Still rooting for economic collapse

Let's say you found yourself a delegate to the convention designing the first written constitution for a new state, one that had just finished fighting a long war for independence from a colonial power. How might you feel about the nature of government? What would be good, and what would you consider bad? Well, given that you and your fellow delegates shared much of the culture of that colonial power but were in a unique position to correct many of the flaws your countrymen objected to in that culture, how might you construct governing institutions? This is hypothetical of course, but you would probably not feel much love or respect for the institution of monarchy, or an insulated aristrocratic class that enjoyed power and privilage simply through inheritance. On the other hand, you would respect the traditions of liberty for the common people built up by long centuries of precedent and struggle against the arbitrary power of unelected rulers.

If you and your peers felt that concentrations of power were dangerous to that liberty, it would follow that you would build a structure of government that would diffuse power and allow for accountability from office holders. This structure would take two forms. First the theoretical source of all power comes from the people who must consent through elections of good leaders. Second, rules in the constitution would prevent the abuse of power by any rascals who snuck through the democratic process. Certainly it is not perfect, but in your worldview governments are a necessary evil that need to be restrained. While exceptions exist, generally governments headed by monarchs or oligarchic councils tend to exercise power to the detriment of the people, to fight wars of conquest and so forth.

Luckily, vast oceans separate the new state from great powers that might threaten it. Therefore, government can be designed with rules constraining what it can do. Government in your eyes is something to be protected from, affirmative government is not something you can fathom. Liberalism is a relatively new idea that society will function efficiently and produce prosperity for all if government stays out of the way. A vast new continent lays before you and your countrymen that is sparsely populated by people you consider savages. The land is ripe for exploitation and "civilizing."

Now, say you could fast forward 220 odd years and see what this arrangement has wrought. After some looking around you would see that power will find a way, like gravitational attraction, power concentrates. Only the real power no longer even theoretically lies with the people despite the extension of the franchise to women and non-whites, and the attendent extension of civil and constitutional rights. The nation you were building did indeed stretch across the continent and was thoroughly exploited and developed. But power no longer centered on the military strength of the sovereign government, but legal entities of economic power. The joint-stock companies that were strictly controlled in your day now exercised vast freedom to make profit through whatever means comes easiest to hand. A not-so-close examination revealed that much of this profit by "corporations" was obtained through "rents" extracted from government. Then, examining the actions of the last administration, you found that the freedoms you thought guarrenteed by the written constitution were easily circumvented to trample on the rights of citizens and even torture people considered a threat.

You also find that affirmative government to help people was possible and many programs exist alongside the rent-seeking to empower people. The economy is highly stratified by extreme division of labor but those sneaky speculators that caused so much trouble after the revolution have manipulated the people's institutions into giving them vast power and wealth without any real merit. The people today that call themselves liberals see government as a force to restrain abuse by the really existing centers of power. The conservatives by contrast resemble liberals, at least rhetorically, in their praise of freedom and liberty. But their real concern is not liberty and freedom for all, but the centers of real power that pretend to be "the people." Freedom to oppress and liberty to extract private profit, the rest of society be damned. It has gotten so bad that factions (that other danger talked about so convincingly in your day) seek power for themselves, not in the spirit of public service. The constraints you worked so hard to put in place to prevent government from oppressing citizens are now preventing government from restraining private power that is the real source of oppression.

And private power, the plutocracy with no responsibility to society, has all but succeeded in using the system to insulate itself. The political faction protecting private power over everything else feels so empowered today that it sees economic collapse as a legitimate way to regain power in government. The republican party has successfully tied the hands of government to address the crisis they themselves brought on with their allegiance to private power. The one public institition left beyond their control that can take steps to resolve the iniquities, the Federal Reserve, has now announced that it will take action. The details can be found here.

The moral is that a determined group of bandits acting as a mercenary army for malicious plutocrats can find a way through any obstacles to prevent democracy, opportunity, and the very idea of public service. Now that the foxes are in the henhouse, those constraints put in place by the founders act more to keep the people out than protecting them. Sure, we still supposedly enjoy freedom and rights but the bandits have proven they can make people disappear and torture them without any accountability. The money power can speculate with your retirement for the sake of bonuses for themselves, and not only get away with it but get a bailout on the public dime. Meanwhile, the political arm of the money power can openly root for economic collapse, guerranteeing to harm their own constituents and face no consequences. Your experiment, dear delegate, has failed. Power will always find a way.