Seattle-Wireless-Politics
With the cancellation of my English class Tuesday, I found myself in a cafe on Capitol Hill with Dan at a SeattleWireless Hack Night. Not much hacking was going on that night, but after Dan and I got our SIFF choices figured out, Matt Westervelt seemed to be in the political discussion mood, and as the secretary of the Libertarian Party of King County, who was I to pass up such an opportunity? I come from an anti-government-power point of view, and Matt was coming from more of an anti-corporate-power point of view. The discussion was good, even tempered, and thought-provoking. In the end, I still think that most corporations, even global mega-conglomerates, have very little power outside of their capture of government regulation and manipulations of an over-reaching political system. Nevertheless, upon reflection, I think that the fundamental point is this: concentrations of power are dangerous, whether they be corporate or political. That two thinkers with different fundamental presumptions and world views can come to more or less the same conclusion on this topic is a testament to the importance of that fact. So I will state it again:
Concentrations of power are dangerous, whether they be corporate or political.
May 14th, 2005 at 08:46:31 am
If you want a primer on mega-huge corporate power, re-read any of william gibson’s early works… or even some of his later ones. I still have a special place in my heart for Neuromancer.
May 14th, 2005 at 08:51:43 am
Also, I think that what you are really saying is that the best possible environment for people is one in which small businesses thrive. I think that powerful corporations are much less or a threat to this than powerful government, mostly because governments can create criminal law, as opposed to merely civil law.