Corporate Power Is the Enemy of Our Democracy

GEORGE W. BUSH says he likes to put things in simple terms. Let's adopt his strategy and ask: Do Americans want to struggle to create a rich democracy, or are we going to roll over and accept a democracy for the rich?

Never has the question been placed in front of us more starkly. Let's run down some of the "highlights" of the Bush administration's first year:

Tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the most wealthy. Environmental regulation gutted in favor of "voluntary" efforts by corporations. An obsession with an unnecessary and unworkable national missile defense, which will defend little except the profits of the weapons industry. An energy policy plotted with the companies that will profit, through a consultation process the administration wants to keep secret.

Could there be a pattern here? Could it be that politicians, who are supposed to represent we the people, sometimes pursue agendas that benefit only the few people and corporations with the resources to put (and keep) them in power?

Could the obvious be true - that a country with an economy dominated by large corporations will find itself stuck with a politics dominated by those same corporations - and that ordinary people don't fare very well in such a system?