As Eric Schlosser thoughtfully points out in his book, there was nothing pre-ordained about the corporatization of food and culture. Some tend to see this corporatization as something apart from civics or public policy, but it isn't. Free markets are good for economies, and in many cases, for the people who work in them. They can promote creativity, innovation, prosperity, choice and individualism, more than other political and economic systems. The relentless corporatization of retailing, farming, publishing and entertainment, to name only a few, have swung the balance much too far, at least in the United States.
Corporations are now the primary contributors to the American election system.
They fund the overwhelming majority of lobbyists who prey on Washington. They block regulation that would promote competition, offer the public more choices in areas like Internet access, and fend off governmental and other supervision. They promote conformity and uniformity. Since corporations have acquired virtually all of the popular media, they are rarely criticized or challenged. This ought to sound familiar.