A Public Option for Corporations, But Not People?

By
Glenn W. Smith
– November 30, 2009Posted in: Economy, Health Care, Politics

inauguration protest corporations 200x300 A Public Option for Corporations, But Not People?I’ve joked before that not far in the future, there will be Corporate Creationists who argue that God created corporations, that they could not possibly have evolved from human beings. Today, organizations that operate under corporate charters transcend in power and glory our national organization that operates under a constitution. It sounds like science fiction comedy, but its not. We are quick with public policy solutions to business crises, but slow to rescue people.

Case in point. Back in 1991, the Texas Legislature created a public option for businesses needing workers compensation insurance. That’s right. Before that, insurance companies were not writing policies for some companies because the risk was too high and they didn’t want the liability. You might say those companies had certain pre-existing conditions. In 2001 the workers compensation public option was strengthened. It’s now called the Texas Mutual Insurance Company, a not-for-profit organization.

The right wing says government helping people is socialism. Government helping corporations, however, is the free market in action. There’s nothing new about this. Government wet its pants to help the railroad barons and sent state militias to beat and kill starving railroad workers in the 19th Century. In 1886 the Supreme Court said corporations were persons. Subsequent interpretations make them super-persons.

The destructive mythology behind this circumstance is staggering. How is it, for instance, that many people view control of their lives and health by the private, unaccountable health insurance industry as divinely determined, but rail against government intervention on their behalf as an attack on liberty? It’s flat earth thinking that sends many into the abyss.

The Texas Mutual Insurance Company doesn’t use taxpayer money, and it’s governed by a citizen board. But it was created by the state to solve a crisis in business. It’s not dissimilar from the health care public options being considered by Congress. It can be argued that the workers compensation solution also helped people. But workers compensation is intended to protect business from liability when workers are injured. It has moved steadily in the direction of helping employers at the expense of employees, surprise.

The point, however, is not how it’s funded or how it operates. The point is that government moved quickly to protect uninsured businesses. If people are uninsured, however, it’s their own fault.

Businesses create jobs, and successful entrepreneurs deserve support and gratitude. They are engines of growth, and many behave responsibly with a sense of their social responsibility. A black-and-white picture — corporations bad, people good — is as destructive as the reverse. But today, we seem to have collectively adopted the “people bad, corporations good” fantasy. I’m not talking so much about some business interests who advance this illogical nonsense. They’re just angling for advantage. I’m talking about the rest of us who believe it and act upon it.

I am as skeptical of big business as I am of big government. To paraphrase Thomas Paine, I believe that corporations that govern least govern best. Today, big insurance companies govern our lives and our health. They are not accountable to voters. They are the real nightmare of libertarians.

We need a dose of realism. We need balance. There’s no reason to let either the public sector or elements of the private sector grow so large that they transcend the interests of individual Texans and Americans. Small is better. By small I mean small in power. We need the efficiencies of big companies, just like we need the efficiencies of a true national government.

There is no one I will ever respect more than my father. He founded his own small business just after World War II. He built it with his own hands. My brothers continued to build upon his success with their own hard work. Throughout, the company was run on an ethic of service — to employees, to customers, to the community. Though I’ve worked for years in politics, I don’t think anyone in politics can achieve their kind of business heroism.

So don’t take the above as anti-business. Take it as prairie humanism, an ethic that puts the individual human life first.

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About Glenn W. Smith

Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”

Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.

In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.

As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.

Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.

Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.

As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”