The Powell Manifesto:
The Conservative Blueprint for Political Economic Dominance
The Powell Memorandum or as it was also know “Attack on the American Free Enterprise System,” was written in 1971 to serve as an anti-Communist, anti-New Deal blueprint for conservative business interests to retake America for the US Chamber of Commerce.
The memo called for corporate America to become more aggressive in molding society’s thinking about business, government, politics and law in the US. and perhaps gave birth to neoliberalism in America and it is arguably the root of many or even most of our problems today.
Written back in 2011 on the anniversary of the original drafting of The Powell Memo…
The Lewis Powell Memo – Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy
Forty years ago this week, on August 23, 1971, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr., an attorney from Richmond, Virginia, drafted a confidential memorandum for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that describes a strategy for the corporate takeover of the dominant public institutions of American society.
Egberto Willies on the Powell Memo…
Republican Successful Assault On The American Fabric Started With Him
This may sound like a hyper-partisan article. It is not. It is based on actions by Republicans of all stripes that are verifiable and quantifiable. All Americans are being played irrespective of party affiliation. Republican leadership and political sidekicks are the masters of the game, the citizenry the pawns.
Sally Kohn on the Powell Memo an Big Business’ Plan to Rule America
In this video, Sally Kohn explains the legacy of a memo written in 1971 to promote the agenda of big business in American politics — and how the prescriptions of that agenda came true and are continuing to influence our country today. CEOs are continuing to profit while average working families suffer.
The 1971 memo to Eugene Sydnor at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, lawyer Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. calls for business to play a more activist role in American politics. The memo was written two months before President Nixon nominated him to the Supreme Court. The memo is credited with inspiring the founding of many conservative think tanks, including the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and the Manhattan Institute.
The Powell Memo (also known as the Powell Manifesto) did not become available to the public.
It was leaked to Jack Anderson, a liberal syndicated columnist, when he cited it as reason to doubt Powell’s legal objectivity.
“[Powell] might use his position on the Supreme Court to put his idea into practice… in behalf of business interests.” Jack Anderson
Four decades of corporate pressure have transformed America. Tax rates on corporations and the wealthy have nosedived. Lawmakers have “deregulated” corporations in one sector after another. Unions, across wide swatches of the private sector, have disappeared. The United States has become, with all these changes, a far more unequal place.