Prediction 3: Left Meets Right
The American far Left (sensitive to Corporations pursuing world domination) and far Right (sensitive to governments pursuing world domination) will realize their common ground, and link up politically, if not necessarily socially.
[posted: 11/15/04]Explanation
Try two web searches:
Notice anything about the two sets of results? Looking over them closely, if we had to characterize them as Left leaning or Right leaning, the first set would, in the aggregate lean Left; the second, Right.
At least, this is the case in late 2004 as I am writing this. Perhaps if the search engines pick up on my blog, my site will be among the first to "cross over".
That is, as of 2004, I see little, if any difference, between corporate front groups and governmental front groups. This is because Corporations more or less own the Governments. This is one thing I'll be be writing about in Corporate Harm.
For this reason, I predict that the far Left will distrust Government front groups as much as it distrusts Corporate front groups.
As for the far Right, I predict that they will come, over the next four years, to notice the intimate connections connections between Governments and Corporations. Certainly, they already see this in the domains of Media and Entertainment. It's small step from there to Big Food, Big Pharm, and Big Oil. As for Big Military, a good starting place for the Second Amendment-quoting Right is the prophetic words of Republican World War II hero Dwight D. Eisenhower, spoken in 1961:
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
