Articles on PR for People

In his famous book, The Great Transformation(1944), the political economist/ anthropologist/sociologist Karl Polanyi produced a classic critique of the classic liberal (conservative) ideal of free market capitalism that still resonates today. 

Let’s begin with some political theory.  Aristotle, in his great treatise, the Politics, concluded that there are, basically, only two different kinds of governments in terms of the outcomes for a society -- those that serve the common good, or the public interest, and those that have been co-opted to serve the self-interests of the people who hold political power.  

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” The quote in my title (above) is how Donald Trump was once characterized by his sister – a federal judge.   No kidding. Phineas Taylor Barnum was the nineteenth century self-described “showman” (he seems to have invented that job category) who made a fortune promoting celebrated hoaxes with gullible audiences.  Barnum himself marveled at how willingly the American public “submits to a clever humbug.” 

Between the growing environmental crisis, extreme economic inequality and global poverty, a long list of social needs that are unfunded, or underfunded, and, not least, the dysfunctional or corrupt political regimes in many countries, our species is in genuine peril.  And it’s entirely a self-made crisis.  Yet this is precisely why there is reason for hope.