Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Hired Guns on Astroturf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Hired Guns on Astroturf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform

Click here to access article by Joanne Barkan from Dissent.

This fairly lengthy piece offers a study in how the One Percent's money is corrupting any local control of educational policies. This has in great measure been facilitated by the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling that eliminated corporate contributions to political candidates. It also offers a broader illustration of how capitalist ruling classes function behind the facade of "democratic" practices to serve their class interests while fooling the 99 Percent into thinking that public policies are democratically determined.