Because science, medicine and politics are three threads woven into the same cloth of public policy, we have to work to fix all three simultaneously. The corruption of political systems by global corporatists has filtered down to our science, medicine and healthcare systems and must be exposed. Furthermore, the perversion of science and medicine by corporate interests is expanding its reach; it is pernicious and intractable. Regulatory capture by corporate interests runs rampant throughout our politics, governmental agencies and institutes. The corporatists have infiltrated all three branches of government, and it is up to us, the people, to take control back. Corporate-public partnerships that have become so trendy have another name, that name is fascism- the political science term for the fusion of the interests of corporations and the state. Basically, the tension between the interest of the republic and its citizens (which Jefferson felt should be primary), and the financial interests of business and corporations (Hamilton’s ideal) has swung far too far to the interests of corporations and their billionaire owners at the expense of the general population.
The nation and its governing arms (including the intrenched bureaucracy often referred to as the “deep state”) now primarily serves the interests of multinational corporations, their managers and owners, instead of the other way around- serving the people. The term that best describes this system of government is called inverted totalitarianism. This term was first coined in 2003 by the political theorist and writer Dr. Sheldon Wolin. Inverted totalitarianism is what the government of the United States has devolved into, as he had warned might happen many years ago in the book “Democracy Incorporated”. The United States has been co-opted into a managed democracy. This democracy was placed into the hands of oligarchs by bureaucratic imperatives and managerial principles and practices, which have created a creeping form of totalitarianism. Now we can clearly see the liberties and freedom of this democracy being eroded rapidly just as Wolin predicted. The ending result is this new form of totalitarianism, that (unlike classical totalitarianism) does not have an authoritarian leader, but instead is run by a non-transparent group of managers and elites who run the country from within. What President Trump might call the “deep state.” Or what Steve Bannon originally called the “Uniparty”. In effect, our democracy has been turned upside down while being captured by corporate interests that endorse authoritarian policies – hence “inverted totalitarianism”.
The infiltration of this version of fascism has gone so far that even routine aspects of the political sphere are determined by corporate interests. This was cemented in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, a decision that reversed century-old campaign finance restriction laws. This ruling has enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections.
As a nation, we are once again confronted by a historic conflict that goes back to Jefferson and Hamilton and founding of this country. Simply stated this is the old issue of whether capitalism is a tool of (representative constitutional) democracy or is democracy a tool of capitalism. Will democracy control capitalism or will capitalism control democracy? Two of our founding fathers, Jefferson and Hamilton, represent the two sides of the coin in this tension, and awareness of this dynamic conflict was built into our constitution. In theory, the people, through democratic representation, are empowered to elect leaders and pass laws, but when corporate financial interests become too powerful they are able to overthrow this relationship and capture political control by exerting financial power and influence over the political process.
In the 21st century, a new threat to democracy and the people’s rule has emerged. That is the party of Davos, the alliance of transnational corporations (TNC) and their representatives as the leaders and managers of global governance. This has yielded an emerging system of inverted totalitarianism on a global scale. Transnational corporate rule is not limited by national rules and regulations, and its tentacles are everywhere. At the national level, we see its effects on the judicial, legislative and executive branches. On the international level, the money and power from the transnational organizations has bought off entities like the World Health Organization. The nominal head and coordinating body of this globalized effort to control the world through capitalism has become the World Economic Forum, whose primary belief is that national boundaries are less important than global connectivity and management through corporatism.
Here we are today. In many ways, the hidden head of this unelected corporatist government structure is now the leadership of the World Economic Forum which meets annually in Davos Switzerland, where the heads of corporations and the apex predator financial firms come together to decide the governing decisions of the world (including the practice of medicine), and politicians and other influencers travel as supplicants akin to courtiers approaching an Emperor or a Pope.
So, if inverted totalitarianism is smashed together with the development of such a global corporatist ruling elite, the question becomes who is running the United States? With the largest brush strokes possible, it comes down to the World Economic forum and the party of Davos. And what we have seen develop, worldwide, during the time of COVID is gross overreach, managerial incompetence and a reflexive tendency towards authoritarianism which has resulted in an appalling loss of life, liberty, and ability to pursue happiness here in America.
