The Two Centers of Unaccountable Power in America,
and Their Consequences
There are two great centers of unaccountable power
in the American political-economic system today -- places where decisions that
significantly affect large numbers of Americans are made in secret, and are
unchecked either by effective democratic oversight or by market competition.
One goes by the name of the "intelligence
community" and its epicenter is the National Security Agency within the
Defense Department. If we trusted that it reasonably balanced its snooping on
Americans with our nation's security needs, and that our elected
representatives effectively oversaw that balance, there would be little cause
for concern.
We would not worry that the information so gathered might be misused
to harass individuals, thereby chilling free speech or democratic debate, or
that some future government might use it to intimidate critics and opponents.
We would feel confident, in other words, that despite the scale and secrecy of
the operation, our privacy, civil liberties, and democracy were nonetheless
adequately protected.
But the NSA has so much power, and oversight of it
is so thin, that we have every reason to be concerned. The fact that its
technological reach is vast, its resources almost limitless, and its operations
are shrouded in secrecy, make it difficult for a handful of elected
representatives to effectively monitor even a tiny fraction of what it does.
And every new revelation of its clandestine "requests" for companies
to hand over information about our personal lives and communications further
undermines our trust. To the contrary, the NSA seems to be literally out of
control.
The second center of unaccountable power goes by the
name of Wall Street and is centered in the largest banks there. If we trusted
that market forces kept them in check and that they did not exercise inordinate
influence over Congress and the executive branch, we would have no basis for
concern. We wouldn't worry that the Street's financial power would be misused to
fix markets, profit from insider information, or make irresponsible bets that
imperiled the rest of us.
We could be confident that despite the size and scope
of the giant banks, our economy and everyone who depends on it were nonetheless
adequately protected.
But those banks are now so large (much larger than
they were when they almost melted down five years ago), have such a
monopolistic grip on our financial system, and exercise so much power over
Washington, that we have cause for concern.
The fact that not a single Wall
Street executive has been held legally accountable for the excesses that almost
brought the economy to its knees five years ago and continues to burden
millions of Americans, that even the Attorney General confesses the biggest
banks are "too big to jail," that the big banks continue to make
irresponsible bets (such as those resulting in JP Morgan Chase's $6 billion
"London Whale" loss), and that the Street has effectively eviscerated
much of the Dodd-Frank legislation intended to rein in its excesses and avoid
another meltdown and bailout, all offer evidence that the Street is still
dangerously out of control.
It is rare in these harshly partisan times for the
political left and right to agree on much of anything. But the reason, I think,
both are worried about the encroachments of the NSA on the privacy and civil
liberties of Americans, as well as the depredations of "too big to fail or
jail" Wall Street banks on our economy, is fundamentally the same: It is
this toxic combination of inordinate power and lack of accountability that
renders both of them dangerous, threatening our basic values and institutions.
That neither Republicans nor Democrats have done
much of anything to effectively rein in these two centers of unaccountable power
suggests that, if there is ever to be a viable third party in America, it will
be borne of the ill-fated consequences.
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