I find it fascinating that it's commonly believed that big corporations run / control / own the US Government. When that's constantly shown to not be the case. Occasionally they have common ground, more often than not the government imposes its will in the process of seeking more power and control through regulation. If big corporations ran things, the executive branch would be on its knees groveling right now, with trillions of dollars in market value stacked on the Apple side of this. Apple makes so much money, their profit is almost as large as the entire spy budget for all US agencies. So where's the power and control over the government? Turns out that isn't true, the power derived from the guns beats the money every time (which history has shown repeatedly).
> the power derived from the guns beats the money every time
Our collective vote beats both money and guns. When politicians are voted out, they are out of a job and their campaign funds dry up.
From the This American Life's episode on "Take the Money and Run for Office" [1]
Dick Durbin: I think most Americans would be shocked-- not surprised, but shocked-- if they knew how much time a United States senator spends raising money. And how much time we spend talking about raising money, and thinking about raising money, and planning to raise money. And, you know, going off on little retreats and conjuring up new ideas on how to raise money.
Barney Frank: If the voters have a position, the votes will kick money's rear end any time. I've never met a politician-- I've been in the legislative bodies for 40 years now-- who, choosing between a significant opinion in his or her district and a number of campaign contributors, doesn't go with the district.
While money has a hard time to get a politician to take a position contrary to the will of the public, money is a great tool to manufacture public consent.
