Edward Ryan on Corporate Capital Serfs
on Thursday, September 26, 2013Edward Ryan Money Quotation saying elected officials need to choose who they will serve – those who elect them or those who pay for their election. Edward Ryan said:
“Who shall fill public stations, educated and patriotic freemen or the feudal serfs of corporate capital?” — Edward Ryan
In this quote, Edward Ryan is posing another rhetorical question that challenges whether corporations have too much power and influence over society. He asks whether elected and public-serving positions will be filled by “educated and patriotic freemen”, meaning independent thinkers who act in the public interest, or by “feudal serfs of corporate capital”.
In other words, Ryan questions if corporate money and power will effectively dictate who governs. The “feudal serfs” reference suggests Ryan saw corporations amassing wealth and influence in a way that compromised democratic values and self-rule.
Overall, the quote conveys Ryan’s concern that concentrated economic dominance by corporations risked undermining political independence and replacing it with indirect rule by business interests.