The corporations are powerful only because we have allowed them to be. In theory, it is we, not they, who mandate the state. But we have neglected our duty of citizenship, and they have taken advantage of our neglect to seize the reins of government.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the power of corporations and the responsibility of citizens in a democracy.
George Monbiot warns that corporations hold power not inherently but because citizens have abdicated their responsibilities in governance. By neglecting their duty to engage in democratic processes, people inadvertently enable corporations to influence and control government, highlighting the need for active citizen participation to ensure true democratic representation.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion about corporate influence in politics.
The notions that nature exists to serve us; that its value consists of the instrumental benefits we can extract; that this value can be measured in cash terms; and that what can't be measured does not matter, have proved lethal to the rest of life on Earth.
I believe that anyone who wants to stand in a national election should receive a course of psychotherapy. Completing the course should be a qualification for office. This wouldn't change the behaviour of psychopaths, but it might prevent some people who exercise power from imposing their own deep wounds on others.
I became an environmentalist because I love the living world, but I spend much of my life thinking about electricity, industrial processes and civil engineering.
Places that have become agricultural deserts, trashed by giant corporations, could be reforested, drawing carbon dioxide from the air on a vast scale. The ecosystems of land and sea could recover, not just in pockets but across great tracts of the planet.
Never underestimate the power of intrinsic values. They inspire every struggle for a better world.
Why is it so easy to save the banks - but so hard to save the biosphere?
That politician who curries favor with the citizens and indulges them and fawns upon them and has a presentiment of their wishes, and is skillful in gratifying them, he is esteemed a great statesman.
Today we voted as Democrats and Republicans. Tomorrow we begin again as New Yorkers.
The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements.
The irony of the political rise of the plutocrats is that, like Venice's oligarchs, they threaten the system that created them.
True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
Everybody that's trying to get anything progressive done in this country knows that the biggest barrier is getting money out of politics.
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