Thom Hartmann: Libertarian Wet Dream...One World Government?

[thomhartmann]

The New York Times is out with a new story today on WPP - a London-based corporation that is buying up most of the big lobbying shops here in Washington, DC. The Times refers to the company as a "consolidating force at work in the influence-peddling industry." WPP is a $72 billion dollar foreign corporation - running more than 150 public relations, advertising, and lobbying companies employing nearly 160,000 people. And K. Street is getting devoured by WPP - as more and more lobbying boutiques join up with the massive one-stop shop of influence. As the Times writes, "WPP has become, in effect, a special interest mega-firm, with offerings for conservatives and liberals, environmentalists and polluters, gun lovers and gun haters, Tea Party die-hards and public sector unions, old guard media and their high tech competitors - the entire gamut from left to right, top to bottom."

So if you're a Texas energy baron - and you want to blow up EPA regulations on toxic coal ash - then reach out to WPP - where you'll have... First, access to their public relations team to promote your corporation and give it a good name in the community. Second, access to their advertising team to run smears against the EPA and "job-killing" regulations. And third, access to a lobbyist to whip up support for your anti-EPA agenda on Capitol Hill. Mitt Romney's Bain Capital did just that in 2011 - giving WPP $320,000 to monitor "tax reform development." And here's what's most troubling - WPP runs operations in 107 different nations including the United States - it's like an unofficial branch of government that knows no national boundaries. This is a Libertarian's wet-dream - a one-world, corporate government that answers to profits instead of principles. And it shows that those of us who want restore true democracy - represented by "we the people" and not corporations - still have a lot of work to left to do.

Throughout history - democratic governments have always been a society's best defense against massive wealth and corporate power. But now that democracy is being privatized and monopolized, it's increasingly going to the highest bidder. While WPP can run these operations in numerous countries, the US is particularly vulnerable, because our Supreme Court hatched this bizarre idea that money isn't property like common sense would tell us, but that it's actually a form of speech, which the First Amendment says can't be regulated. Because of this Supreme Court-created doctrine - which no president and no Congress has ever advocated - in fact, many have pushed back against it - because of this, WPP and other big corporations can essentially buy the laws they want.

This is not democracy in action - it's the death of democracy at the hand of big corporations like Bain Financial and JP Morgan Chase. We need our lawmakers to ban the practice of corporations writing laws, giving those laws to legislators along with big campaign checks, and running massive advertising and PR campaigns to ensure public acceptance of those laws. But for now, it's illegal for our legislators to enact such a ban, because the Supreme Court says they'd be trampling the free speech rights - the use of money - of the corporations the Supreme Court recognizes as "people." It's time to put an end to the subversion of democracy in America by a British corporation. But before that can be done, we need to stop the Supreme Court from pushing their bizarre doctrine that corporations are people and money is speech. For that, go to movetoamend.org and join in the movement to amend the Constitution to end this corruption of democracy by the Supreme Court.

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[Dokkie]

1. Nope

We are not a democracy. When this country was founded, only land owners and males were allowed to vote i.e people at the time who had a stake in the game. Now every idiot with a citizenship can vote, is it a good thing? maybe but what we have now is definitely wasn't the was it was imagined by most of the founders.

Also weren't libertarians the anti govt people, the leave me alone people, don't thread on me people, govt so small you can drown in a bathtub people, the UN will give us one world govt people? now why would they prefers a one world govt.

[Citizen Worker]

2. It's a safe bet that if it hasn't already happened it will and that is foreign money will be

funneled through WPP to political campaigns and candidates. The takeover is now complete, Fascism is here. Go to www.movetoamend.org and sign the petition to overturn Citizens United.