Of Course, Corporations And Governments Have A

Pessimism: A Valuable Protection Against Quackery.

They (the Novelists) Became The Voice Of The Citizen Against The Ubiquitous Raison D'état, Which Reappeared Endlessly To Justify Everything From Unjust Laws And The Use Of Child Labour To Incompetent Generalship And Inhuman Conditions On Warships. The Themes They Popularized Have Gradually Turned Into The Laws Which, For All Their Flaws, Have Improved The State Of Man.

Our Civilization Is Locked In The Grip Of An Ideology - Corporatism. An Ideology That Denies And Undermines The Legitimacy Of Individuals As The Citizen In A Democracy. The Particular Imbalance Of This Ideology Leads To A Worship Of Self-interest And A Denial Of The Public Good. The Practical Effects On The Individual Are Passivity And Conformism In The Areas That Matter, And Non-conformism In The Areas That Don't

Of Course, Corporations And Governments Have A Right To Something For Their Money. They Pay The Wages. But They Don't Have The Ethical Right To Literally Purchase The Copyright Of A Citizen's Potential Contribution To Society. In A Democracy They Should Not Have The Legal Right To Silence The Quasi-totality Of The Functioning élite In Order To Satisfy A Managerial Taste For Control And Secrecy.

Governments Produced By The Most Banal Of Electoral Victories, Like Those Produced By The Crudest Of Coups D'état, Will Always Feel Obliged To Dress Themselves Up Linguistically In Some Way.