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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > October > 11
Monday, October 11, 2010
Guest column: Communism, capitalism not so different at the top
This commentary was written by Dennis M. Doyle, of Dayton, a professor in the University of Dayton’s Religious Studies Department.
The father-in-law of a friend of mine grew up in an eastern-bloc country under communist rule. This man, Constantin, detests “the communists.”
I enjoy speaking with him very much, but I am careful about what I say around him on matters of politics and economics. He has on occasion corrected what he takes to be my lack of full appreciation when it comes to both how bad the communists were and how good the Americans have been.
So it was with trepidation that I shared with him an idea about capitalism that I have been thinking about of late. I had gotten the idea after a different friend of mine, Mike, had been telling me about his personal move from a “high pyramid” firm to a “low pyramid” firm.
In a “high-pyramid” firm, there is a large difference in status and salary between entry-level jobs and middle-level jobs and the highest-level jobs. There is much pressure and competition and a high rate of employee turnover. Promotions usually come soon or not at all.
The production of significant results is expected and then rewarded swiftly and handsomely. The winners rise quickly and the non-winners fall just as quickly to the wayside.
The “low pyramid” firm for which Mike now works had him begin his time with a few weeks of meetings in which he got to know a range of people from all job levels. He doesn’t make quite as much money now, but neither is he under quite so much pressure.
As he looks toward his future, he realizes that opportunities for promotion are spaced out over the course of years and that the monetary and status difference from one level to another are not so great.
He still makes a very good living, though, and already, after a short time, he appreciates the general atmosphere of the workplace.
He has become friends with a number of people who are indeed from a wide range of different jobs.
He blushes a bit when he says that he knows that the word “family” is often a cliché when applied to a business, but he really does have a sense of being part of a family at his present job.
So I said a bit nervously to Constantin, a man whose life had been ruined by communists, that I think the idea of “low pyramid” and “high pyramid” can be applied not only to individual businesses, but also more generally to different styles of capitalism.
I was surprised when, instead of lecturing me on the relative merits of everything American, he said, immediately and firmly, “The high-pyramid capitalists are just like the communists. The power is concentrated in the hands of a few, and everybody else has to answer to them.”
I then learned a few more things about what Constantin thinks. Although he fiercely loves America, he doesn’t take his political views from the left-right menu served up on American cable television. He looks to his own bitter experience of growing up under communist rule.
He doesn’t agree with those who say that it’s “American” to extend tax cuts to the very rich while declaring this means that one is just being fair to everyone.
And he thinks that those who call President Barack Obama a “socialist” don’t have the slightest idea of what they are talking about.
The communists are the people who tolerate a huge gap between those at the top and everyone else. The Americans are the ones who developed a large middle class with a deeper sense of equality than that of which the real-life communists ever dreamed.
Permalink | Comments (48) | Post your comment | Categories: Economy, Guest Columns, National Politics, National government
TweetEditorial: Political ads best seen as entertainment
2010 ELECTION
It tells you something about the nature of this political year when you see a television ad for a certain candidate right after another ad for the same candidate. With, for example, the National Rifle Association running ads in behalf of Republican senatorial candidate Rob Portman, and with Mr. Portman himself airing some (funded in part by some of the same people), it can happen.
Money is flowing freely in amazing amounts. That’s in part because this is the first election after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the decades-old ban on direct corporate spending in political campaigns. Meanwhile, efforts to enact tough disclosure requirements about the sources of money have failed. And such spending is not even capped.
Among the 2010 phenomena:
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending a whopping $75 million (with some charging — and the Chamber denying — that some of it comes from foreign sources).
• New, big-money organizations are being set up outside of political parties and candidate campaigns to run ads.
• Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has given $1 million to elect Republican governors. Actually, this particular contribution would have been legal even under the old rules, but the size used to be unheard of. The contribution was sparked, Mr. Murdoch says, by his friendship with John Kasich, the party’s candidate in Ohio, who used to work for him.
The whole situation is widely expected to be a major new problem for the Democrats. True, labor unions were also unleashed by the Supreme Court, and they’ve been spending on behalf of Democrats. But Democratic contributors don’t seem as motivated as Republicans this year. Even billionaire George Soros has been holding back.
As this month progresses (1) that could change and (2) television viewers could become so inundated with ads that they tune them out, literally or metaphorically.
Meanwhile, as has been often noted, the campaign-spenders have more and more trouble finding audiences, as television channels proliferate, the Internet entertains more people, and people skip over the ads in recorded or uploaded programs.
Some of the ads that Ohio has seen already — which are bunched together at such length that they can seem like a program unto themselves — are striking enough to be embraced as entertainment. In the race for state treasurer, incumbent Kevin Boyce, a Democrat, is making the campaign about his opponent’s ad campaign itself, creating an ongoing soap opera. Josh Mandel had run an ad that a lot of people interpreted as suggesting that Mr. Boyce is a Muslim. Mr. Boyce responds by highlighting his Christianity and quoting a newspaper’s (justified) outrage at the Mandel ad.
Mr. Boyce has good reason to welcome anything that changes the subject from his performance in office.
Then there’s the ad being run against state Sen. Fred Strahorn. It highlights his support of the Barack Obama health care plan. Never mind that a state senator has nothing to do with that. Is Republican candidate Bill Beagle saying that he can’t find anything to object to in Sen. Strahorn’s actual record in office?
A Mike DeWine ad also features the president and health care. Former Sen. DeWine promises to challenge the health care plan in court as attorney general, saying that somebody must stand up for Ohioans.
Never mind that the bill is already being challenged in court by other states, with or without Mike DeWine.
Some candidates seem to think that the government of Ohio doesn’t actually do anything that people are interested in. That’s worth knowing.
This year is a test case for the new rules on corporate spending, as to how much will be spent and the effects.
The best way to get through the month may be to greet the ads as part of a game. Think of them as a kind of new fall show, somewhat in the “reality” mode — so long as the word “reality” is not applied to what the ads are actually saying.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Elections, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics, Ohio politics
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