PLANS OF THE PRIVATEERS:

DEFUNDING THE PUBLIC SECTOR

I remember back in the 1950's how we thought of the John Birch Society as a crazy, extremist organization which sought to do away with everything "public" because such things were "socialistic" and socialism was essentially the same as communism. They were said to have accused President Eisenhower of being a communist dupe and they were rabidly against the United Nations. In essence, the Birchers sought to do away with public schools, public electirical utilities, and any other programs of government which served ordinary people. They did not, however, seek the demise of government support for the rich.

The strange thing is that the Birchers and their fellow travelers on the extreme right have largely triumphed today, taking control of the Republican Party with Reagan's victory in 1980 and gaining decisive influence in the Democratic Party during Jimmy Carter's last two years in office and dominating the Lloyd Bentsen-Bill Clinton Democrats ever since. By means of the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing organizations, well-funded by extreme rightist millionaires and billionaires, the Bircher philosophy of doing away with government enterprises and programs that benefit ordinary people has taken control of the dialogue of politics and economics. The result is that a revolution is being carried out, a revolution which is rapidly rolling us back into the age of the Robber Barons, the harsh industrial climate of the late nineteenth-century.

Instead of heading into the 21st. century we are, in fact, hurtling back into the 19th. in spite of the technological explosion all around us. The Privateers (people and corporations who seek to privatize all institutions except those which subsidize and protect the rich and powerful) are winning because they now control the mainstream media, huge sources of funding, and large sectors of intellectual life.