Government

Goal

To stop the commercialization of federal, state and local governments and the growth of corporate influence upon them.

Governments exist to serve public ends. They should keep us safe from fire and theft, pick up the garbage, look after the parks, educate our children, provide a safety net for the poor, and keep us healthy, to name just a few examples. Instead of allowing them to fulfill these duties, we see corporations increasingly capturing parts of government, and using them as tools for their own commercial ends.

Corporate influence on government allows corporations to inject commercialism into public life with little regulation or oversight. Where government ought to protect our health, education systems, and the environment from the dangers of excessive commercialism, we see instead a failure to stand up to corporate interests who threaten our safety and values. It is a sign of this decline that we increasingly name our public places not after heroes or history, but after the corporations with the deepest pockets.

Commercial Alert opposes these efforts by seeking to halt the conversion of government into a corporate advertising vehicle, and working to reduce the overwhelming influence of corporations upon federal, state, and local governments. At every turn, we resist and challenge the public corruption and influence-peddling that stem from excessive corporate influence in government.