"On August 23, 1971, less than two months before he was nominated to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Lewis F. Powell Jr. wrote a memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It was titled "Attack On American Free Enterprise System" and it outlined ways in which corporate America should defend and counterattack against "disquieting voices"-environmentalists, consumer advocates, civil rights groups, and labor unions...."
"Corporate America duly followed Powell's advice. An entire corporate-political complex was born, including tens of thousands of lobbyists, lawyers, political operatives, and public relations flacks. You can read the full memo here. Former US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wrote a book called Captured: The Corporate Infiltration of American Democracy, which recounted "how corporations buy influence over our government." He dedicated a full chapter to the Powell memo and noted that it was swiftly embraced by US business leaders."
Deepening economic inequality and concentrated corporate power have weakened democratic norms, the rule of law, science, and government's role in creating opportunity. A pivotal catalyst was a 1971 memo by Lewis F. Powell Jr. to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce titled "Attack On American Free Enterprise System," which urged corporate defense and counterattack against environmentalists, consumer advocates, civil rights groups, and labor unions. Corporations implemented the strategy, constructing a vast corporate-political complex of lobbyists, lawyers, operatives, and public relations professionals. That complex magnified business influence over policy and courts, producing more pro-business decisions and greater political capture by corporate interests.
Read at Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
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