Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.

• Author: Bennett, James T.
• Position: Book review

Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State

By Ralph Nader

New York: Nation Books, 2014.

Pp. xii, 224. $25.99 hardcover.

More than a century ago Charles Dudley Warner cogently observed that "[p]olitics makes strange bedfellows." Ralph Nader's new book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State, inspired by the current state of political dysfunction, advances the idea that the Left and the Right on the political spectrum actually have--in many instances--very similar, if not identical goals. So by becoming "bedfellows," the Left and the Right together can make desired changes in the policy arena that benefit both. In the past, he argues, political labels and stereotypes have hindered cooperation among groups with different approaches and philosophies. "Convergence," which he defines as "voluntary alliances for the common good by positive-spirited persons of the Right and of the Left" (p. x), can achieve critically needed changes in public policy. Working alliances of liberals and conservatives (LibCons) can make a major difference in many instances. Evidence of the efficacy of convergence is based on prior successes of left-right convergence.

Why is the LibCon convergence so essential? Nader identifies the corporatist state as the villain. Money is the lifeblood of politics; corporations spend vast sums on self-serving lobbying to influence politicians and legislation at all levels of government. The corporatist agenda is pursued at public expense. The mainstream media, dependent on the bureaucracy for news content, is in a symbiotic relationship with government and therefore is more a lapdog than an effective watchdog against government waste, inefficiency, and undesirable practices. The media seem reluctant to publicize complicated, detailed public-policy matters and opt for sensationalist, entertaining soundbites rather than serious analysis of pressing political problems.

Although politicians may espouse the need for dramatic changes in policy to get elected, once in office all elected officials face the same incentives: going along to get along and raising funds for the next electoral contest--primarily from the deep pockets of corporate America. Compounding the problems, says Nader, are political appointees who were corporate executives and who are reluctant to engage in serious conflict with the economic sector, to which they plan to return after leaving office...