The Pros and Cons of Capitalism

Pro:  

Mad fabulous parties with delicious, complex cuisine, rare wines, and rested people in beautiful clothes.

Con:

You won’t be invited.

(from I.E. Skin, East Bay Express, c . 1993)

Worse than coal

Drive from Nesquehoning to Lansford, and you get a visual reminder of the damage coal mining has done to our area. The results of gas drilling for Marcellus shale will be far worse.  First of all, much more of the state is involved in gas production than in coal mining.  Secondly, gas drilling puts chemicals in the ground, in the air, and in the streams and rivers.  Acid mine drainage pollutes the water, but it can be mitigated.  Strip mines can be revegetated.  Subsidence is localized.  

Gas drilling will cover half the state, it involves radioactive waste, and once the chemicals are in the ground water, they may be there for centuries.  We don’t even know what chemicals are being used.

Pull up the Sunday, Feb. 27, New York Times and take a look at the article entitled “Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers.”  This article, a full two pages, is one of the most sobering and frightening accounts of the problems of the gas industry.  Most of the article relates to what is happening in Pennsylvania.  The author, Ian Urbina, points out just how bad Pennsylvania is in regulating the gas industry compared to other states. 

Environmentalists are often accused of being alarmist.  If you think we are crying wolf, please read the article.  Please.

The Rally in Harrisburg (and two letters)

I’m fired up.  Standing in the middle of a thousand cheering union supporters on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg was a morale booster.  We heard from a teacher, an environmentalist, a social worker, and a 92-year-old woman and former union worker from Wisconsin, who talked about the importance of sticking together.  

The crowd included young and old, black and white, men and women--all of us aware that the governor’s proposal in Wisconsin has nothing to do with balancing the budget.   Its purpose is to destroy unions.  By going after public unions first, he hopes to split the union movement.  At the rally it was clear this tactic would not succeed.

One of the speakers noted that Governor Corbett said “Pennsylvania is not Wisconsin.”  Perhaps not, but I thought the sign “Wisconsylvania” was close to the mark.  After all, Corbett has proposed vouchers to weaken public schools, the closing of the state stores, and a “Right to Work for Less” law.  

Rally participants had hundreds of signs, most of them homemade.  My sign said “Governor Walker:  David Koch on Line One.”  Linda’s sign said “The Right to Organize is Fundamental.”  

I have not heard if the other rallies, scheduled for the state capitols of all 50 states, were successful, but the one in Harrisburg certainly was.  We were told that this would be a long hard struggle, but union organizing has always been a long hard struggle.  A positive note is that we have friends and allies across the state. 

About 25 Tea Party followers across the street shouted and heckled, even during the invocation.  Why a group that often wears revolutionary hats would want to ally with large corporations, union busting governors, and enemies of the middle class is beyond my understanding.

Two views on the state budget, one smart, one not-so-smart

The Times News (Feb. 26) printed two letters on the budget crisis.  “Missing out on state revenue” by Billy O’Gurek, Chair of the Carbon County Democratic Party,  notes that a severance tax on natural gas production would bring in much needed funds to the state.  He also points out the Governor Corbett received almost a million dollars in campaign donations from natural gas companies. 

Next to Mr. O’Gurek’s letter is a “legislative review” from Representative Doyle Heffley.  The “review” is not a review, but an advocacy piece pushing the sale of liquor stores.  Heffley ran as a family values guy.  Evidently he thinks that a proliferation of liquor stores is in keeping with family values and a one-time windfall represents good government management.

Both letters can be found at <www.tnonline.com> for Feb. 26.  Click on “letters.”  

The Rest of the Story

Pluralist democracy

In my previous post, I noted that the pluralist theory of American democracy appears to best describe American government.  Organized groups lobby for their interests, and the policies that government adopts tend to be compromises.  Nobody gets everything; everybody gets something.

At the national level groups learned to live in an uneasy balance with their opponents.   In political science terminology, we had “countervailing power.”

Pluralism does have its downsides.  First of all, not everyone joins in.  The Sierra Club, a comparatively large environmental group, has 1.3 million members.  For every 240 Americans, only one is a Sierra Club member.

A second problem is the lack of participation by the people who are in groups.  Many members have a “checkbook affiliation.”  They mail in their dues and receive a newsletter.  That’s not very participatory.

Finally, in the words of interest group scholar E. E. Schattschneider (love that name), “...the flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with an upper-class accent.”  Very few poor people join groups, give campaign donations, or support lobbyists.  Those few groups that do represent the poor are marginalized or attacked.  (Remember Acorn.)

The labor movement

The one place where the average blue or pink collar worker had some clout was in the labor movement.  Retail clerks, teachers, laborers, farm workers, miners, steel workers, auto workers--all had their unions.  While never as powerful as corporate interests, these unions did act as countervailing power, and they were effective.

An occupational therapist from Wisconsin was quoted as saying workers no longer needed unions, because we had laws to protect workers.  We do have minimum wage and maximum hours and workers’ comp, but that is because of unions.  If unions disappear, those laws will be repealed or not enforced, nor will non-union employers feel any pressure to match union wages or benefits.

