leftists work on critiques, exposes, commentary, and fundraising but very little is done developing or promoting positive programs or organizing people. The traditional Left talks about distribution, power, imperialism; the New Age Left focuses on ecology, waste, and consumerism. No coherent synthesis has developed.
Many on the Left can't admit that markets and competition often work. Leftists blame markets for things that are really caused by distortions of markets. Much of the Left supports welfare and affirmative action rather than equal opportunity, fair competition, and level playing fields. Welfare has meant charity and dependency instead of employment and small business formation, while it created careers in bureaucracy for the educated middle class. Political correctness has led e.g., to easy admission to colleges and grade inflation at all levels rather than equal opportunity based on ability and achievement.
18 SOCIALISTS A significant percentage of American progressives are socialist or communist; though most do not identify themselves as such because socialists and communists have historically been persecuted and isolated in this country. The collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China discredited socialism and especially communism.
However, socialist and communist parties are quite active and open in many other countries and it is possible, that a socialist party could become significant here, especially if the electoral system were changed. Such a party would provide a more radical alternative to the strategy proposed here of reforming our mixed economy. An active socialist party would educate the public with its critique of capitalism and arguments for public ownership and national economic planning. An active socialist party could form strategic alliances with the Independent Alliance and even Democrats on particular issues while clearly differentiating itself on others.
19 SUBSTANTIAL REFORM The Left needs to unite and organize around a program of very substantial reforms. The central issue is class power vs. democracy. Taking money out of politics is the necessary first step for making the political system more directly democratic. This would create the basis for success with all of the other important issues – electoral system change, equal opportunity, economic stability, environmental protection, globalization and war.
SOURCES
Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, Thea Lee, Institute for Policy Studies, The Field Guide to the Global Economy, Revised Edition, The New Press, 2005
Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World Is Possible, ed. John Cavanagh, Jerry Mander, Berrett Koehler, 2004
Chuck Collins, Felice Yeskel, United for a Fair Economy, Economic Apartheid in America
Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, Nancy Folbre, James Heintz, The Center for Popular Economics, Field Guide to the U.S. Economy: A Compact and Irreverent Guide to Economic Life in America
Bruce Jannson, The Sixteen Trillion Dollar Mistake, Columbia University
Paul Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, WW Norton & Company, 2007
Charles Noble, The Collapse of Liberalism: Why America
Ted Nace, Gangs of America
Kevin Phillips, Arrogant Capital: Washington
Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy: A Book of History & Strategies, ed. Ritz, Dean, The Apex Press, 2001
David F. Schmitz, The United States and Right Wing Dictatorships, 1965-1989, Cambridge University Press, 2006 and Thank God They're On Our Side: The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921-1965, University of North Carolina Press, 1999
Mark Zepezauer Take the Rich Off Welfare, South End Press, 2004
