CORPORATISM – the control of a country, state or organization by large corporate groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know now that I have been living in a bubble. A bubble that has been created by the merging of the government and the corporate world. I now live in the time of “Corporatism.” Until recently I never stopped to think about what it means to be part of a corporation. Working on the “patient side of health care” for the last 30 years my focus was very narrowed – when the work day was done so to speak – it came down to only one thing: Did we do the best that we could to take care of the patient. Nothing else really mattered. When hospitals changed from one corporation to another the only difference I saw was who signed my check. Yes I was living in the bubble.

Now whether you think it is the best thing since sliced cheese or put it in the same category as Ebola – like it or not – Obama Care as it has been coined, did one thing for a lot of us narrow minded, patient centered professionals – it woke us up! I had to ask myself: Universal Health Care for all? Why would this be a problem in the USA? We are one of the richest countries on earth. Surely we would be able to figure this out? Hmmmm!? So I started to read about corporations, how they started, why we have them, the good points and the bad points, and one interesting idea that related corporations and the public to Biology. The idea is that you can look at corporations and society as a symbiotic relationship. This I could understand. Besides working in health care I have a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology – where I learned all about mutualistic relationships in the animal kingdom. The disturbing part that become readily apparent is that these relationships are not endpoints. The environment changes, animal populations change, corporations change, societies change, people change – all this leads to instability in the relationship. One party becomes parasitic and this is where the problem starts. It is the same in the corporate world and society as it is in the animal kingdom. This idea is nothing new. The back and forth of corporate power and public welfare has been going on since the first corporation was formed. It is just in the last 20 years with the downsizing of government and concurrent deregulation of corporate laws that we have more of a parasitic corporate structure.

Every president and politician that has warned about, spoken out against, and voted for legislation limiting the power and influence of corporations has faced a backlash of negative criticism. President Obama is not the first and will not be the last. In my humble opinion, the best thing that we could do would be to strengthen the laws that restrict corporate power and influence. Are corporations bad – yes and no? Are corporations good – yes and no? It all depends on where you are at in the parasite (corporation)/host (society) pendulum.

Well I think this is enough for now. I encourage that you do your own reading on corporations to learn more. See ya out there!!