Racism, Ideology, Elite Interests, and the Nation

There have been historic moments in the evolution of public discourse in the United States in which the corporate elite disseminated false claims in order to promote its particular interests.  Such irresponsible conduct is profoundly unpatriotic, because it confuses and divides our people, making it impossible for the nation to understand and confront the challenges that it faces.

     The U.S, corporate elite consolidated its control of the institutions of the nation during the second half of the nineteenth century, during the age of the “Robber Barons.”  At the beginning of the twentieth century, the elite generated false claims about other nations in order to justify imperialist policies, which were designed to ensure the access of U.S. corporations to the markets, natural resources, and cheap labor of the nations of the world.  Since that time, imperialist military interventions and interferences in the domestic affairs of nations has been a consistent characteristic of U.S. foreig…