Church and State

As is the case when two great powers meet, sometimes there were disagreements between kings and their churches, and occasionally a King would decide not to listen to the church.  This was treacherous ground to tread, for as far as the common people were concerned, if a king did not have god's approval then his country would become plagued and full of all sorts of unpleasantness straight out of the old testament.  So kings had to find ways to get god on their side while still being able to do what they wanted.  So they created new churches.  The church of England was one such Church created by Henry VIII so that he could divorce his existing queen and marry Anne Bolyn.  The significance of that act may be lost on some people but it is a very very dangerous precedent.  By instating the Church of England, it basically became that the King or Queen of England became the lord of the land and the leader of the church.  No more checks and balances.  

Fast forward a few centuries and we come to the burgeoning Americas fighting for independence and self governance, and within their constitution they add in a quaint idea that Church and State should be separate.  A government's authority is not god's authority, and so any church that wishes to operate operates with autonomy to be uninterfered with by the government as long as it does not break the laws of the land.  And the Government cannot be held accountable to any church or any god.  It was a very good idea and it revolutionized government.

Today in North America there is a new Church that we as a people need to understand is slowly gaining more and more influence over our government unchecked.  This modern church is the hundreds of huge corporations operating internationally.  Some of them are household names and some of them we'll probably never know exist.  These corporations operate independent of any one government.  They answer only to a collective of individuals who don't care how things are done, only that the ledger reads black and shares are up.

The laws that separate Corporation and State are much less cut and dried.  Corporations can dictate much of what lawmakers decide and lately that seems to be less and less in the interests of the common people.  Lawmakers ensure that corporations are not accountable for illegal actions, and in exchange corporations ensure that those lawmakers have more wealth then they can ever spend in 10 lifetimes.  It's like being given a pardoning writ from the Pope ensuring their speedy ascension into heaven.  

Now, I'm all for free markets, I'm all for Capitalism, however I believe that when a corporation comes to hold undue influence over the governing body, it is no different than communism, by which I mean the corporation is the State.  At that point capitalism vanishes, free market collapses, and no one need be accountable to anyone... well maybe God.