You say that it’s not clear who is “accountable for social evils” nowadays but I think most people are pretty clear on who is accountable for many social problems. The Rasmussen poll that found 2 out of 3 Americans believe that big business and the government often work in ways that hurts consumers is a case in point.

I think there’s widespread belief that corporations and governments put their own interests ahead of the general population. The problem is that the democratic system is not responding to those feelings which is why there is a great deal of cynicism and apathy.

Most people are desperate for solutions and answers as the wave of expectation that brought Obama to power proved. Maybe in the end people will find that the answer doesn’t lie within the current political system as it stands and a new model needs to be found.

“If throughout history slaves, workers and other oppressed groups had decided that there was nothing that could be done, then nothing would have changed for the better.”

The big difference between that time and now is that there was a kind of direct accountability for this kind of social evil. It was clear where the blame had to lie and the law was able to be changed in a way that genuinely affected the slave business. Of course now we have international corporations who have mastered the art of image and spin and keeping secrets well hidden. We also have investors and bankers who are shadows: untouchable and out of the reach of the law.

I never suggested that “nothing can be done” but surely we have to realise that the big ‘democracies’ such as the UK and the US are virtual non-democracies, despite a relatively free media which most citizens (at least in those two countries) take little notice of when it comes to social and political issues.

We chatter amongst ourselves and write things for each other that the average person is completely uninterested in. We have to realise that writers and journalists are nowadays largely writing for themselves.

Oppressed groups in the past have suffered far greater problems that are currently faced today. If throughout history slaves, workers and other oppressed groups had decided that there was nothing that could be done, then nothing would have changed for the better.

You’re right that corporate financing dictates election campaigns to a large extent but if it was the deciding factor, then I’m not sure Obama would have been elected. His campaign received a huge amount of public donations and financial support via the internet proving that another model is possible.

Of course with a genuine will perhaps they can influence some aspects of capitalism, through taxation and public spending but this barely affects the most rich and powerful. So few prosecutions against white-collar criminals have been launched, though the authorities are clever enough to make it look like they are going after the worst offenders (Madoff, is a rare case.)

Pressure from interest groups will be at the margin because there is always an election just a few years away and US candidates all need corporate finance to get elected: Obama included.

There’s certainly more realism in two out of three of the US public realising that “big government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.” Maybe some are finally waking up to Chomsky’s and others warnings over the past few decades. The question is whether government has either the will or the power to do anything to genuinely change the situation. In my opinion they don’t.