The Best and the Brightest?

A fascinating, and rather unflattering story about Mitt Romney was published by the New York Times on Saturday (which many of my conspiracy theory friends from New York used to argue was the day when the most important stories often came out, because that is the day the paper is read by the fewest people): Link. The article details Romney's career prior to entering the fray of politics, working at his company Bain Capital, which appeared to be a bane to the existence of any company it came in contact with. The company left a trail of job losses, wage and benefits cuts, employee (and even ex-employee) harassment, growing debt and, of course, a windfall profit for he and his partners in its wake. Just like Bloomberg in New York, Corzine in New Jersey and a host of other business leaders from around the country (anyone remember that cat Rasputin, I mean, Cheney), we have allowed those who succeed in business to move relatively seamlessly into the world of politics (and obviously viceversa) -- arguably at our own peril. 

In fact, many argued before Bush look office that he would be the first "CEO President," given his MBA degree. I would argue he was, but that the nod to efficiency, bottom line and instrumental rationality had rather unfortunate results. The reality that Romney could be the next President is quite troubling, given his history of having little regard for those who became the fodder for his wealth and prosperity. Its not really an indictment of him, to me, as much as a recognition that the sociopathological nature of business today is not a good stepping stone mentality to serve the citizens of any democracy. In a world where people are treated as objects, the objectives of democracy and freedom are lost ...