“This cartoon by Joseph Keppler, who was the, both the editor and main cartoonist for Puck, which became one of, a very popular satirical weeklies in the post-Civil War period, expresses a general public discontent and concern about the growing impact and power of large businesses in the United States in the Gilded Age, particularly as this indicates, by businesses that have become monopolies in one way or another, and their control over the political process.
This is the period of time when the Senate is beginning to be conceived of as a millionaire’s club, it’s not quite called that yet, but it’s getting there, and certainly the sort of power and influence of business has become palatable.
And this is a wonderful snapshot, if you will, of the relationship between the two, with the bloated figures, having squeezed their way through the door saying, ‘Entrance for Monopolists,’ and surrounding the Senate with the Lilliputian figures of the different senators, all of whom would be recognized by, by viewers because their faces are, you know, are quite realistic, and the influence is quite clear between the monopolists and their impact on the legislators who are either going to be manipulated by or intimidated by these figures.
The quote from the Gettysburg Address referred to the democracy, ‘the government by the people and for the people’ as opposed to, in this case, the corruption of it, which is, ‘by the monopolists and for the monopolists.'”
Josh Brown, American Social History Project, City University of New York
Jesse’s commentary on the quoted article is as follows:
“No limits on political campaign contributions and the direct appointment of Senators by State Legislatures, which was ended by the 17th amendment, created a climate of political corruption during the ‘Gilded Age.’
Large corporate combines called ‘Trusts’ created monopolies using predatory pricing, anti-competitive mergers, and exclusive dealings and business arrangements. They used the power of their enormous profits to buy key State legislatures and thereby control the Senators appointed by them.
The progessives were able to promote both the 17th Amendment in 1913 and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act in 1914, which made great strides to break up the power of the ‘Trusts’ and put more political power back in the hands of ordinary voters.”
Oh, is that right, Jesse? Is that why we have no corruption among the headless nails of the Senate these days? The 17th Amendment fixed it, right? What other marvels of Progressivism do you like?
The 17th Amendment ended state control over Senators. It made Senatorial seats into national offices and enabled the corporations to buy senators and assure that they stay bought, where the Constitutional model made it possible for a state legislature to remove a Senator for cause.
That’s a means of empowering the citizens of a state, who can bring pressure to bear on their state legislators to remove a corrupt Senator. The 17th removes that option, leaving only the rules of the Senate for sanctioning a corrupt Senator. Jesse, explain just how the fuck that “put more political power back in the hands of ordinary voters”.
Actually, the 17th Amendment did just the opposite. It took the citizens of each state out of the equation altogether, making Senate elections even more prone to defiance of the popular vote than Presidential elections. Read the text of the Amendment and see if it amounts to empowering the citizens of the states.
Jesse’s blog doesn’t allow comments, supposedly in the interest of making it “an oasis of civility in an increasingly uncivil world” as the banner states. I guess he’d consider it uncivil for a reader to be able to respond to his musings with an observation that his conclusions are erroneous.
My God Josh, get an editor. Almost unreadable.
I feel like the US has wandered back and forth across the line of “too much regulation” and “too much deregulation” like a drunken sailor.
The times will shift for the better, and then some self-interested party, be they corporate, union, or otherwise, will shell out a lot of money for a campaign that convinced people they are miserable, and the shit-cycle starts anew.
Right now we have the worst of both worlds: Regulations so tight on small businesses that its borderline impossible to found a real company in the USA, and deregulation on massive corporations, letting them get away with murder in the process.
Everything changes! The only thing that seems not to change is ‘human nature’. That’s why the more things change the more they stay the same.
My buddy Bob asked me, Filomeno, when a black sees another black, he will greet him but you guys don’t do that, why?
I shrugged my shoulders. Mexicans view other Mexicans with suspicion. Whenever one fucks up, the rest complain, por eso estamos como estamos, that is why we are where we are.
It is the unspoken criticism of people who have not given up and joined the FSA, folks who admire the gringo and believe in gringolandia, folks who despise the negro and his loathsome ways; loud talk, sloppy dress, irresponsibility…
Mexican nationals have their personal groups, lifelong friends. Pochos, American Mexicans are more independent.
I say all that to offer this opinion; many years from now, blacks will still be rioting in the streets. Newspapers, if they exist at all, will still be pushing the ‘first black’ bullshit and Mexicans (who openly admire whites) will have melted into the predominant culture with alacrity.