You know all those movies and TV shows about a dystopian future where companies run the world. I think that it is beginning to happen now.  Especially with Trump and his swamp cronies. Corporations have always had great influence over our government and our lives, but now they are gathering the ability to do it legally.  More importantly, they are gathering the ability to stop any opposition legally with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council). This organization is comprised or corporations that right up legislation that they want passed and then buy the republican politicians that will enact.  These laws, when passed, give more power to the corporations and make it harder to fight against them.  Gov. Walker’s union-busting acts is a prime example.  Right to work makes it more difficult to organize a union and keep it.  The un-unionized companies can maximize their profits, their stock portfolios, and their wages.  Union members used to be able to consolidate their power to try and meet the corporations influence and now that is taken away.

We may want capitalism to sort things out. That’s what I want.  But we must learn the lessons from the robber barons.  We want a thriving economy and we want the American dream where you can become a millionaire.  More importantly we do not want a society where people get a share whether they earned it or not.  We do want people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.  Yet we need to have a society that strives to eradicate poverty and unnecessary hardships.

I do believe that conservatives want to end poverty and people’s pain. They want people to learn that they can help themselves.  The problem with this is that it is not a black or white situation (race and otherwise).  Corporations are stacking the deck against people right now.  They are using people’s own anger to do so.

The future may be too late. I can see a scenario where people will still vote, but regardless of who they vote for, the robber baron laws will remain in place.  And any person that wants to buck the system will not have the money to get the word out.  Social media will remain free speech, but will not be able to stand against the purchased speech.