Power Struggle

(just want to put a disclaimer that this is different than most of my posts)

I live near Philly and a hot topic right now is the 'right to smoke'. As I was driving home today I noticed an amusing bumper sticker that said "At least I can still smoke in my car". I cracked a smile at it and it really made me wonder about the whole push to ban smoking from all public places in Philadelphia. It already exists in all of New York and that state didn't fall apart but I think I am for freedom of the business to decide. (fyi: the ban recently got voted down)

However, this post isnt so much about the proposed ban but about who rules who: Consumer, Business, or Government. It's probably not fair to pick any of these as the sole power, because they all interact together, but I would still like to explore this issue quickly.

Consumer: We essentially have the power to vote and to choose what to buy thus giving us power over government and business. However, business and government are both smarter entities then consumers and have long spun truth to get us to do their agenda and we can only buy what they present and only vote for those on the ballot. Our democracy almost hurts itself because our lack of unity as people without government results in a useless attempt to fight against the machine, thus forcing us to choose one of the canidates on the ballot. Take for instance this election, I really didnt like either major canidate but I chose one because I know placing a name in the ballot would of been useless. Since we'll be using smoking as our example lets see how this plays out. Consumer's know that smoking is harmful to their health, most likely deadly, but we keep doing it. Why? Maybe because business has done such a good job promoting it as something that we need. The government even underestimated the cunningness of the business to lead the consumer when they added the warning to the packet and commercial ads to deter the consumer...win goes to business.

Government: They are considered by most to have the power over anything else but I tend to not think it is that simple. Government is done on a voting process and to get into government you need grants and support...who is the support? Business and consumers, mostly business monetarily. So government officials are often paid by the ones they are voting to do something about. Lets look at smoking again...A billion dollar industry, the government has ads about the harmfulness of it yet keep it legal. Why? Because they are supported by this big business and to just cut it out would result in massive job loss, tax loss and consumer outcry (loss of votes). So even though they recognize it as something they do not want they are 'forced' to keep it alive.

Business: I lean towards the idea that this group has the quiestest control (not nessecarily the most just the quietest). We have already looked at few aspects of what part business has of the power pie but let's look at another aspect. Where do consumers get the money to buy from business? The business itself. So in a way the business regulates the consumer's needs and wants, not to mention advertising. I recognize I am talking about business like it is a person but in a way they do work together while the same time against each other, so I am going to place business as one entity. Let us look at smoking one final time. Business knows it is harmful yet keeps selling it. Why? Because the end goal is to make money (not saying this is bad just the way it is, Im not sure it is fair to ask business to change their theory). Business recognizes that it takes money to make money so they spend and spend to lead us where they can sell things to us, and spend money to government so they leave them alone. So business power is mostly based in the money aspect.

Whats all this mean? I dont really know. But i wanted to work this out and it wasnt going anywhere in my head. I'm still not sure who has the most power, probably none and I suppose thats good. I think the best way to look at it is like a water cycle. All aspects feed into each other to keep the others alive. Feel free to make your hypothesis' in the comment area.