Business I

For Thursday, read Drutman through chapter 5.  Looking forward to:

• Your reflections,
• Your blog posts,
• Your suggestions for the next assignment,
• Your thoughts about the topic of your research paper.

 Transfer calls and other forms of Astroturf

The Privileged Position of Business?

Calvin Coolidge:

There does not seem to be cause for alarm in the dual relationship of the press to the public, whereby it is on one side a purveyor of information and opinion and on the other side a purely business enterprise. Rather, it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation, is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences. After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of opinion that the great majority of people will always find these are moving impulses of our life.

Attitudes on regulation

The USA is distinctive in this respect

Structure of US Government: competition among states

Businesses often seek regulation.

Drutman's theory (p. 7):

Why the growth of corporate lobbying matters (p. 24)

The 1970s and the Powell memo https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/

How the growth of lobbying feeds on itself:

"L0w-salience" lobbying

Change is hard

Lobby jobs?  My email list and websites

Capacity