#cotoo

[tototavros]

on technocratic government, at the time (1932) championed by “a kind of bohemian engineer”, Howard Scott: 

The Nation pronounced Technocracy “the first step toward a genuine revolutionary philosophy for America” and addressed an open letter to its prophet. Radio comedians made jokes about it; a new dance was named after it at Roseland; in Chicago (according to Time) the sponsors of the Anti-Rodeo League and the Mental Patients Defenders Association formed the Technocratic party of the United States. Not everything, however, was acclaim. “Of all the sure-cures hawked since the depression began,” said H.L. Mencken with scorn, “it is the worst. Communism, I think, is more rational.” Archibald MacLeish, noting that the economic determinism of Marx was possibly giving way to the technological determinism of Scott, observed dryly, “One mechanistic nipple replaces another.” 

[tototavros]

The consequent burden of overcapitalization, passed along to the operating companies, was eventually discharged onto the consumers through higher rates. And, as the utility empires grew in complexity, they grew in irresponsibility. The first effect of the corporate sleight of hand was to disenfranchise the already bewildered stockholders. As the fast shuffle accelerated, so too did the confusion. In the end, only sheer momentum--or the will of a dominant personality--could hold the structure together.

[tototavros]

'Of all the questions which can come before this nation...[short of war], there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us' [, Roosevelt said]. For Roosevelt and his Chief Forester, Gifford Pinchot, conservation meant above all the development of resources 'for the benefit of the many, and not merely for the profit of the few'.

[tototavros]

I believe in democracy, but will it ever work?

[tototavros]

When someone once cited Wagner's own rise from the slums as proof of the opportunities for the poor, Wagner replied, 'That is the most God-awful bunk. I came through it, yes. That was luck, luck, luck. Think of the others.

[tototavros]

Is it not, on the contrary, too true that capitalists have often seemed to regard the men whom they used to as mere instruments of profit, whose physical and mental powers it was legitimate to exploit with as slight cost to themselves as possible either of money or of sympathy?

[emelynpato]

#sinfiltro #cotoo #loveanimal

[wwd]

Cotoo RTW Fall 2013