What somehow must be accomplished, if we wish to retain the US Constitutional form of government and the freedoms guaranteed by the founding documents, is to return to the primacy of the individual. “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It is people that should control the levers of government – we must return balance between the Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian ideals. Capitalism in the service of a representative democracy, not the other way around. That is what this great nation was founded on.
Resistance is almost the only way that this can be fought. It has to be organized; funding and the effort must have professional organizers.
Resistance has begun, largely in church communities and self-assembling social media aggregates, with people organizing to form autonomous groups outside of the formal power structures which include the two main political parties – both of whom have been significantly captured by corporate interests (the Uniparty). In order for this resistance effort to be successful, these groups will have to remove themselves from corporate influence and funding.
This is why the government, corporate interests and “mainstream” (corporate captured legacy) media find alternate social media platforms that they can’t control to be so threatening. They know these forums are a principal threat, and that they are key if the power structure is to flip back to control by the people as originally envisioned in the US Constitution.
A powerful popularist that is not tied to the global elite or narrative can also work to break the power of inverted totalitarianism. That is why President Trump, with all his flaws, was so popular. People responded to his messaging that the primacy of representative democracy, the idea that is so deeply connected to the American Enlightenment, is broken. That the “deep state” that Trump likes to speak of is real. And he is right, it is real. That the bureaucratic imperatives and managerial principles and practices that now make up the United States governing body are outside of the boundaries of what the founding fathers intended. Speaking for myself, I believe that I also threaten the powerful elite to some extent because I also am a populist, and that this is what has triggered such disproportionate propaganda, censorship and defamatory responses from the (corporate controlled) legacy media. I am outside the system. I do not represent uniparty-controlled corporatized science and medicine. This makes me a threat which must be eliminated as I become one of the many increasingly popular leaders of this resistance against global fascism.
Beyond the role of the populist, the corporate elite and managers have silenced many of the great American thinkers and doers of the last fifty years. To frame this regarding the specific case of science and medicine, Sheldon Wolin presciently wrote:
“One of the things we have seen over the last 30 or 40 years is a gradual silencing of people who are doctors or scientists,” Saul said. “They are silenced by the managerial methodology of contracts. You sign an employment contract that says everything you know belongs to the people who hired you. You are not allowed to speak out. Take that [right] away and you have a gigantic educated group who has a great deal to say and do, but they are tied up. They don’t know how to untie themselves. They come out with their Ph.D. They are deeply in debt. The only way they can get a job is to give up their intellectual freedom. They are prisoners.”
Regulatory and operational capture of the hospitals, health insurance and physicians is almost one hundred percent complete now. The government, big pharma, big tech and hospitalists have worked in consort to silence scientists and physicians. This is not something new. Sheldon Wolin defined the problem a decade ago. What is new is the rise of the Internet and social media to become the “town hall.” It is this tool that we can use to take our power back.
Each of us must take back our power regarding our own and our family’s health care. We must be responsible for our own bodies and not give that right away to others. We must choose our physicians carefully and conscientiously. Corporatist medicine and science must be avoided as primary sources for information. New, non-corporation influenced medicine and science sources need to be developed. That includes medical information aggregator sites and journals that are free from corporate influences.
Independent social media platforms and alternative news sources are key to building communities and organizations that can resist inverted totalitarianism. And because they are key to the resistance, governments and the corporate elite will work to censor and remove such platforms. That will include outright purchase, as well as a variety of governmental controls placed on alternate media sources. The current move to embrace censorship by the legacy media, big tech and their hypnotized minions are examples of what our future holds. Be ready to jump platforms. Archive email lists and be ready to activate new accounts quickly. It is the resistance that is important, not the platform.
This is a war to save our great nation. Be prepared, because this new form of global fascism, otherwise known as inverted totalitarianism, is an enemy like none of us have seen before. As we move forward on this fight to save the world, remember we have one big tool. That is our ability to resist. There are many people who are willing to resist, to change and to not accept a world where corporations rule by fiat. People that will work to create a world whereby medicine is more than just numbers and a way to sell new drugs and vaccines.
Do not forget the words of Abraham Lincoln:
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution”