During a discussion about the failure of the Turkish Govenment to enforce earthquake protections for building construction Dan Schorr commented that it is "the responsibility of governance to protect us from greed," (8/22/99). Hopefully Schorr was able to make this remark despite having his tongue in his cheek; such illusions about politics generally don't outlive Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy in the imaginations of children.
Since US corporations have been declared legally immortal and, by decree of the Supreme Court, their money is speech, institutionalized greed has become the primary underwriter of the American political process. The responsibility to turn a quick bottomline profit for their stockholders is the prime directive of these god-like entities. Democracy and tangible benefits for humans are secondary considerations. Protection from greed can only be hoped for in the context of religious visions of apocalypse - or perhaps for the estimated 30,000 killed in the earthquake.