Not all unions were progressive, of course.  Some of the old AFL unions resisted integration, and you may remember the “hardhats” supporting Nixon.  Nevertheless, when you look at the history of reform legislation, unions have been the good guys.  They are also one of the mainstays of the Democratic Party, and an important source of both campaign contributions and volunteers.  Of the ten top donor groups in 2008, only three supported Democrats, and they were unions.

Unfortunately, organized labor is on the ropes.  Fewer than one in ten private workers is in a union.  The reasons for that are too many and too complicated to cover here.  The one bright spot in the labor movement has been unionized government workers.  

Republicans know that.  Corporate interests know that.  By eliminating unions we will see government reflecting the interests of those at the top even more than it already does.  The U.S. currently has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor of all the industrialized countries, and that gap is growing each year.  We are becoming an oligarchy where the wealthy few enjoy their money and power and the rest of us can’t do a damn thing about it.  That is why Wisconsin is so important.

Three theories of American democracy

According to classical democratic theory, informed voters examine and understand political issues.  After careful analysis and rational thought, they elect representatives who support their viewpoints.  The majority party is expected to govern, and that party carries out the wishes of the electorate while respecting minority rights.  Free speech and press ensure that alternatives are presented, and elections are referenda on past performance and future promise.  Elections are fair, and one vote is equal to another.  

Although this theory is attractive, few political scientists would lend it much credence.  Voters may not be rational, campaigns are confusing and misleading, and money distorts the entire process.  

Political theorist Roberto Michels presented a different viewpoint.  He said that any social grouping over time would be run by a small elite.  A church, a parent-teacher organization, the local chapter of the VFW--any group you can think of will, over time, be dominated by a few people.  Michels called this the “iron law of oligarchy.” 

Elitist democratic theory follows Michels.  One could argue that in the U.S. a very few people actually have meaningful power.  One person, one vote may be true in theory, but in the real world the Koch brothers make a mockery of that idea.  A very small group decides U.S.-Afghan policy or the Federal Reserve Board’s monetary policy.  Voters merely select one portion of the ruling group over another portion.  A certain amount of play in the system allows for a “circulation of the elite” to keep the ruling elite slightly porous.  Neither Clinton nor Obama were born to the elite, for example.

A third view, called pluralist democratic theory, holds that government policy is a result of various groupings in society making demands on government.  As groups lobby for advantage and support, they usually get some satisfaction.  On the other hand, since many groups are fighting for a piece of the pie, no group gets everything it wants.  Growers get subsidies, business gets tax breaks, labor gets pension guarantees, and seniors get Medicare.  

I would ask my American government 101 students which theory best describes the U.S. government.  Being young and cynical, most chose elitist.  The correct answer is “it depends.”  A presidential election comes fairly close to classical democracy, U.S. nuclear policy is definitely elitist, and on an issue like education, pluralism seems descriptive.  Until recently, though, I would have argued that on most issues, pluralist democracy represented the best fit.

Pluralist democracy can work.  We have literally thousands of organized groups lobbying government.  Although some interests, such as the NRA or the Chamber of Commerce, have disproportionate power, in the past most groups would at least be heard.  While it is true that some segments of American society have little clout (prisoners, the poor, exploited foreign workers, students), most interests have been able to speak out and have an effect on policy.  

This is changing.  We are moving from a pluralist democracy to an elitist democracy.  Tomorrow I will explain why this is happening, and how we are turning into an oligarchy.  Stay tuned.

Note:  I earlier urged readers to wear a red ribbon to show their support for the unions in Wisconsin.  It really didn’t work that well for me.  Most people who see the ribbon assume it is for breast cancer awareness or the fight against AIDS.  Maybe I’ll have more effect at the Saturday rally in Harrisburg.

Rally

     On Saturday, Feb. 26, a pro-union rally is scheduled for noon in Harrisburg in front of the Capitol Building.   I don't know at this point who is sponsoring it or who is speaking.  I do know that I will be there.

Gasland

Carbon and Schuylkill Counties are full of reminders of the heyday of anthracite coal mining.  You can find culm banks, acid mine drainage, ravaged valleys, and mine subsidence.  The mines brought not only jobs, but also environmental devastation that has outlasted those jobs by decades.  

Pennsylvania is about to do it all over again.  The techniques used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation are unregulated and environmentally destructive.  Proposals to impose an extraction tax that could be used to mitigate the environmental problems have been rejected by the Corbett administration, although every other state--even Texas--imposes such a tax.

On April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Mauch Chunk Museum and Cultural Center at 41 West Broadway in Jim Thorpe the movie “Gasland” will be shown.  “Gasland” details the unfolding disaster natural gas drilling is bringing to Pennsylvania.  Tickets for the film, which was nominated for an Oscar, cost only three dollars, and students with an ID and a ticket will be admitted free.  

If you would like a ticket, email <LAChris@ptd.net>.  This a film worth seeing.